RallyNorth.net

Sat, Feb 29, 2020 09:00 AM @ Methuen

Team	Final
Central Catholic	70
Methuen	15

Glynn gets his All-State title

Saturday, February, 29 By Jeff Hamrick

METHUEN – Mike Glynn knew all about being a runner-up.

Saturday, he earned his All-State crown.

The Central Catholic senior, who finished twice each of the previous two seasons, had his way with the tough 138-pound field at Methuen, earning four decisions by a combined 44-12.

“I always want to win, but I didn’t do anything different today,” said Glynn, who ran his record to 55-1. “I prepared like I always do. My coaches and my teammates help me prepare for every moment. I didn’t win the last two, but I didn’t do anything different.”

Glynn saw his perfect season quashed in the finals of the Division 2 tourney a week ago, but he bounced back as the fourth seed Saturday, defeating Lawrence’s John Vazquez in the quarters before squaring off with Division 1 champ Rawson Iwanicki, of St. John’s Prep in the semis. Glynn dominated Iwanicki, an Andover resident, in an 11-4 decision before routing sixth-seed Adam Bernhardt of Newton South 11-3 in the title bout.

“It’s a good accomplishment, but I’m on to the next week, now,” Glynn said. “I want to win New Englands (where he finished third last year at 120). I haven’t won that either. I’m glad to have got this win to help the team get second.”

For the second year in a row, Central Catholic (70.5) finished second behind Springfield Central (119). Chelmsford (70), Melrose (68) and St. John’s Prep (68) rounded out the top five. Haverhill was 12th with 43 points, four spots ahead of Lawrence (36). Other local squads were North Andover (33), Andover (18) and Methuen (15).

“We wrestled pretty good,” Central coach Jamie Dunkin said. “Second place is pretty good. Mikey Glynn wrestled a helluva tournament. (Last week’s loss) gave him some fire to win an All-State title. Sure enough, he wrestled above what I thought he’d wrestle, which is great. That was a dominating win over (Iwanicki).”

Other Raiders earning a trip to next week’s New Englands tournament at Methuen are Jimmy Glynn, who ran his record to 48-5 with a third-place finish at 106; 220-pounder Anthony Mears, who is 48-6 after his fourth-place; and Nate Vachon, who won the D1 title last week, bounced back from a first-round loss to finish sixth at 145 and is 38-10.

“I think I wrestled OK in the semis (where he lost to eventual champ Zachary Soda),” Jimmy Glynn, seeded eighth, said. “I battled back and took third, so it was good.

Nicolosi takes second

Haverhill’s 145-pounder Jake Nicolosi, seeded seventh, had a roller-coaster day that started with a buzzer-beating semifinal win over sixth-seeded Michael Bobola of Xaverian.

Bobola squashed Nicolosi’s perfect season in the D1 semis last week with a 9-4 decision and had the Hillie senior in dire straits, leading 7-4 after a reversal with 42 seconds left. Nicolosi rallied with an escape, earned another point when Bobola was penalized for stalling before winning an 8-7 decision by taking Bobola to the mat as the buzzer sounded and the No. 2 referee making the call.

“I was down 5-1 (in the first period),” Nicolosi said. “I knew I could do it. We had a scramble with about 15 seconds left, but I got him with three seconds left (when he made his move for the takedown). I had no pressure today. I was looking forward to wrestling (Bobola again).”

A third-place finisher at 138 a year ago, Nicolosi (36-2 on the year and 172-29 in his career) ran out of steam in the title bout, getting pinned by top-seeded Mahari Miller of Springfield Central with two seconds remaining in the first period.

“I really wanted to be a state champ,” said Nicolosi, who defeated Miller three times last year. “He took me down. I reached back trying to do something, but he just capitalized on it (for the pin).

Ford comes up shy

One week after pinning Hingham’s Kaya Boyle despite trailing late in the D2 finals, North Andover’s Ethan Ford found himself facing the same opponent with another title at stake.

This time the fifth-seeded Boyle scored eight consecutive points in an 11-7 victory over the third-seeded Ford (46-4). It was Boyle’s second win in three matches against Ford this season.

“It just goes either way with the two of us,” Ford said. “We’re both solid. We both wrestle each other real good. We have separate techniques, and whoever pulls through with their technique that day wins the match.”

Other area qualifiers

Nicolosi will be joined at New Englands by teammate Ben Davoli, who finished third at 113, and North Andover’s Jack Carbone, sixth at 195, will tag along with Ford.

Lawrence advanced two wrestlers as John Vazquez was fourth at the competitive 138-pound weight class, and Luis Mauricio was fifth at 106.

Elias Maita, who became Andover’s first divisional state champ last week, finished fourth at 160 as did Methuen’s CJ Brown at 170.

Iwanicki bounced back from the semifinal loss to Glynn at 138, to finish third.