RallyNorth.net

NORTH ANDOVER — When you get to this stage of the year, it doesn't matter how you finish things off. Not as long as you cap the season with a title on the biggest of stages.

Dylan Barreiro's last victory of the campaign might not have been the prettiest, but the Pinkerton junior will now always have the tag of 195-pound New England champion.

Trailing 1-0 entering the final period, Barreiro took advantage of penalty points — one for stalling and another for starting before the whistle — to pull out a 3-1 win over Connecticut champ Khamri Thomas.

"He was backing up on me," said Barreiro, who ran his season record to 46-0. "He has a defensive style, and I have an offensive style, so I kept pushing the pace."

In the final, Barreiro tied the bout with 1:19 remaining and picked up the point for Thomas stalling shortly after. After avoiding being taking down with 6 seconds left, Barreiro received the final point when Thomas broke for a quick takedown before the whistle with 5 seconds remaining.

"It was a heck of a day overall," said Barreiro, who will take a 113-14 record into his senior season. "Once I got to the semis, I knew I just had to keep going and keep going. But with (Thomas') defensive style, I knew the championship would be low scoring."

In earlier matches, Barreiro opened action with a pin in 76 seconds followed by major decision scores of 11-1 in the quarters and 14-6 in the semifinals.

"Confidence is my game," Barreiro said. "I've been training and working my (butt) off, and now I finally got to my goal."

Butterbrodt finishes in style

Two-time defending champion and St. John's Prep senior Ian Butterbrodt, a North Andover native, capped his sterling career with a pin in 1:49 of Mt. Anthony's Jack Luciano at 220 pounds.

"My goal is always the same, at least at any good tournament," Butterbrodt replied when asked if he prepared any differently for this weekend. "My coach tells me to go to a room ... tell your family to stay away, so I won't see all the T-shirts with 'Team Butterbrodt' on them."

It was the third time Butterbrodt bested Luciano. The first meeting was a 1-0 decision, but the second outing was a prelude to the third.

"He's a tough kid," Luciano said. "I've wrestled him a couple times and given him a pretty decent match, but he's just so tough. Going out I knew what to expect, but I was really hoping for something more than I put out.

Finishing his high-school career as the state's all-time leader in victories with 223, Butterbrodt recorded earlier decisions over the Connecticut and Maine champions before routing the Vermont champ in the finals.

Other area placers

In one of the top consolation comebacks, defending New England champ Jean-Luc Lemieux of Londonderry rallied from an opening-round upset to the fifth-place finisher from Massachusetts to finish fourth at 138. Lemieux had won five consolation matches, including four pins en route to a 5-3 loss to the Rhode Island champ.

"Overall, I don't think (yesterday) was that bad," said Lemieux, who finished the year 49-5 one year after a 50-0 finish. "I didn't expect to do well after my first match, so just placing today was good for me."

Brian Lonergan of Timberlane, who lost in the semis, also rebounded to finish fourth at 182.

Another semifinal casualty was Pentucket's Josh Wesolowski, who finished fifth after a 10-8 victory over

"In the back of my mind, I knew this was going to be my last high school wrestling match," Wesolowski said. "I have all my coaches and family here, so I knew I had to get a win. I just did what I had to."

Another fifth-place finish went to Richard Bilodeau of Londonderry, who scored a 6-3 decision over Dan Wensley of Wakefield.

NASHUA — Before the season, Timberlane boasted three impressive streaks in New Hampshire — consecutive dual-meet wins (95), Division 1 state crowns (15) and Meet of Champions titles (11).

