Published February 19, 2020

THE WARRIORS had a great performance as a team on Saturday, taking 2nd place in the Div. 3 North tournament held at the Charbonneau Field House. (Wakefield Wrestling Photo)

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High wrestling team hosted yet another successful Div. 3 North Tournament on Saturday at the Charbonneau Field House, welcoming in 17 teams to find out who is the best in the north.

Per usual, the entire Warrior program including student athletes, coaches and parents put in the work to make sure Saturday was a good one, of course, with plenty of Warrior Mac ‘n cheese to go around.

On the mats, Wakefield took second in the North behind rival Melrose. The Red Raiders finished with 234 points behind three first place, 2nd place and 3rd place medals.

The Warriors scored 189.5 with a first place, 2nd place, two 3rd place, two 4th place, four 5th place and two 6th place medals.

Triton finished 3rd with 153 points, Marblehead/Swampscott with 144.5 and Tyngsborough rounded out the top five with a 143.

Wakefield’s Joao Valdevino was the D3N champion in the 160 weight class. He won three matchups via pin before meeting Victor Rodriguez of Melrose once again in the championship round. Valdevino was victorious with a 5-3 decision. Valdevino beat Pentucket’s Erik Dodge (F, 0:25) in the first round, Excel Academy’s Rayyan Lakehal (F, 1:26) in the quarterfinals and Gloucester’s Quinten Ulrich (F, 2:57) in the semifinals.

JOAO VALDEVINO took down the competition at 160 including Gloucester’s Quinten Ulrich in the semifinals. Vladevino was crowned champion of Div. 3 North when he beat Victor Rodriguez of Melrose in the finals. (Wakefield Wrestling Photo)

Wakefield’s 2nd place winner was Dan Lamonica at 285. The Warrior senior won matchups in the quarterfinals and semifinals to meet No. 1 seed Dougie Clark of Saugus-Peabody in the championship. Lamonica trailed 5-1 after the first but earned another point on an escape in the second. Clark held on for a 5-2 decision. Lamonica beat Matt Innis (F, 3:26) in the quarterfinals. The semifinals was another matchup between Lamonica and Eric Pimentel of Melrose. Pimentel had a takedown in the first to take a 2-1 lead, Lamonica evened it up with an escape in the second. A grueling battle of wills finally ended when Lamonica pinned Pimentel at the 7:28 mark.

Wakefield had two third-place winners in Jameson O’Callahan and Jimmy Grover.

O’Callahan won two matches to make it to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Joe Ganley of Wilmington in the semifinals (DEC, 9-2). O’Callahan bounced back to defeat Triton’s Alex Montes by a 6-2 decision and beat Steve Fogarty of Melrose (MD, 8-0) in a rematch to take 3rd. O’Callahan beat Excel Academy’s Gabriel Henzelman-Silva (TF, 2:16) in the first round and Fogarty (F, 2:33) in the quarterfinals.

Jimmy Grover was 3rd at 170. He fell to eventual champion Mark Thomas of Tyngsborough (F, 1:05) in the semifinals but roared back with two pins over Connor Drigotas of Essex Tech (3:29) and Colin Griffiths of Bedford/AB (1:30). Grover beat Lynn Tech’s Daniel Villanveva (F, 0:57) in the first round and Tucker Jackson of Pentucket (DEC, 4-3) in a great quarterfinal matchup.

Wakefield’s 4th place finishers were Bryan Fabbri at 106 and Matthew Cunningham at 152.

Fabbri beat No. 3 seed Lucas Bistany of Triton (F, 5:40) in the first round. He fell to Wilmington’s Luke Vitale (F, 4:49) in the semifinals but beat Nick Nicosia of Tyngsborough (DEC, 8-1) to get 4th. Sean Thomas of Melrose was the champ at 106.

Cunningham earned a bye in the first round and beat Gloucester’s Jeff Allen in the quarterfinals (MD, 19-8). He fell to Bedford’s Matt Walsh (DEC, 6-3) in the semifinals but pinned Connor Young of Georgetown-Ipswich to get 4th. Sean Herbert of Melrose was first at 152.

Wakefield’s 5th place finishers were Tommy Grover, John Summers, Robbie Fossett and Nathan Ickes.

Ickes competed at 220. He beat Billy Sullivan of Excel Academy (F, 1:04) in the first round and fell to Matt Hickey of Melrose (F, 1:48) in the quarterfinals. Ickes still wrestled four more times on the day, beating Luke Fontaine of Nashoba Tech (F, 1:16) and Brendan Rowe of Marblehead/Swampscott (F, 2:57) before dropping a close 3-2 decision to Daniel Paulauskas of Tyngsborough. Ickes finished his day with a win over Matteus Pires of Beford/AB (DEC, 4-1). Phillip Makoci of Saugus-Peabody was the champ at 220.

Fossett competed at 195. He lost in the first round but beat Antranig Douglas of Bedford/AB (F, 3:13) and Saugus-Peabody’s Timothy Collins (F, 4:40) before falling to Louis Shkliew of Essex Tech (F, 2:28) and beating Lawrence Scola of Gloucester (DEC, 7-4). DJ Fraser of Nashoba Tech was the champ at 195.

Summers competed at 182. He fell to Jacob Swan of Melrose (F, 3:30) in the quarterfinals but responded with wins over Brendan Coyne of Bedford/AB (FOR), Justin Lavy of Gloucester (DEC, 15-13) and William Pinto of Saugus/Peabody (DEC, 2-1). Tyngsborough’s Zach Souza took first at 182.

Tommy Grover wrestled at 113. He fell to Northeast’s Christopher Boyce in the quarterfinals and went on to get wins over Matt Rosado of Excel (MD, 12-3), Gabe Dasilva of Wilmington (DEC, 8-2) and Boyce via a forfeit. Jack Murphy of Saugus/Peabody was first at 113.

Jason Hubbard got 6th place at 138 with wins over Ryan Martin of Wilmington (DEC, 9-7), Adam Legere of Bedford/AB (F, 1:22) and Addison Twiss of Essex Tech (DEC, 8-3). Tyngsborough’s Josh Ducharme was first at 138.

Captain Brock Johnson got 6th at 145. He made it to the semifinals but was pinned by Pentucket’s Nic Williamson. Johnson beat Mike Maher of Melrose (F, 3:16) in the first round and Jacob Vargas of Bishop Fenwick (25-17, MD) in the quarterfinals. Liam Donahue of Gloucester was the champ.

The Warriors will now set their sights on the Div. 3 State Meet this Saturday in Wayland.