Lupiani Sets Mount Everett Wins Record, Wins Mountie Invite Title
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Mount Everett's Bradley Lupiani has done a lot more winning than losing on a high school wrestling mat.
But on Saturday, when Lupiani was trying to break the school record for wins, Bradley's coach and father was thinking of one of the senior's rare losses.
"I was just thinking, last year when he went to break 100 wins, it was a similar kind of thing," Dave Lupiani said at the end of the 23rd annual Mountie Invitational.
"And [last year], the guy beat him. Now, this is for the school record, and I'm thinking, 'Oh, not again.' "
Not this time.
This time, Bradley rallied with a reverse and three back points for a 6-4 win over Narragansett's Cole McGill in the finals of the 132-pound weight class. That made 152 wins in Lupiani's career.
"I didn't wrestle too well, but the last 30 seconds, I pulled it out and got the win," Lupiani said.
"I've been thinking about [the school record] since last year. Once I got to 134 [wins], I knew it was doable. I knew I needed 17 wins, and I usually get 30 to 40 in a season.
"It feels good. I'm sure one of my brothers will come up and break it, but it feels good to have it right now."
Anthony Lupiani piked up two wins in the consolation bracket on Saturday before losing in the consolation semi-finals at 106 pounds. The eighth-grader is 12-8 this season.
The eldest Lupiani said that Bradley Lupiani has eclipsed the school wins mark and won two Western Mass titles despite making wrestling just one of his athletic priorities.
"He's not committed only to wrestling," Dave Lupiani said. "If he was, he'd probably be unbelievable. But no, he plays a lot of baseball. he's a three-sport star [including soccer].
"If he did [do summer wrestling camps], he'd be right there. He'd really be right there. But he wants to do other things, which I understand."
The Lupiani brothers helped the Eagles soar to eighth place in the 22-team field at the invitational, which attracts teams from Vermont, New York's Capital District and Rhode Island.
The Ocean State's Chariho won the team title with 175.5 points, beating out North Providence with 160. Host Mount Greylock finished third (145), and Taconic was fourth (143.5).
"Not too bad," Taconic coach Jeremy Tetreault said. "I was hoping we'd squeak in there as a third. We're a smaller team, but we're a good touranment team."
Tetreault and Taconic will be back at Mount Greylock Regional School Feb. 13 and 14 for the Western Massachusetts sectionals. He said if his team keeps improving, it could challenge for one of the top for spots to get to the state meet.
Tetreault said he expects Mount Greylock and Monument [which did not compete in Williamstown on Saturday] to be among the teams to beat for those four spots.
On Saturday, the Mounties had four wrestlers make it to the championship finals, and one came away with an individual title.
At 152 pounds, Devin Pelletier pinned Jeb Hodsden of Vergennes, Vt., at 2 minutes, 52 seconds.
The Mounties got runner-up finishes from Jude Rorke at 120, Travis Hilchey at 138 and Alex Griffis at 195.
Two Mount Greylock wrestlers made it to the consolation finals. Roy Malone lost in the 126 consy final; Dakota lane lost at 170.
Taconic took one individual title, giving top-of-the-podium appearance to each Berkshire County school in attendance.
At 126, Nick Bailey earned a 12-8 decision over South Hadley's Jack Greaney.
Taconic also got finals appearances from Isaiah Williams at 145 and Tyler Klose at 170.
Three Taconic wrestlers finished their day with wins in the consy bracket for third-place finishes: Austin Houghtaling (182), Josh Broskey (195) and Dave Jones (285).
Tetreault was impressed with Williams' run to the finals, which included a 4-3 "ultimate tie-breaker" win over Chariho's Josh Monteiro in the semis.
"He impressed me a lot," Tetreault said of the sophomore. "I think he's getting good in the scrambles. Anytime there's a scramble, he has really good hips.
"He's young, but as he learns more wrestling, he's going to do nothing but keep getting better."