Matmen beat Foxboro, place 2nd in
Peckham tourney
The CHS
wrestling team had a strong week, with a victory over Foxboro
and a second-place finish in the 13th annual James
Peckham Wrestling Tournament.
“It was an
extremely rewarding week,” coach Tom Bartosek said. “You work
hard and expect the best. This was one of our finest weeks ever.
First we improve to 11-4 with a win over Foxboro, and then we
place second at our tournament.”
The Bulldog
grapplers defeated Foxboro 51-25 on Wednesday. Winners for
Canton were Ian Mills, Kyle Forte, Matt Kelly, Billy Rothkopf,
Kevin Connolly, Will Alfano, Josh Matt, Darrius Wood and Bryan
Matthews.
On Saturday
Canton entered the Peckham tournament, knowing that they were
ready for a strong showing.
“With two of
our starters out for the year, we knew that everyone on the team
would have to wrestle well,” coach Brian Caffelle said. “Losing
both Nick Sullivan and John McCabe and sitting out Tyler Matt
put pressure on the rest of the team to step up.”
Connolly, a
junior (125-pound weight class) and senior Donovan Lewis (160)
brought home the gold for Canton. Seniors Forte (112) and Alfano
(140) and sophomore Josh Matt (145) took silver.
“I feel that
our training has been going well all year,” Lewis said. “We’ve
shown steady improvement and everyone is working hard. Josh
Matt, Ian Mills and Patrick Feeney had big-time performances for
the team. We needed them and they came through.”
Seniors
Rothkopf (119) and Feeney placed third, and freshman Mills
placed fourth (103).
“I was
disappointed at only taking second at my weight class,” Forte
said. “The pride of winning another trophy for the trophy case
made it a little easier to take.”
Norton placed
first with 149.5 points, followed by Canton with 118.5. Somerset
took third (116) with Dedham placing fourth (113). Sharon,
Xaverian, Bristol-Plymouth, Randolph and Middleboro rounded out
the nine-team field.
“This was a
very competitive tournament this year,” Alfano said. “Coach Mann
told us that we could finish as high as first and as low as
fifth. We had to make the most out of every match. We beat out
good teams like Somerset and Dedham because everyone pulled
together.”
“We didn’t
clinch second until the Somerset wrestler lost at heavyweight,”
coach Sean Rockwell said. “Every one of our wrestlers scored
points for the team, and that’s what it takes to do well in a
tournament. Although I would have liked to see more of our
wrestlers bring home trophies, it was a very productive day.”
“We walked
into the gym at 7 a.m. to set up for the tournament,” Rothkopf
noted. “When we walked out of the gym 11 hours later we were
very tired but extremely proud of the accomplishment. The
wrestlers who didn’t compete today did a great job at the tables
scoring and timing the matches. Their day will come when they
will be on the award stand getting their trophies. We can savor
it now but tomorrow we have to get ready for our next meet.”
The
Bulldogs travel to North Attleboro tonight (Thursday) for a
league match at 7. On Saturday, Canton hosts Hudson, Holliston
and Watertown in a non-league quad-meet at 10 a.m.
January 21, 2010
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