Athol High School’s Chris Waslaske and Mahar Regional School’s Jon Mahoney are both two wins away from a Division 3 State Wrestling championship.
The duo each won a pair of matches during Day 1 of the two-day tournament, which began Friday at Wakefield High School. Action resumes this morning at 9:30 with championship semifinals, as well as consolation round of eight.
Waslaske pinned his way to today’s semifinals at 182 pounds. The central Mass. champion opened the tournament with a 55-second pin over Pentucket’s David Gil and followed it up with a pin in 1:23 over Smith Voke’s James Buddluph in the quarterfinals. That sets up Waslaske to face Wakefield’s Mike Yirrell in the semifinals. Yirrell was second in the North sectional last weekend.
Mahoney, meanwhile, found all of his success in the second period on opening night. He opened his night with a pin over Kyle Willette of Bistol Aggie in 3:01, and then followed that up with by pinning Jorge Maldonado of Marblehead/Swampscott in 2:48. He now turns his attention to Melrose’s Hunter Adrian, who won the North sectional last weekend.
Nine area wrestlers remain in contention for at least a third place finish in the consolation bracket. Frontier’s Ovidiu Nichita is still alive at 113 following a 1-1 day. Nichita was pinned by Tre Aulson of Georgetown-Ipswich in the first period of his opening match, but rebounded to pin Quabbin’s Kenny Stolgitis in the second period of the consolation round.
A pair of area wrestlers remain alive in the 152-pound consolation round. Frontier’s Ito McMillan opened the tournament with a technical fall loss to Melrose’s Sean Herbert, 15-0, but moved on to the consolation round where he earned a victory by forfeit to move on. Mahar’s Henry Ndayisaba also opened at 152 with a loss when he was pinned by Sandwich’s Paul Cody late in the first period, but he bounced back in the consolation round when he pinned Sam Cormier of Monument Mountain at 5:15.
Athol’s Caleb Cox also competed at 152 but was eliminated in two straight matches as he opened the tournament by getting pinned late in the first period by Ladd Tserelov of Cohasset, and then fell to Thomas Czartoryski of Hampden Charter, 4-3, in the consolation round.
Mahar’s Todd Chiasson is still alive at 160 pounds after going 1-1 on the day. Chiasson opened the tournament with a 10-5 loss to Matt Mansfield of Georgetown-Ipswich but recovered in the consolation round to defeat Nicholas Andreasen of Norton, 4-2. Athol’s Joe Gray also competed at 160 where he fell by first-period pin to Wakefield’s Joao Valdevino, and then was eliminated from the tournament in the consolation round with a first-period pin to Tyreece Cherival of Hampden Charter.
A pair of local wrestlers remain alive in the 170-pound bracket. Brody Wood, who won the weight at WMass, opened up with a loss to Ian Griffiths of Bedford, who pinned Wood midway through the second period. Wood recovered and earned a second-period pin over Foxborough’s Tom Cullen in his first bout in the consolation round, and he advanced to the consolation quarterfinals by virtue of an injury forfeit. Mahar’s Peter Tattan is also alive at 170. Tattan opened the tournament with a second-period pin over Bristol Aggie’s Keegan Seagrave, but was eliminated from the championship bracket by Anthony Ostrander in the quarterfinals, who earned a 4-1 win. Tattan will open today in the consolation bracket.
Frontier’s Nate Austin remains in contention at 195 pounds. Austin was pinned by Middleborough’s Peter Calogero in the second period of his opening match, but pinned John Hicks of Athol in 53 seconds in the first round of consolation action. Hicks, who was pinned in 58 seconds by Wakefield’s Derek DiMascio in his opening match, was eliminated from the tournament.
Franklin Tech’s Walker Picard opened the tournament at 220 pounds with a 5-3 decision over Norton’s Kyle McGurr, but he lost his quarterfinal match to OJ Pekacar of Dedham but first-period pin. Picard will begin today in the consolation round.
Jackie Phong of Frontier was pinned in his first bout of the day in the first period by Kurtees Poisson of Bristol-Plymouth, but remains alive in the consolation round following a second-period pin over Wakefield’s Nathan Ickes.
Franklin Tech’s Josh Brunelle went 0-2 and was eliminated at 120 pounds. Brunelle opened with a 6-4 loss to Nick Crupi of Ashland. He was eliminated with a 6-0 loss to Geno Tirone of Georgetown-Ipswich. Teammate Colin Pettis was also eliminated from the field at 132 pounds. Pettis faced Norton’s Tyler Elliott in the first round and Elliott scored an escape and a takedown in the second period to account for all of the scoring in a 3-0 victory. Pettis was then eliminated in the consolation round by Erik Sweeney of Wayland, who picked up a 10-4 victory.
The 138-pound bracket saw a pair of locals fall by the wayside. Frontier’s Jake Mattson was pinned in 45 seconds by Tommy Gallagher of Foxborough in his first match before he was eliminated by Tri-County’s Tyler Goddard, who won by technical fall, 16-1, in the third period. Justin deDiego of Mahar also competed at 138. He opened his tournament by getting pinned in 1:04 by Josh Ducharme of Tyngsborough and was then eliminated by Zach Mathes of Taconic when Mathes scored a pin at 3:50.