Taconic takes second at Western Mass. Wrestling Sectionals; Berkshire wrestlers grab four golds | Local Sports

WILLIAMSTOWN — After the semifinals were done, there was a break in the action to give everyone a breather. At that point, Taconic was in fourth place in the Western Massachusetts Division III Wrestling Sectional meet. Hampden Charter East was well out in front by more than 60 points. But it was a Berkshire County battle for second place.

Mount Greylock held second and Monument Mountain was third, and fewer than 15 points separated all three.

Monument and Greylock had three wrestlers in first place matches while Taconic had just two. But crucially, both of the grapplers in green took gold.

It all came to a head at the 175-pound first-place bout. Noah Poirier for Taconic and Jacob Borawski for Greylock. The two had gone at it all season, often meeting in the finals at meets throughout the 413.

That familiarity was evident as neither could find much purchase early on.

“We know each other really well, he’s strong, really good hips,” Poirier said. “It’s a really good matchup every time.”

Borawski managed a takedown in the first period but then Poirier got a point for an escape. He took the lead with a takedown of his own. He started on the bottom in the second period and scored another two with a reversal and from there, ended the match.

It wasn’t easy, he managed to get Borawski on his back and hip. The sophomore managed to twist and force Poirier to adjust his position. But the senior held on. For more than 40 seconds he leaned on the Mountie before the whistle sounded.

“He’s a strong kid. It was hard. I think I was down there for a minute, it felt like forever. But we got it done. That’s all that matters,” said Poirier.

Not only giving Poirier a gold, but giving the Thunder the points needed to take second place at Western Mass. after coming in third last year by a single point.

“We’ll take it for sure, we were hoping the score would be a little tighter coming down for the championship. But we’ll certainly take second. That was our goal, top two and finish ahead of the other Berkshire schools,” said Taconic coach Derek Powell. “Last year, third by a point and we remembered that all year, and we talked about that all year. How every point mattered today.”

The win at 175 pounds gives Poirier a three-peat. He won gold as a sophomore at 157, gold as a junior at 165 and now, as a senior, gold at 175 pounds.

“Feels pretty good, been working at it all year. Had some ups and downs, sick, underweight, whatever. But feels good,” said Poirier. “It’s my last time I’m ever gonna wrestle in this tournament. Last time I’m gonna go to states. So it feels good to win it out right now and hopefully win states.”

Four Berkshire County wrestlers took home gold medals while 19 wrestlers earned placement at states. 

After having to drive to Buckland for the Western Mass. Sectional last year, there was plenty of appreciation for the tournament to be held at Mount Greylock this year.

“It helps a lot, no long bus rides, extra hour of sleep. Definitely more fans are able to travel close,” Powell said.

“It’s great, we’re running around trying to get stuff done but it’s nice to have stuff out here. We have an easier drive home and that’s always nice,” said Monument coach Simon Jones. “Great facility, I think Greylock did a great job putting it on.”

106 Pounds

Mount Everett’s Diego Cruz only scored two points in the first-place match. But that’s because he pinned Ber Calhoun of Frontier with little trouble. Cruz extended his streak of Western Mass. dominance by putting Calhoun on his metaphorical backfoot from first contact. Pinning Calhoun with seconds left in the first period. 

“It feels really good, but right now the goal I guess is to win states,” said Cruz. “I knew I could beat him, this last match I tried to pin him a different way. Instead of with a hat, cradle nearside or whatever. Try to practice what coach taught us.”

Cruz controlled the match the entire time to claim his third Western Mass. gold medal.

“He’s been very good, he’s a hard worker,” said Everett coach Dave Lupiani of Cruz.

113 Pounds

Monument Mountain’s Keegan Dargie was down 2-0 in the gold medal match, but after a reversal and a nearfall, led 4-2 against Rory Norton of Hampden Charter.

But after a reset to have both wrestlers in neutral position, Norton took control. He scored a reversal and nearfall before pinning Dargie with 25 seconds left in the first round.

Mount Greylock’s Hector Rodriguez took fourth place at 113 pounds. He lost to Dargie in the semifinals but then beat Jonah Van Der Woude, the three seed, to reach the consolation finals.

120 Pounds

Alex Schindler of Monument and Mateo Henriques of Smith Voc. went the distance. Henriques got a takedown in each of the first two periods to go up 4-0. And although he applied the pressure, Schindler did a good job of escaping danger.

In the third period, he took down Henriques and was trying to pin the Viking when the referee broke them up. The ref said he had heard Henriques say he was hurt and while Henriques insisted he didn’t and that he was fine, there was a stoppage and Schindler was awarded two points for a nearfall.

After that, however, Henriques kept his guard up and wrestled defensively, winning by majority decision 5-2.

