Taconic Wrestlers in Second Place at Western Mass Meet
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Taconic High School wrestling team brought 12 competitors to the Western Massachusetts Division 3 tournament on Friday afternoon.
It will bring 11 back to compete on Saturday, and seven of them will have a chance to win an individual sectional title.
As a team, Taconic also is poised to make a run at the top prize as it goes into the second and final day of the tournament in second place out of 19 teams -- 10 points behind first-place Sabis.
Nick Bailey (126 pounds), Mason Papiro (132), Isiah Williams (145), Dylan Sickell (152), Tanner Hastings (160), Austin Houghtaling (182) and Dave Jones (285) each acvanced to the semi-final round, which will get under way at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Mount Greylock Regional School.
Taconic's coach was pleased with the first day but keeping his enthusiasm in check.
"Not bad," Jeremy Tetreault said. "We lost a few matches we shouldn't have lost. We won a few matches we shouldn't have won. Everything pretty much evened out.
"I knew Sabis was going to be one of the top teams to beat. My goal, like I said, was to place in the top four. We usually do well in the first couple of rounds. Then things start to even out, so we'll see."
Tetreault said he was pleased to see Ari Burke record her first career win over a boy at 113 pounds. Burke defeated Mahar's Owen Anderholm, 15-12, in the first round of the consolation bracket to stay alive in the wrestlebacks that are scheduled to start Saturday at 9:30.
Tetreault also was happy to see Hastings pin a tough opponent in Mount Greylock's David O'Brien in 59 seconds in the quarterfinals.
Hastings was one of five wrestlers on the Taconic-Pittsfield co-operative team to advance through the championship bracket on pins alone. At 132, Papiro got three pins, as he was in one of a couple of divisions that had a preliminary round.
Monument Mountain sends six wrestlers into the main draw semi-finals on Saturday.
Max Buffoni (98), Eli Jones (106), Stephen Cormier (138), Mark Leon-Duque (170), Robert Yvon (195) and Jacob Hines (285) each made it through the first two rounds unscathed.
Host Mount Greylock has five wrestlers alive in the main draw: Jude Rorke (120), Travis Hilchey (138), Devin Pelletier (152), Alex Griffis (195) and Hunter Abriel (220). The Mountie also have three wrestlers who won their first match in the wrestlebacks to stay alive for a podium finish.
The Mounties are a half point behind Monument for fourth place and a berth in the state meet. The two teams go head-to-head in the semis on Saturday morning at 138 when Monument's Cormier meets Hilchey and at 195 when Yvon takes on Griffis.
Mount Everett brought just five wrestlers to the sectional, but four of them are still wrestling, including three in the championship bracket.
Charles Kerzner (98), Patrick Fosby (113) and Bradley Lupiani (132) each won his first two matches of the meet on Friday. At 106, Anthony Lupiani received a bye in the first round but dropped into the consolation bracket with a loss in the quarterfinals.
Team scores: 1. Sabis 94.5; 2. Taconic 84.5; 3. Dean Tech 84.0; 4. Monument Mountain 66.0; 5. Mount Greylock 65.5; 6. Hampden Charter 49.0; 7. Hampshire Regional 45.0; 8. Granby 39.5; 9. South Hadley 38.5; 10. Franklin Tech 32.0; 11. Frontier 30.0; 12. Athol 28.0; 13. Pathfinder 26.0; 14. Southwick 25.0; 15. Mount Everett 23.0; 16. Gateway 22.0; 17. Mahr 20.0; 18. Belchertown 17.0; 19. Smith Voc 13.0.