RallyNorth.net

Division 2 North Sectional

Sunday, February, 10 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

Six days after the New England Patriots failed to make history, the Greater Lawrence wrestling team made a lot of it yesterday at the Division 2 North Sectional at Beverly High School.

The Reggies, who are the defending Division 2 dual-meet champions, overwhelmed the 12-team field to finish first with 278 points, placing seven in the finals, crowned four champions, placed all 14 wrestlers (top six) and advanced 12 to next week's Division 2 state meet at Reading.

"These are all firsts for us," said Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis. "I don't think any vocational school has ever won this, and to have so many placers is incredible."

Finishing second with a fine meet of its own was Central Catholic (222), with Westford (185) third and Tewksbury (168) edging Dracut for fourth. The top four teams advance to the dual-meet sectionals this week at Greater Lawrence, probably on Wednesday. North Andover finished sixth in the 12-team field.

Placing first for the Reggies were Miguel Guzman at 112, Franchesco Ortiz at 119, Brian Nadeau at 125 and Chris DelaRosa at 152.

Guzman remained unbeaten (33-0) on the year, recording a solid 10-3 decision in the finals, Ortiz followed with a 5-1 victory to improve to 33-0 and DelaRosa had a dominating second period on his way to an 8-1 decision to improve to 32-0.

But the hero of the day was Nadeau, who pinned North Andover star Jimmy Connelly, who was the Cape Ann League Wrestler of the Year, at 1:25 of the first period, once again converting his patented head lock for the win. That improved his record to 23-4 on the year.

"Without a doubt, that was the match of the night for us," said Sarkis. "We've been riding Brian all week about beating the North Andover kid. He did exactly what he needed to."

The Reggies had three runners-up. Freshman Matt Buco lost his first match of the season, 8-4 to Dracut star Brad Myers, a Lowell Holiday Tournament finalist who improved to 36-2 on the year. Buco, who was tied 2-2 after the first period, dropped to 33-1.

Also finishing second for Greater Lawrence were 135-pounder Saul Orellana, who injured his ankle in a 14-8 loss to Dracut's Mike Ludwig in the finals, and Victor Sosa, who dropped a 9-4 decision to Central's Mike Leavitt in the finals.

Also advancing to state meet for the Reggies were third-place finishers Brian Rivera (145) and Angel Rivera (171) and fourth-place finishers Jonathan DelaSantos (140), Ray Diaz (130) and Jason Orsini (215).

Central had four finalists, but only Leavitt placed first. Shain Jowett (160) lost a tough 3-2 decision to Triton's Zach Welch in the finals, Tom Lacroix (140), who earlier had two first-period pins, was pinned in the finals and Dave Kando (171) dropped a 12-2 major decision in the finals.

Mike Farragher (125), Jim Nguyen (130), Alberto Nunez (215) and heavyweight Curtis Davis all finished third and Brendan Dowling (119) came in fourth.

Leavitt wins the showdown

Although Central only crowned one champion, Leavitt's victory over Sosa was one of the most anticipated matches of the day. Although they had never wrestled, both had been relishing the opportunity.

Leavitt, who improved to 27-2, started things off with a first-period takedown and finished with four takedowns in the match. Sosa (29-3) was unable to use his upper body strength to his advantage.

"I've had this match on my mind for awhile," said Leavitt. "It's kind of like an inner-city rivalry and a lot of kids were talking about it. Even after I won at Lowell (Holiday Tournament) there was some doubt because I hadn't wrestled him. "I thought I had an advantage in quickness and I just wanted to avoid his upper body strength. But I give him credit. He's really tough. ... But it'll be nice to have the No. 1 seed at the state meet next week."

Tough day for Knights

North Andover did not have one of its better meets. In addition to placing sixth, all three of its finalists got pinned. In addition to Connelly, Jared Hood (145) fell in the first period and Andrew Bogosian (215) went down early in the second period.

Placing fourth for the Knights were Derek Timpe (152), Kyle Dolan (189) and heavyweight Mike Miller.

By not advancing to the dual-meet-tournament, head coach Dave Castricone will have to wait until next year to win his 600th meet. He ends this season with 599.