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READING — Area wrestlers claimed three individual all-state titles here yesterday.

One came relatively easy.

Another was a little tougher.

But the third might have come with a very heavy price.

Methuen's Darius Franklin opened the second period of a scoreless 182-pound classic between longtime rivals with a quick move to his feet from the down position. But Lowell nemesis and top-seed Malik Settles immediatley brought the sixth-seeded Franklin back to the mat.

Unfortunately, Franklin's head bounced hard off the mat after the ferocious slam, leaving the Ranger senior on his stomach near the center of the mat.

And there he remained motionless except for some movement in his left leg until paramedics arrived, rolled him onto a stretcher about a half hour later and wheeled him to an awaiting ambulance.

"Thery're taking him to I think Winchester Hospital to be evaluated," said concerned Methuen coach Bill James. "Obviously it is an unfortunate situation. (Settles) lifted him up and kind of lost control and landed him in an awkward position.

"I think he was ( unconscious) for a period of time and obviously he wasn't moving for a bit. Beyond that, it's up to the doctors to tell us what's going on. But obviously he's pretty hurt."

There were optimistic signs, however, the longer he lay on the mat.

"He was talking a little bit," said James, who remained at Franklin's side the entire time. "Towards the middle and the end (of his stay on the mat), he knew what day it was and he knew where he was at, so that's good.

"(The trainors) just wanted to talk to him and make sure he was fairly alert. I just wanted to make sure he stayed awake and keep him talking. We'll have to figure out what was going on."

As for the match outcome, Franklin earned the title by injury default as a result of an illegal slam. Settles had defeated Franklin the previous two weekends at the Division 1 North Sectional and state tournaments.

"When you lift a person up, you have to return him to the mat with care," James said. "And since (Settles) didn't do that ... Darius ended up winning the match. But obviously we'd much rather out there healthy, so anything else isn't important right now."

Desfosses dominates again

Central Catholic's Brandon Desfosses remained perfect for his senior season with a workmanlike 7-1 decision over Davey Goodall of Chelmsford in the 152-pound final. The top seed in all three postseason tournaments, Desfosses ran his record to 43-0 on the season and 153-17 in his career.

"I've just kept taking it one match at a time," Desfosses said of living up to his top billing. "Once you get to these stages everyone you face is good. So you have to wrestle everyone smart."

At Reading, Desfosses won his four matches by a convincing 33-8, including a tough 3-1 decision over No. 4 seed Reece Millington of Haverhill, who finished sixth.

"I knew my semifinal match was going to be a real tough one going against the kid from Haverhill," Desfosses said. "But I think I stayed smart wrestling against him, and then in the finals I just laid everything out."

Carnevale a champ

St. John's Prep heavyweight Jay Carnevale of North Andover needed overtime, but used an escape to eke out a 2-1 decision over Hopkinton's Josh Sokol, who also finished second last year.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Carnevale (61-1, 137-32) said of his electric move to open the overtime for the escape. "But that's what practice is for. When it matters most you rely on what you know."

Wehring runnerup

Methuen's other title contender was 126-pound hopeful Billy Wehring, who finished third last year. This time through, the senior improved one position after dropping a 3-0 decision to Foxboro's Matt Kelley, who was the 113-pound champ last year.

"He was just a scrambler," Wehring said of the victor. "He had some good moves. I would have liked to do a little bit better, but I'll be happy with what I did."

Wehring (52-4, 194-22) reached the finals with a sudden 2-0 overtime victory against top-seeded Josh Lee of Burlington

"It was 0-0 going into overtime," he said. "We were both having a hard time scoring. But I ended up catching him and getting the takedown."

BEVERLY — You know how high expectations must be for a team when a 60-point rout in the sectionals leaves a coach unsure of his squad's success.

But that was the result of Central Catholic's lopsided run through the Division 2 North field yesterday at Beveryly High School as four Raiders claimed crowns en route to a 216.5 point finish.

Tom Pagliarulo had no complaints Saturday afternoon after the Central Catholic wrestling team fell just short of winning the Division 2 state dual-meet title.

How could he? The senior captain from Haverhill certainly did his part as the Raiders won three straight meets, including an impressive 40-22 victory over Natick in the semifinals before succumbing to powerful North Attleboro, 39-22, in the finals.

Central Catholic senior Dan Doherty, who had a big pin against Chelmsford earlier in the week, had three pins in the Raiders' easy quad-meet sweep to improve to 17-4 on the year. Nolan Donovan was 2-0 with two pins at 160 to improve to 29-1 on the year and Tom Pagliarulo was 3-0 with two pins to improve to 32-2. Central improved to 17-1 on the season.

CHELMSFORD — In a battle of Merrimack Valley Conference unbeatens, Central Catholic came up just short Wednesday night.

In a meet that came down to the last match of the night, Central's Tom Moeller battled gallantly at 182 before dropping a 12-7 decision. That gave Chelmsford a 37-33 victory and lifted its record to 13-0.

Central Catholic remained unbeaten (14-0) with a Merrimack Valley Conference quad-meet at Lawrence, the closest meet a 44-30 win over the host Lancers. Joey Sanchez had three pins, alternating between 132 and 138, and Brandon Desfosses remained unbeaten with two wins at 160 and another at 170 while Donovan Nolan had three pins at 160 and 170 and Tom Pagliarulo was also 3-0.

Central Catholic, despite shuffling its lineup, easily won a home quad meet to improve to 10-0.

Central Catholic improved to 6-0 after capturing the Nashoba Dual-Meet Tournament, coasting to three wins before beating defending Division 2 state champ Nashoba 45-35 in the finals. Donovan Nolan was 4-0 with three pins and was named Central's MVP of the tournament.

Donovan Nolan had a second period pin at 160 and he and Central Catholic remained unbeaten with a 52-28 romp over Dracut.

Central Catholic had its best tournament in recent memory, crowning five champions rolling to the championship of the Wayland Tournamnt, defeating runner-up MVC rival Central Catholic by 40 points.