Candelari Takes Silver, Leads Eagles to Fourth-Place Finish

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- Mount Everett's Tyler Candelari placed second in the state to lead the Eagles to a fourth-place finish at the Division 3 State Championships on Saturday.

 

Candelari earned a first-period pin over Wakefield's Andrew Valley in their semi-final at 126 pounds to start the day.

 

In the title bout, Tewksbury's Jack Callahan earned a pin to take first place.

 

Candelari was the only Berkshire County wrestler to advance to the championship round at the two-day event at Wakefield High School.

 

His teammate, Connor Lupiani, finished his weekend with a win in the third-place bout at 113 pounds.

 

Lupiani went 3-2 at the meet. After losing in a third-period pin in the semi-finals on Saturday morning, he came back to pin Tewksbury's Angelo Desisto and Monument Mountain's Colin Kinne to win the consolation bracket.

 

At 106, Mount Everett's Diego Cruz dropped a 12-10 decision in the semi-finals on Saturday. He then pinned Smith Voc's Mateo Henriques in the consys before falling to Carver's Coleson Tully in a decision.

 

All five Mount Everett wrestlers placed in the state meet. Omar Cruz finished sixth at 138, and Max Manning placed eighth at 120.

 

As a team, the Eagles finished with 81 points. Melrose won the team championsihp with 179 points.

 

Taconic finished ninth, the second best showing by a Western Mass team at the tournament.

 

A pair of Thunder wrestlers ended their weekend with wins in the third-place match.

 

At 160 pounds, Noah Poirier pinned Danvers' Joseph Baker in the consolation bracket. At 170, earned a decision over Gateway's Eli Gilbert in the third-place match.

 

For Monument Mountain, which placed 19th, Luke Hartshorn (195) finished fifth in the state in addition to Kinne's fourth-place finish.

 

Mount Greylock placed 47th in the 55-team field.