Connolly places sixth in Lowell wrestling tourney

Canton’s Kevin Connolly took sixth place at the 44th Annual Lowell Holiday Wrestling Tournament held on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week.

“The Lowell Tournament is the premier tournament in New England,” coach Brian Caffelle said. “Lowell is much harder than the state tournament and almost as tough as the all-states. We’ve only had nine people place at Lowell and all nine have vied for a state championship during the same season.”

Connolly ran off three strong victories — defeating Needham’s Chin, Andover’s Welch and Weymouth’s Hintz — to make it to the medal rounds.

In his fourth match, Connolly lost a close decision to O’Connell from Hudson.

In the consolation finals for fifth place, Connolly wrestled tough but lost to Hall from Concord, New Hampshire 10-5.

“Lowell marks the midpoint of our season,” coach Aaron Mann said. “It’s nice to do well, but we’re [at Lowell] to gauge our progress. We go back to work tomorrow and start preparing for states.”

Mann noted that Connolly is now one of the top 125s in the state. “It’s rewarding to work with someone who is as coachable as Kevin,” he said. “He absorbs everything that we throw at him.”

Also wrestling well for the Bulldogs were Kyle Forte (3-2 at 112 pounds), Billy Rothkopf (2-2 at 119), Will Alfano (2-2 at 140) and Donovan Lewis (3-2 at 160).

“Kyle [Forte] had an outstanding tournament,” coach Tom Bartosek said. “He needed to concentrate on working for takedowns and it paid off for him. At this level of competition, you can’t make mistakes and expect to win. He completely transformed his style.”

Also wrestling for Canton were Ryan Brady, Chris Parsons, Jon McCabe, Austin Hurley and Kyle Hanlon.

Connolly leads the team with 13 victories, followed by Rothkopf and Lewis with 11 wins apiece. Rothkopf and Lewis lead the team in pins with nine, and Hanlon is next with eight.

The Bulldog grapplers were scheduled to host Oliver Ames last night (Wednesday) and will travel to Pembroke to take on Pembroke, Silver Lake and Beverly at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Jan 7 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.