SPRINGFIELD — Three Franklin County wrestlers moved on to New England competition after their performances at the MIAA All-State Championship held on Sunday and Monday at the MassMutual Center.
Dillon Laffond of Franklin Tech placed fourth in the 285-pound bracket to secure his spot. In the third-place match, Laffond lost a 3-0 decision to Atilio Colon of Lowell. Laffond beat Colon in the quarterfinals the day before. He is the second male wrestler in Franklin Tech history to reach competition at the New England level. Kyle Laffey accomplished the task in 2014.
“I am pretty happy with how I wrestled,” Laffond said. That kid I just lost to for third and fourth I beat earlier. He’s ranked third in the state. I lost to the second ranked kid in the state by one point…I placed the highest from anyone from our school. It feels good.”
At New Englands, Laffond will not change his approach.
“Just keep doing what I’ve been doing all year,” Laffond said. “Not really trying to change too much.”
Laffond entered day one on Sunday as the No. 3 seed in the 285-pound bracket. He opened with a pin (1:50) of Nathan Pailler of Mansfield in the Round of 16. Laffond followed with a close decision (2-1) victory over Colon in the quarterfinals. A reversal in the third period gave Laffond the decisive points over Colon. The senior picked up a quick pin (33 seconds) against Jariel Atilles-Javier of Lawrence in the consolation semifinals.
Second-seeded Scott Santos of Melrose handed Laffond a 2-1 loss in the semifinals.
Frontier Regional’s Jocelyn Antes (126) won in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Antes pinned Cecilia Pioggia (1:19) of Agawam to move on to the next round. In her semifinal match up on Monday, Antes’ run came to an end in an 8-0 major decision loss to Luca Marshall of Tri-County. In the third-place match, Antes lost a 5-3 decision to Alex Plowman of Lowell.
“I was trying to prove that I am one of the better wrestlers, even at a new weight class,” Antes said. “I don’t wrestle 126. I’ve only done it a couple times to gets points on the board for the team. Even giving up close to five to seven pounds I was still one of the more dominant wrestlers in the weight class.”
Ava Eddy (152) of Franklin also took fourth for the Eagles. In the consolation semifinals, Eddy pinned (3:38) Cassidy Robertson of North Metro Tech to earn a spot in the match for third place.
Eddy lost to Cherrish Remy of Milton by major decision (12-2) in the third place match.
Ainsley Southergill of Frontier picked up a win by fall in the 114-pound consolation bracket. The eighth grader pinned (4:44) Keslie Hunt of Malden Catholic.
The New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championship will be held on March 7 and 8 at the Providence Career & Technical Academy in Providence, R.I.