NASHUA — It couldn’t have been sweeter for Londonderry senior Jean-Luc Lemieux Saturday night at the Division 1 state wrestling meet. Gaining revenge for his first loss in New England in two years, two weeks ago in a heartbreaking dual-meet loss to Timberlane, Lemieux blanked Dan Scalzo 7-0 in the 138-pound championship match. That gave him his fourth state title in his memorable high school career. “Everything that could go wrong last time (against Scalzo) did go wrong and I was pretty upset about it,” said Lemieux. “I didn’t come to wrestle and I felt responsible for us losing. My coach said I shouldn’t, but I did. I was pretty determined to beat him today.” After a scoreless first period, Lemieux got a takedown, causing him to clap and jump for joy. He added a near fall in the second frame and another takedown in the final period. “That (first takedown) was definitely the tuurning point” said Lemieux, who improved to 43-2 on the year and was named the tourney Outstanding Wrestler. But the win over Scalzo wasn’t the sweetest part of it all. “Beating Timberlane was even better than me winning because everyone on the team has been working toward this,” said Lemieux. “It’s just great to have someone else on the podium (with the team title).” Yes, the Lancers came in first with 188 points, snapping Timberlane’s streak of 15 straight Division 1 titles. The Owls were second with 175 points followed by Concord (152 1/2) and Pinkerton (143). Joining Lemieux with titles for the Lancers were Kyle Byrd, who had a dramatic late takedown for a 3-1 win over Pinkerton’s Tyler Wilson in the title match, improving his record to 41-2, and Mahdi Achab, who held on for a 4-3 decision over Pinkerton’s Seamus Dolan in the 170-pound finale. Finishing second for the Lancers were 132-pounder Ryan Cabezas, who fell 3-2 to Nashua North’s Cam Bennett, and Richard Bilodeau, who wrestled a superb match before falling to unbeaten Dylan Barreiro of Pinkerton, 4-1. The Lancers also had three thirds, a pair of fourths, a fifth and a sixth place. “Those were great wins by Jean-Luc and Kyle but the bottom line is that it was a great team effort,” said Londonderry first-year coach Jason Cucolo. “We brought 12 wrestlers and all 12 placed. That says it all.” Timberlane certainly didn’t go down without a fight, matching the Lancers with three champs and a pair of runners-up. Winning titles for the Owls were Derek Bohle at 132, Ryan Peters at 145 and Brian Lonergan at 182. Bohle escaped with a tough 3-2 win over Concord’s Alex Kamau in the finals and Lonergan needed a late takedown to beat Concord’s George Tarwu 3-2. Peters, who improved to 38-2, had a workmanlike 10-0 major decision over Bedford’s Yurii Gromokov. In addition to Scalzo, Cam Altobelli was a runner-up at 152 and three Owls finished fourth. “I was happy with the way we competed and some of our younger guys did very well,” said Timberlane coach Barry Chooljian. “We just needed a little bit more. But we had 11 guys place for Meet of Champions and we’ll go back and try to win that. “I tip my cap to Londonderry. I thought they wrestled a very good tournament.”

Pinkerton thumped Bishop Guertin 46-18 but fell to host Concord 45-30 in a tri-meet.  Shayne McCann won twice at 120 and Dylan Barreiro remained unbeaten at 195, raising his record to 31-0. McCann currently is 34-1.

Pinkerton had three champions crowned on its way to finishing fourth at the Capital Classic in Concord, which was won by Bishop Hendricken, R.I.

Placing first for the Astros were Shayne McCann (113), Tyler Wilson (160) and undefeated Dylan Barreiro (195). Joey Lydick (220) and Deene Hill (285) both came in third.

Joey Lydick made a triumphant return to the lineup for Pinkerton Saturday  in a tri-meet sweep of Winnisquam and Milford. Lydick sprained his ACL in the first weekend of the season in the 220-pound finals of the Blue Devil Classicand has been in rehab until Saturday when he had two pins to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Londonderry continued its winning ways, and in impressive fashion, rolling to the title at the Pinkerton War duals, a tournament that included Mass. power Winchester.

The unbeaten Lancers (9-0) defeated Nashua North 51-24, Windham 47-27 and, in the finals, Concord 35-26. That was the second time in a week Londonderry had beatn the Crimson Tide, having beat them 33-32 three days earlier.

Freshmen Rob Pinault, Jacon Huberdeau and Jacob Post had pins and classmate Justin Berube recorded a 4-1 decision as Timberlane took care of Pinkerton, 51-24.

Freshman Jacob Post had a breakout tournament Saturday, helping Timberlane win the Cumberland, R.I. tournament, defeating runner-up Fairfield Warde by seven points.

Post came back in the consolation round to finish third, beating the No. 4 and 5 seeds twice each on his way, gaining a pin in the consolation finals.

Sophomore Shayne McCann had pins in 24 seconds and one minute as Pinkerton routed Manchester Memorial (61-12) and Goffstown (57-21). Four different Astros had two forfeits and never touched the mat.