“I’m happy with everything we’ve done this year. We came in hoping for a little bit better outcome,” said Jones. “I think you can look throughout the bracket and places we could improve. On an overall year basis, I couldn’t be happier with this team, they’ve been great.”

126 Pounds

Mount Everett’s Connor Lupiani took his second silver in as many years. Michaell Harris of Hampden Charter came out with force and had the Eagle in trouble early, pinning him in just 14 seconds.

Tristan Pritchard of Taconic took fourth place at 126.

132 Pounds

In the lead-up to the 132-pound first-place match, someone near the mat remarked “that kid does not want to wrestle West.”

It wasn’t an entirely unfounded assertion.

As soon as the bout started, Dews darted forward, grabbed the legs of Franklin County Tech’s Landon Purington, picked him up and dropped him. Scoring two points just 17 seconds in and setting the tone for a match Dews would dominate.

He led 15-2 after the second period, although Purington pushed the junior late in the second. With a reversal and several good attempts at a pin. Though Dews escaped each time.

“I knew I could beat him, I just had to settle down when I took him down and put him away,” Dews said afterwards. “I needed a pin, my coach said.”

Dews listened to his coaches. Coming out in the third period on the bottom, he escaped, scored a reversal and then took Purington to the mat and pushed the Eagle onto his back while grabbing Purington’s leg to pin him at 1:36. It is Dews’ first ever Western Mass. title.

“It feels really good, yesterday we didn’t even have a place to practice. They kicked us out of our room. We practiced in an elementary school. We practiced in the Boys and Girls Club yesterday. It feels good to win,” Dews said with a grin. “Our coach put so much into it, he’s taught me so much and I’m hyped.

“This is my first time winning. Can’t wait for states.”

Greylock’s Brody Smith took fourth place.

138 Pounds

The 138-pound semifinal was an all-Berkshire affair, with No. 2 Elijah Shaw of Taconic against No. 3 Brett Dupuis of Greylock. The Mountie didn’t let the seedings affect him, scoring a takedown 24 seconds in. He kept up the pressure and pinned Shaw not 20 seconds later to reach the gold medal match.

There, he drew first blood against Matthew Small of Smith Voc. with a takedown 30 seconds in. But Dupuis didn’t readjust and Small scored a reversal and then pinned Dupuis. The Mountie took silver while Shaw would finish in fifth.

157 Pounds

No Berkshire County grapplers were up for gold at 144 or 150 pounds. Max Manning of Everett was in the consolation final at 144 and although he led 7-2 and then 11-5, couldn’t go the distance. Faltering in the third round and losing by fall to Jackson Bisson of Southwick.

“Max Manning didn’t make weight, I had to bump him up a couple weight classes. Basically, it’s probably one of the worst Western Mass.’ I’ve ever had. Some of ‘em are out of shape. Some of them aren’t practicing very hard,” Dave Lupiani said.

Taconic’s Clay Cowdery took fourth place in the 150-pound consolation final, losing by pinfall late in the first round.

At 157 pounds, Ian Lanoue was the third and final Everett wrestler in a first place match. But his opponent, Jedhiael Vazquez Agusto of Hampden Charter came out flying, pinning Lanoue at 51 seconds.

Taconic’s Justin Borawski took third. He lost to Vazquez Agusto in the semifinal but rebounded well. Taking a massive 7-1 lead after the first round and 13-3 lead after the second in the consolation final. He threw down Franklin Tech’s Jacob Martin multiple times in the 17-7 majority decision.

On one memorable occasion, he grabbed Martin’s leg and dragged him back into the circle. Which he did receive a technical violation for.

“That’s just him,” said Powell with a rueful chuckle. “He’s got a couple bad habits that we’ve been working on all year but I tell you, he wrestled pretty smart today… First year senior, he got it done.”

Monument’s Kamren Boino took fifth, he was down 6-2 in the second round, but then took down Ariel Ginsberg and pinned him.

215 Pounds

Monument’s Isaac Hartshorn lost to eventual 165-pound champ Eli Hilbert in the semifinals and didn’t let the defeat deter him. He beat Jackson Morey in the consolation semis and then pinned Joshua Davis-Visneau in the finals to claim third place.

“First year wrestler on the mat, freshman, that’s an outstanding performance. A lot of these other guys taking second place, we’re gonna be in a good spot next week to perform I think,” said Jones.

Fellow Spartan Shaun Frank was upset in the semifinals but recovered to win in the consolation semis in just 11 seconds before winning in the third-place match.

Greylock’s Jayquan Vazquez was the No. 1 seed at 190 pounds, but was upset in the semifinals. In the consolation semifinals, he went down early and was pinned. He did rebound by taking fifth, with a pin at 54 seconds.

