Winchester Wrestlers Win Sectional Title

The following was submitted by Winchester parent Phillip Stern.

Winchester outscored perennial rival North Andover 247.5 to 238.5 to win the Division II North Sectional Championship on Saturday, Feb. 4. The Sachems last won the Sectional Tournament in 2008 and continued pinning their way to the Division III State Championship. Now the Sachems compete in the stronger Division II and are ranked No. 3 in the state behind Division I powers Methuen and Framingham.

At the Sectionals, 13 out of 14 Sachem wrestlers ended up on the podium. Heavyweight Dan McGurl wrestled in the last match of the day but it was worth the wait as he ended up on the top of the podium as Sectional Champion. He won his first two matches by pin, but had to work the entire six minutes in the championship bout to earn a 7-5 victory over Dave Veilleux of Central Catholic.

Four Sachems took second place: Nick Stern won his first two matches by large margins, but only managed one takedown against Steve Giampapa of Burlington to lose 6-2 in the finals.

Steve Spry had no points scored on him in his first two matches, but reigning New England Champion Ryan O’Boyle of Central Catholic managed to pin Spry to secure first place. A similar fate awaited Doug MacDonald who lost by pin to No. 1 ranked Fritz Hoehn of North Andover, after earning his way into the finals with an upset over a Adalin Cueto of Salem in an exciting overtime victory.

Ryan Kelley was the third Sachem wrestle for first place against an opponent ranked No. 1 in Massachusetts. Kelley lost an agonizingly close match against Ryan Neals of North Andover. Expect these two wrestlers to meet again in the State Tournament where Kelley plans to even the score against Neals.

In addition to the five Sachems in the Championship Finals, seven Winchsester wrestlers lost a match but then advanced through the consolation rounds to reach the Consolation Finals.   

Quinn Gregory and Cam Horsey pinned their opponents to take third in the tournament, while Nick Cashion and Dan Fallon won by decision to earn their bronze medals. Jordan Darby, Joe Fallon, and Tristan Hardy all had successful days, but lost the final match and settled for fourth place.

The 12 Sachems who finished on the top four steps of the podium will all wrestle in the Division II Individual State Tournament at Reading High School this Friday and Saturday, February 10-11.  

Shadi Abujoub will also travel to the tournament as an alternate. He was three seconds away from reaching the Consolation Finals and qualifying for the State Tournament, but Wilken Amedor of Greater Lawrence got a reversal and near fall at the buzzer to beat Abujoub 15-11. Aubujoub ended the day strong, defeating Ramon Espinal of Masconomet to win the 5th place medal.

After all the wrestling was done and the winners received their medals, the Division II North Coach of the Year award was presented to Winchester Coach Larry Tremblay, who was quick to share the honor with Assistant Coach Eric “Bubba” Johnson.

The very long day of wrestling started with the team weighing in at 7 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m. with Winchester hoisting the Sectional Championship trophy for a group photo.  The trophy marks an important accomplishment, but is only a stepping stone toward the goal the team has been working for all season, a chance to win the State Championship on Feb. 20, President’s Day, at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.