AHMED OTHMAN earned a clutch, 2nd place finish for the Warriors at the 25th Lisitano Tournament, a key finish for Wakefield in their team victory. (Alicen Encarnacao Racca Photo)
WAKEFIELD — The 25th Anthony Lisitano Tournament at Wakefield High was certainly one to remember.
For the first time since 2019, the host Warriors were champions, taking 1st place in three weight classes and adding two 2nd place finishes, a 3rd and three 4th places to score 245 points. Methuen was next with 223.5 followed by Wayland (212) and Haverhill (203) as 15 teams visited the Charbonneau Field House on Saturday to participate.
Anthony Lisitano (’88) was a two-year wrestling captain at Wakefield High and a leader in the community.
As is tradition, Anthony’s brother, Al Lisitano addressed the crowd and student athletes before the tournament to encourage the wrestlers to compete like Anthony and enjoy the moment.
“As Al said, when a family loses somebody at a young age, the fear is that they will be forgotten,” said head coach Ross Ickes, a former teammate of Lisitano’s at Wakefield High. “I’m proud we can keep that from happening.”
The Warriors honored Lisitano’s memory with a thrilling victory, no easy feat for a tournament that always features some of the best teams in the state.
Wakefield bringing Haverhill and Wayland in this year was especially proof that the team wanted to test themselves against top-notch competition. The Hillies were Div. 1 All State champions last year. In addition to Haverhill and Wayland, Methuen and Arlington all had top 10 finishes at states.
“It means a lot to me personally,” said Ickes about taking first at the 25th edition of the tournament honoring his friend and a Wakefield legend. “Season-wise, we have a long way to go. We’ll build off of it.”
Wakefield’s three individual champions were junior Aydin Lamb at 132, senior Sean Callanan at 157 and senior Kip King at 285.
Wakefield’s 2nd place finishers were sophomore Jaden Fullerton at 165 and senior Ahmed Othman at 215.
Taking 3rd was junior Michael Barry at 120.
Lamb had three quick pins to bring him to the Finals where he matched up against Davi DosSantos of Arlington. Lamb was ranked No. 1 in the bracket while DosSantos was 3rd. Lamb won it on an 11-7 decision, earning three takedowns for 9 points to take control in the 1st period and holding on for the win late.
“Aydin just keeps doing what he does,” said Ickes. “He’s so tough to score on.”
Ickes was quick to mention the hard road to gold in an always-strong 157 bracket as Callanan, the 2nd-ranked wrestler, needed to beat two state place winners from last year. The senior lived up to his ranking with quick pins to get into the semifinals where he met Methuen’s Anthony DeMaio, the first of those aforementioned place winners. Callanan’s strong second period, including two takedowns, resulted in a 7-1 advantage and gave him an 8-4 lead which he would end up winning by an 11-4 decision. In the Finals, Callanan met top-ranked Mason Hinshaw of Marblehead/Swampscott. In perhaps the best bout of the day, Callanan won by an exciting 10-9 decision. Leading 7-6 after two, Callanan fell behind in the third when Hinshaw got a takedown to pull ahead 9-8. A clutch, late reversal gave Callanan two points and the win.
The 2nd-ranked wrestler in the heavyweight division, King pinned No. 3 Noah Balewicz in the semifinals to set up a matchup with top-ranked Diego Gutierrez-Serrano of Shepherd Hill in the Finals. King pinned him in 4:24 for gold.
“Kip is Kip,” said Ickes. “He’s a big guy who can move. He just keeps getting better.”
Fullerton, also 2nd-ranked, met the No. 1 seed in the finals at 165 as well, Sawyer Ayotte of Shepherd Hill, a returning individual All-State champion. Fullerton gave him a tough fight but Ayotte won by pin in 2:54. Fullerton earned three pins to set up that bout, his most impressive, a pin in 2:44 against No. 3 Cole Chase of Wayland in the semifinals.
Othman was something of an X-Factor for the Warriors in the 25th Lisitano Tournament. Not necessarily considered the best of the 14 at 215, Othman proved himself with a great run, first battling to pin Marblehead/Swampscott’s Gavin Ferretti in a grueling 4:11 before pinning Hanover’s John Danick in 3:50. A clutch semifinal victory saw Othman take down Flavio Valenzuela of Watertown in 2:44 earning a trip to the Finals where he took Methuen’s Peter Simone to the finish line, falling in a major decision.
“We don’t win this tournament without Ahmed making it to the finals,” said Ickes. “He just keeps grinding, keeps improving. He sets a great example for the younger guys.”
Barry went 4-1 in a crowded 120 field to earn 3rd. He bounced back from a semifinal loss to champion Cale Wood of Haverhill by pinning Lynnfield/North Reading’s Jakob Hulett in 31 seconds and then defeating Reading’s Jakob Maher by a 15-3 major decision in the 3rd place matchup.
Wakefield’s three 4th place finishers were Kevin Fabbri at 106, James Fabbri at 138 and Jack Hodgdon at 144.
Hodgdon went 4-2, avenging an early loss by winning four in a row.
James Fabbri was 3-2 including a pin in 2:56 over Haverhill’s Joshua Cruz.
Kevin Fabbri went 2-2 with wins over Sam Perriello of Arlington and Brayden Lyons of Wayland.
Also earning points with a 5th place finish at 126 was Josh Johansen (4-2).
The Warriors went on to defeat Wilmington 77-3 to kick off their dual meet season on Wednesday. Wakefield won 13 of the 14 bouts including 12 pins and one technical fall.
The Warriors will compete in the Lowell Holiday Tournament this weekend starting tonight and carrying over into tomorrow.