After a large gap of first place matches without Berkshire contestants, Logan O’Connell of Greylock upset the No. 2 seed in the 215-pound semifinals. He had lost to Will VanVleet of Mohawk Trail earlier in the year. At home in the sectional semis, O’Connell never trailed in a 7-1 decision victory.

The win put him against Jerameel Vazquez in the gold medal match. However, Vazquez made short work of the Mountie, with a pin in 12 seconds. O’Connell took silver while Taconic’s Riley Brown took fifth.

“They did alright, they went flat towards the third round. They’re young, we have two seniors, two juniors, and the rest are sophomores down to seventh grade. We’ll see what happens next week when we go to states,” said Greylock coach John Carvalho. “[O’Connell] came back and he knew what to do and he wrestled well.”

285 Pounds

The reigning Western Mass. champion at 285 pounds needed to hold on for a full six minutes to defend his crown. But when the final whistle sounded, Sam St. Peter eked out a 1-0 decision win over Dillon Laffond to go back-to-back.

“It’s amazing, feels really good. I think our team came out and battled hard. I think we wrestled well, I wouldn’t say it was my best performance in the finals,” said St. Peter. “But we have a week of practice heading into states so hope to sharpen things up from there.

“Just gritted my way, work some setups, they weren’t really working but just kept pushing through and pushing the pace.”

St. Peter and Laffond both struggled to gain an advantage for most of the match. With Laffond getting a stall warning at one point. The difference came in the second period, when St. Peter scored an escape to take a 1-0 lead.

“Hat’s off to that Franklin Tech kid, he’s a tough kid. Sometimes that’s how you gotta win matches, it’s not always pretty and flashy,” Jones said. “He’s good at winning those matches and that’s how you’re gonna win moving forward. You get better and better competition, it gets closer and closer.”

Jake Newberry upset the No. 4 seed to reach the semis in his first year as a wrestler, before falling to St. Peter. He’d take fourth in the consolation final after pinning his opponent in the consolation semi.

“Our starting heavyweight was injured during the year and he gave his spot to Jake, which shows great leadership” from a senior captain said Carvalho.

States

A top-four finish guarantees a spot in the MIAA State tournament, while a fifth-place finish means that wrestler is an alternate.

Taconic will send Dews (132) and Poirier (175) as top-four seeds, as well as Tristan Pritchard (126), Clay Cowdrey (150) and Justin Borawski (157). Monument will send St. Peter (285) as a top-four seed and Alex Schindler (120), Isaac Hartshorn (165), Keegan Dargie (113) and Shaun Frank (190).

Greylock will send Logan O’Connell (215), Brett Dupuis (138), Brody Smith (132), Hector Rodriguez (113), Jacob Borawski (175) and Jake Newberry (285). Everett will send Cruz (106) as a top-four seed and Connor Lupiani (126), Ian Lanoue (157) and Max Manning (144).

The MIAA Division III state semifinals will be at Wakefield High School, starting at 2:30 p.m. on Friday Feb. 16. 

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Team Standings: 1. Hampden Charter East 216, 2. Taconic 153.5, 3. Monument Mountain 143, 4. Mount Greylock 138.5, 5. Frontier 137, 6. Franklin Tech 126… 11. Mount Everett 89.5

106 — Diego Cruz (Mount Everett) F Ber Calhoun (Frontier), 1:53

113 — Rory Norton (Hampden Charter East) F Keegan Dargie (Monument Mountain), 1:35

120 — Mateo Henriques (Smith Voc) DEC Alexander Schindler (Monument Mountain), 5-2

126 — Michaell Harris (Hampden Charter East) F Connor Lupiani (Mount Everett), 1:46

132 — West Dews (Taconic) F Landon Purington (Franklin County), 4:30

138 — Matthew Small (Smith Voc) F Brett Dupuis (Mount Greylock), 1:05

144 — Adin Clifford (Hampshire) F Ezekiel Cherival (Hampden Charter East), 2:21

150 — Borese Antropov (Southwick-Tolland) TF Maximus Soto (John J. Duggan), 17-2 5:39

157 — Jedhiael Vazquez Agusto (Hampden Charter East) F Ian Lanoue (Mount Everett), 0:51

165 — Eli Gilbert (Gateway) F Luke Johndrow (Hampshire), 4:32

175 — Noah Poirier (Taconic) F Jacob Borawski (Mount Greylock), 3:11

190 — Alexander Schreiber (Frontier) F Ahmed Elkadri (Hampden Charter East), 2:58

215 — Jerameel Vazquez (Hampden Charter East) F Logan O’Connell (Mount Greylock), 0:12

285 — Sam St. Peter (Monument Mountain) DEC Dillon Laffond (Franklin County), 1-0