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NORTH ANDOVER — On a night when points were at a premium, Zane Mellilo provided an ignition that teammates Fritz Hoehn and Brad Drover later forcefully drove home.

Trailing Winchester by 2 1/2 points entering a championship round in which both schools had four entries, North Andover used major decisions by each of its three victors to win the school's fifth consecutive Division II state title. Each member of that trio won their second consecutive divisional crown.

TYNGSBORO — North Andover didn't need the extra points, but that didn't prevent Jake Caporale from putting an exclamation point on the Scarlet Knights' rout at the Division 2 North Wrestling Sectionals. Seeded fourth among the 11 285-pound wrestlers, the senior scored an escape with less than a second left in regulation before squeezing out a 5-4 victory over Whittier's David Sachs with another last-second escape in quadruple overtime. "I knew if I stood up I'd win," Caporale said. "I emptied the tank and won. (Coming into the day) I knew I had a chance of winning. I was the fourth seed but I'd beaten the Whittier kid (5-3) earlier in the season. And the Reading kid had beat me (by pin), but I was up when he rolled me. I knew I had to work hard, but if I did, I knew I would win." The Reading kid was top-seeded Matthew Ferraro, who had recorded a pin in 16 seconds before Caporale knocked him into the consolations with a 7-3 semifinal victory. "It's unbelievable," North Andover coach Carl Cincotta of Caporale's victory. "What a way to end the night with his win. For a kid that only won a couple matches last year to be a sectional champion this year is just incredible. It's a great, great win." The Scarlet Knights, who won four of their eight title matches, ran away with the team championship, racking up 232.5 points. Reading finished a distant second with 170. Central Catholic was fourth with 141, Whittier sixth with 132 and Greater Lawrence 11th in the 12-team field. North Andover advanced nine wrestlers to this weekend's Division 2 state tournament, Central Catholic, which won two of its three championship bouts, will send five while Whittier advanced six and Greater Lawrence one. "I thought we could have had nine finalists, and we did" Cincotta said. "Some of them were outside shots. I would've obviously liked to have won more in the finals." One of the best matches of the night was the 132-pound bout between defending champion Zane Mellilo of North Andover, who had recorded pins in his first three matches, and Central sophomore Brandon DesFossas, who walked off with a 9-8 decision. DesFossas, who missed more than a month with a right-shoulder injury, used his takedown ability to win the tight battle. He repeatedly let the Knight senior escape while recording four takedowns in the match — the first ever between the local grapplers. "I feel like I'm mostly dominant on my feet compared to bottom and top game," said DesFossas, who returned to the mat on Feb. 6. "So I thought the best game plan for me was to keep taking him down, and in the end it worked. The only other championship pitting local rivals was at 106 pounds where Central sophomore Tom Pagliarulo downed North Andover freshman Jack Perry 6-3. Other regional titlists were Peter Taylor (113) and returning champs Fritz Hoehn (160) and Brad Drover (170) from North Andover. The remaining second-place finishers were Dan Villalba (126) from North Andover, Morgan Bronson (220) from Central Catholic and Tyler Tannian (138) from Whittier. "We have a tough week ahead of us," Cincotta said about state. "We have to win the state tournament. These kids really want to win their fifth in a row, and I'm going to get them mentally and physically ready for it."

Central Catholic's improving wrestling team picked up perhaps its biggest win of the year, clipping Methuen 37-24. A key for the Raiders (16—8) were three close wins — 5-4 by Riley Sergi at 132, 4-3 by Cam Hebert at 145 and 2-0 by Donovan Nolan at 160.  

Central Catholic won two of three meets in a quad-meet, losing only to Milton (36-27). Tom Pagliarulo continued his fine season, going 3-0 at 106.

Methuen continues to wrestle well but lose some of the close meets, falling to New Bedford 43-36 in the finals of the Duxbury Duals yesterday. But nothing has derailed senior Christian Monserrat or freshman Darius Franklin, both of whom had three pins for the Rangers (15-4).

Sometimes, even in wrestling, the best offense is a good defense.

Lawrence showed that quality yesterday with a 39-18 victory over Haverhill that completed a sweep, having also beaten Billerica (51-24) and Central Catholic (46-21), to improve to 10-4 and set up a big duel meet with Methuen on Wednesday.

Reece Millington continued to shine for Haverhill, placing first in the Chelmsford Tournament  in impressive fashion, pinning his way to the 132-pound title. He is now 14-0 on the year with 12 pins.

Jack Putnam scored a victory by pin in 1:23 to lead Central Catholic to a 55-18 win over Greater Lawrence.

Jack Kiely, fresh off a strong performance at the Lowell Holiday Tournament, was an impressive 4-0 as Central Catholic finished second at the Nashoba Dual-Meet Tournament. Tom Paglliarulo was also 4-0 on the day, at 106. The Raiders (4-1) lost  in the finals to Framingham after tying Nashoba 37-37 in the semifinals but advancing on criteria.

St. John's Prep's wrestling team rolled past St. John's of Shrewsbury 63-9. Ben Nitale (160) of North Andover and Solomon White (170) of Andover both had pins in the rout. John Grady and Spencer Jenkins, both of North Andover, had major decisions.