Warriors beat Melrose at Memorial Hall, 36-30
MEMORIAL HALL set the scene for a memorable night for the Wakefield High wrestlers who beat Melrose to clinch the 2018 Freedom Division title. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
Published in the February 2, 2018 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
MELROSE — It’s a miracle that historic Memorial Hall in Melrose is still standing after that one.
On Tuesday night, the Red Raiders rolled out the mats across the old wooden floors that are quite clearly built to last after withstanding an intense 14 matches in the latest installment of the best rivalry in wrestling.
This was quite obviously a business trip for Wakefield who were locked in from the moment they ran onto the floor with Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” blaring from the speakers, to the instant Dan Lamonica’s hand was raised in victory to make it official: The Warriors were outright Freedom Division Champs.
What happened in between, was something that the Warriors and their many fans who made the trip down Main Street will never forget.
It was a unique environment for a wrestling meet. In fact, it’s safe to say that there was nothing normal about wrestling at Memorial Hall, but Wakefield’s familiarity with Melrose combined with the large number of close meets this season, meant the Warriors felt right at home in a pressure-packed high-octane matchup.
It was always going to be close.
“Every meet this year has been highly competitive,” said head coach Ross Ickes, who knew his team was ready for this moment, a impressive fact considering that 26 of the 36 wrestlers are freshmen and sophomores, and only four of the 14 in the lineup at Memorial Hall were seniors.
Luke Fitzgerald got the Wakefield fans going in the opening match by pinning Tom Brodeur in 1:09 at 106. Following a Melrose pin at 113, Wakefield senior Chris Alves and Joe Denton of Melrose treated the fans to the first of many close matches. It was an evenly matched gauntlet that went the distance and then some, but Alves got the win on a 10-8 decision.
Aidan Armstrong stepped up at 126 and much like he has done all season, pinned Ching Ping in just 25 seconds. Armstrong is gaining a reputation as one of Wakefield’s toughest wrestlers and quickest workers.
It was clearly an excellent start for the Warriors, but the team knew Melrose would made a run in the middleweights. The Red Raiders rifled off four wins in a row at 132, 138, 145 and 152. Three of those wins came via pin, meaning Wakefield was staring down a 27-15 deficit when senior co-captain Kevin Tran stepped up at 160. Tran squared off with Louis Izzi in a back-and-forth match. Just as it seemed Tran was running out of gas, the captain turned the tables on Izzi by executing a perfect move to duck under, snag the leg and hold on for a pin and a big six points.
Mike Yirrell then wrestled Cam Rosie of Melrose in another close match featuring plenty of athleticism and high impact moves. Yirrell hung on for an 11-7 decision, cutting the Melrose lead to 27-24.
After Robbie Fossett put forward a great effort but fell to Isaace Seide in a major decision, senior co-captain Aiden Coleman got the chance he wanted when he faced Matt Hickey at 195 and Wakefield down six. Coleman got the decibel level way up in Memorial Hall when his pin sent the Warrior fans into a frenzy and tied the meet at 30 all.
Cue Derek DiMascio.
No stranger to the biggest stage as DiMascio beat Catholic Memorial on the last match of the meet on Jan. 10, the junior stepped up again as he battled Middlesex League Meet champion Jackson Curran at 220. DiMascio was also fighting bronchitis as he was just recovering this week. Even still, Wakefield fans would take DiMascio against any odds, as he came up clutch for a 5-3 decision. DiMascio knows what’s usually at stake wrestling as a heavyweight when the fate of the meet rests squarely on your shoulders.
“Once I found out that I was going 220, all my coaches, all my guys were saying, ‘You gotta come up big we’re gonna need you here,’ so I just kept that in my mind the entire time,” said DiMascio. “When he turned me and I was on my back, I was struggling with that 200 pounds on me and I wanted to stop but immediately in my head I’m thinking, ‘I gotta win for my team’ so I found a way to get out bounds, get a position I wanted and somehow turn him to get the win.”
So, with a 33-30 lead, and the fate of the Freedom hanging in the balance, in to the circle stepped Dan Lamonica, wrestling at 285 against Eric Pimentel. Lamonica executed his game plan to perfection and came up with a 7-2 decision, giving Wakefield an exciting win and another divisional championship trophy for an excellent program.
Credit is due to the entire team, even the wrestlers who didn’t compete at Memorial Hall but practice hard every day.
While coach Ickes expected a captain like Coleman to come through, it was the work of the final two heavy weights who really made the difference.
“Lamonica, as a first-year heaveyweight, really rose to the occasion with all that pressure on him,” said Ickes.
The coaches study matchups, probably to the extent where it’s easy to second-guess any decision, but Ickes and his staff weren’t about to check on their final hand of the dual meet season. They went all in and allowed Lamonica and DiMascio to go get it.
“We figured it would be close,” said Ickes. “We could have wrestled for the tie, but we chose not to.”
In the end, it will be one to remember, especially for a special group of seniors who also won the Freedom as sophomores in 2016.
“We knew they were going to give us a fight, but we knew we were tougher, and we wanted this more than anything,” said Coleman. “We came in here with no fear and we got the job done.”
And doing against their rivals in this environment? Well it just doesn’t get much better.
“Getting to do it against Melrose just makes it feel a lot bigger,” said DiMascio. “It’s a big rivalry and we have a lot of respect for this team, they have good wrestlers and a great coaching staff so winning the league title is great but getting to do it in Melrose, it just feels really good.”
