RallyNorth.net

Sat, Jun 26, 2021 06:30 PM @ Milford

Team	Final
Central Catholic	2
Milford	0

Precocious freshmen: Nicolosi, Blanchette win All-State wrestling titles

Sunday, June, 27 By Dave Dyer

They’re so different and yet they’re so much alike.

They are Haverhill’s Brent Nicolosi and Central Catholic’s Nate Blanchette of Methuen, both of whom won All-State titles Saturday at the Mass. Wrestling Association-sponsored tournament in Milford, N.H.

They were joined on the top of the podium by Central Catholic senior Anthony Mears, who coasted to the 220-pound All-State crown, winning 8-3 in the finals.

The dark-haired Nicolosi is soft spoken and totally focused on wrestling while the red-haired Blanchette is more talkative and just as accomplished in judo as he is in wrestling.

On the similar side, they are both confident freshmen and had dominant high school wrestling seasons, including at the All-State meet.

Nicolosi wasn’t even challenged at All-State. He opened up with pins in 38 and 36 seconds, had a 15-0 technical fall in the quarterfinals, a 7-1 decision in the semifinals and then had a 9-1 major decision over Central Catholic’s Stephen Donovan in the finals.

That caps quite a year for Nicolosi, the younger brother of 2020 New England champ Jake Nicolosi. He finished eighth at the club-sponsored New England tournament, was 11-0 in dual meets and was fifth at Freshman Nationals, which he considers his greatest accomplishment thus far.

Comparing him to his brother, Haverhill coach Tim Lawlor says that the younger Nicolosi is “light years ahead of where Jake was as a freshman and, skill-wise, he’s comparable to him right now.

“The thing about him is that he’s so mature and poised for a freshman.”

The same can be said for Blanchette, who was also unbeaten in dual meets and rarely challenged. At All-State, he had three first period pins and, while he only beat Christian Belman of Saugus 4-2 in the finals, he was ahead 4-0 and in control all the way.

Twice a New England Youth Champion, Blanchette said he was confident going into the tournament despite oddly being seeded sixth and said that his high school season “was not that different from youth.”

As for Mears, he was seeded first at 220 pounds and wrestled like a top seed. He came in confident and said: “You can’t defeat 220 pounds of twisted steel and strength appeal.”

Central had another finalist in 138-pounder Jimmy Glynn, who finished second after losing a tough 5-2 double overtime decision to Burlington’s Zach Soda, whose brother Cameron was the 132-pound champ after edging Dracut’s Dante Rossetti 1-0 in the finals.

BIG DAY FOR CENTRAL

It was a big day all the way around for Central Catholic, which opted out of the dual-meet tournament due to sickness to several of its wrestlers.

In addition to the titles for Blanchette and Mears’ and the runner-up places for Glynn and Donovan, Jackie Dehney came in fourth at 113. She dropped two one-point decisions on late takedowns. Also, James Bohenko came in seventh at 120.

“To have six placers I think shows what kind of team we had this year,” said Central coach Jamie Durkin, whose team was unbeaten in the regular season.

It also takes some of the sting out of not competing for the dual-meet Division 2 crown.

“That was tough not wrestling but we came here and showed what we can do,” said Mears.

HAVERHILL’S FINE SHOWING

Nicolosi wasn’t the only Hillie who wrestled well at All-State. Junior captain Ben Davoli finished fourth at talent-stacked 132 pounds and eighth grader Cale Wood came in fourth at 106.

In addition, three Whittier Tech wrestlers from Haverhill placed. Jeremais Collazo was fourth at 182, losing a tough 3-2 decision in the consolation finals, Jeremy Rousseau was seventh at 220 and older brother Lukas Rousseau was eighth at 152.

Collazo and Lukas Rousseau were undefeated in the regular season for Whittier, which will face Natick in the Division 2 state semifinals Monday.

Andover had a pair of fifths in Jonathan Davila (152) and Sean Ballou (182) while Greater Lawrence got a fifth from Amauris Gomez (170) and a sixth from Aden Ranno (126).

North Andover placed Jack Carbone fifth at 195 and Cam Watson eighth at 170. Lawrence heavyweight Brandon Lavasta was eighth.

NO PREP WRESTLERS

Although nearly every top team sent wrestlers to the All-State, St. John’s Prep did not, opting to focus on winning the Division 1 dual-meet tournament. The Prep hosts St. John’s of Shrewsbury Monday at 6 p.m. in the state semifinals.

Thus, likely All-State placers and potential winners like former Pentucket star Tyler Knox, who is a New England champ and ranked nationally, and Rawson Iwanicki of Andover did not compete.

Mass. Wrestling All-State

at Milford, N.H.

Winners and local placers

106: 1. Miles Darling (Masco), 3. Cale Wood (Haverhill); 113: 1. Isiac Paulino (Montachusett), 4. Jackie Dehney (Central); 120: 1. Jonah Paulino (Montachusett), 7. James Bohenko (Central); 126: 1. Austin Monteiro (MetroWest), 6. Aden Ranno (Gr. Lawrence); 132: 1. Cameron Soda (Burlington), 4. Ben Davoli (Haverhill); 138: 1. Zachary Soda (Burlington), 2. Jimmy Glynn (Central); 145: 1. Brent Nicolosi (Haverhill); 152: 1. Lucien Perla (Doughboy), 5. Jonathan Davila (Andover), 8. Lukas Rousseau (Whittier); 160: 1. Nate Blanchette (Central); 170: 1. Jeremy Neale (Foxboro), 5. Amauris Gomez (Gr. Lawrence), 8. Cam Watson (North Andover); 182: 1. Christian Glaropoulos (Mansfield), 4. Jeremias Collazo (Whittier), 5. Sean Ballou (Andover); 195: 1. Mark Thomas (Tyngsboro), 5. Jack Carbone (North Andover); 220: 1. Anthony Mears (Central), 7. Jeremy Rousseau (Whittier); HVY: 1. Tristan Kemp (Quabbin), 6. Brandon Lavasta (Lawrence)