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All-States: Hoehn redemption

Saturday, February, 28 By Jeff Hamrick

SALEM — Fritz Hoehn had had enough.

One week after nonchalantly winning his third consecutive Division 2 state title, the North Andover senior entered the All State tournament focused on reversing the losses he'd suffered in his previous three attempts at an overall state title.

Turned out he was pretty emphatic about avoiding another disappointment.

Hoehn recorded his third technical fall in four weekend matches, dominating Springfield Central's Jastice Bolden in a 17-2 win that was stopped with 50 seconds remaining.

"I've never won this before," said Hoehn, who was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler at the upper weights after running his season record to 52-0. "I've lost three times in the finals here so I wanted to make sure I was ready to go. It feels pretty good."

An Edinboro University commit, Hoehn, who also recorded a tech fall over Bolden in a dual tournament earlier in the season, previously had lost title bouts at 138 pounds as a freshman, 152 pounds as a sophomore and 160 pounds last year.

"This is like something over my head because of those three losses being a No. 1 seed," said Hoehn, a two-time fourth-place finisher at New Englands. "So it just feels real good to win this one. It's a big one. I should be going to New Englands (confident)."

Hoehn, who is now 191-15 on his career, also piled up 17 points winning his first two matches before defeating Methuen sophomore Darius Franklin in the semis. In the title bout, he had Bolden on his back in 20 seconds.

Butterbrodt success

St. John's Prep senior Ian Butterbrodt, who last week became the state's all-time leader in victories, claimed his third straight state title.

But it didn't come as easily as most would have predicted for the wrestler who has won 219 matches. In fact, Butterbrodt found himself trailing 4-1 with less than a minute left in the second. But the defending New England champ reestablished control, racking up five points the final 46 seconds of the period for a 6-4 decision over Arlington's Nick Rose.

"He was strong," Butterbrodt said of Rose, who won the D2 title last week. "But that's cool. I'm not really used to feeling someone coming at me hard. So when a kid comes out and gives it his all, it's different."

Methuen medalists

Senior Billy Wehring and sophomore Franklin, the only two Rangers in the tournament finished strong after semifinal losses with third-place finishes

Wehring, who suffered a two-point loss in the semis, atoned for a regular-season loss to Central Catholic's Jack Kiely with a 4-0 win in the consolation semifinals before defeating Woburn's Nick Camacho.

Meanwhile, Franklin rebounded from his second loss to Hoehn in two years, staking a claim on a bright future after his 5-1 win over Catholic Memorial's Josh Beche, who lost to Hoehn in the D2 tourney.

Last year, Franklin's season ended at 27-1 when he tore right-knee ligaments in an 8-4 dual-meet decision to Hoehn.

"He gave me my first loss in my wrestling career," said Franklin, 41-5 on the season. "I was a little nervous coming in. I was kind of afraid, because I didn't know if I could place. But after that first match when I pinned my kid (in 3:22), I wanted to strive for more and go after it.

Area roundup

Pentucket senior Josh Wesolowski continued his outstanding career by finishing third at 132 after dropping his semifinal to D1 champ Russel Fey of Lincoln-Sudbury. A fourth-place finisher last year, Wesolowski scored a 9-2 decision over Mr. Everett's Bradley Lupiani.

Other area placers were Haverhill's Reece Millington (145) and Central Catholic's Donovan Nolan, who both finished sixth, and Lawrence' Rafael Medina (160) and Haverhill's Luc Chretien (195), who both finished seventh.

Coaches honored

Former Methuen star and Pentucket coach Sean Kiley was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Lawrence coach Rob Niceforo was honored with several other coaches for compiling 200 career wins.

Odds and ends

There were five rematches of last week's divisional finals, including three from Division 3. The only two upsets also came from the Division 3 ranks.

Springfield Central's Jonathan Viruet won his third straight All-State title with a 160-pound championship.

Viruet's win paced Springfield Central's team victory with 94 points, far ahead of runner-up Arlington's 74.5. Methuen was the leading area team, but far back with 39 points.