Three Taconic Wrestlers Reach Semis at State Meet

WAYLAND, Mass. -- Defending Division 3 state champion Taconic enters the second day of the state meet in fifth place but with three wrestlers alive in their championship brackets.

 

Dylan Burke, Mike LaFreniere and Shawn O'Shea each reached the semi-finals with a pair of wins on Friday's first day of competition.

 

Burke, who is seeded first at 195 pounds, pinned Ashland's Erick Corvera late in the second period of their opening round match. Burke then advanced on a medical forfeit in the quarter-finals.

 

On Saturday, he faces C.J. Brown of host Wayland in the final four.

 

LaFreniere, the No. 2 seed at 132 pounds, earned a pair of pins on Friday.

 

First, he stopped Wilmington's Shane Penney at 4 minute, 20 seconds of their first round match. Then LaFreniere pinned Bristol County/Dighton Rehoboth's Alex Tommellini late in the first round in the quarters.

 

LaFreniere Saturday starts his day against Troy Forgitano of Georgetown-Ipswich with a chance to reach the finals.

 

O'Shea started Friday with a 12-4 major decision against Tyngsborough's Daniel Paulauskas. Then he pinned Doug Landry of Northbridge in 1:29.

 

O'Shea Saturdy faces Melrose's Matt Hickey in the semis.

 

Mount Everett has two wrestlers in Saturday's semi-finals.

 

At 106 pounds, No. 1 seed Nick Lupiani earned two first-period pins, stopping Sandwich's Gavin Potter and Holliston's David Touchette.

 

On Saturday Lupiani faces Norton's Steven Chaffee for a spot in the finals.

 

Zack Lupiani, who is seeded third at 126, also won with a pair of pins, stopping Bristol-Plymouth/Coyle Cassidy's Liam Norton in 2:08 and Gloucester's Daniel Beaton in 2:35.

 

Zack Lupiani Saturday wrestles Sandwich's Connor Keegan in the semi-finals.

 

Monument Mountain's Logan Mead is still alive for a state title. The No. 2 seed at 220 pounds pinned Pentucket's David Gil in the first round (4:47) and stopped Ashland's Colin Dagg in the quarter-finals (2:20).

 

In Satuday's semis, Mead takes on Nero Bono of Keefe Tech.

 

Neither of Mount Greylock's two competitors won his opener on Friday, but one remains alive in the consolation brackets.

 

Jack Rosier at 160 pounds dropped a 9-5 decision but came back to win twice in the wrestlebacks and reach Saturday's competition.

 

Rosier pinned Bristol-Plymouth's Dominic Pittman-Baptiste at 4:21 and then edged Mahar's Todd Chiasson, 4-3, to earn a shot on Saturday against Wayland's Damien Parseghian.

 

The Mounties' Ty Lepicier went 1-2 on Friday, earning a 9-8 decision against Cohasset's Shayne Galvin in his first consolation match before being pinned in his next bout.

 

Taconic, which sent a county-best seven into competition on Friday, has one competitor alive in the consolation brackets in addition to its three semi-finalists.

 

Ryan Scott at 145 earned a major decision (18-9) against Athol's Caleb Cox before dropping a 4-1 decision in the quarter-finals.

 

Scott came back and beat Quabbin's C.J. Podkowka, 6-2, in his first consy match to reach Saturday's competition.

 

In addition to Mead, the Spartans have one wrestler competing on Saturday. Caden O'Rourke at 195 went the distance in all three of his Friday matches.

 

He started with a 4-3 win over Athol's John Hicks but lost, 7-2, to Hanover/Norwell's Jack Long in the quarter-finals. O'Rourke then started his consolation bracket run with a 3-1 win over Ashland's Erick Corvera.

 

In the team race, Taconic has 40 points. Melrose leads the field with 74. Mount Everett starts the second day of competition in 13th place in a 54-team field.