Wrestlers lose to Mansfield, go 1-3 at Marshfield

The Canton High wrestling team is experiencing a few bumps and bruises on the road to success. The Bulldogs lost 58-15 at Mansfield High School last Wednesday, followed by a 1-3 performance in a super quad meet at Marshfield on Saturday.

Despite Wednesday’s loss to the Hornets, head coach Brian Caffelle did see several encouraging signs during the meet.

“It was a fairly tough match for us,” Caffelle said. “Mansfield is a [Division 1] team and we were going up in three weight classes. I liked the way our guys fought, but it just wasn’t our day.”

The Bulldogs did have three winners for the match: Bryan Matthews at 285 pounds, senior captain Kevin Connolly at 125 pounds, and freshman sensation Chris Sullivan at 103 pounds.

“This was a big moment for [Sullivan],” noted Caffelle. “He’s been in our youth wrestling program for the last few years and now he hasn’t lost a match yet. He’s putting the work in to be successful.”

Caffelle was also pleased with the leadership of his senior captain. “Connolly has been really setting the tone for this team,” he said. “He is showing us what Canton wrestling is all about. He is not only winning his matches, but getting pins as well.”

The Bulldogs’ junior varsity grapplers also came out with an inspired performance on Wednesday, a great sign for the future of the program. The JV’s were led by Kevin Marchand at 152 pounds, Andrew Vinciguerra at 145 pounds, Peter Sheehan in the heavyweight class, and Quinn Merrigan at 112 pounds.

“The JV’s started out the meet real well for us,” Caffelle said. “When they come out strong, it gets our varsity guys fired up.”

Canton finished up the week with a 1-3 showing at a super quad meet hosted by nonleague Marshfield High. The Bulldogs defeated Norwood 43-33, but fell to Cohasset (40-27), Milton (40-39), and Marshfield (39-29).

Connolly and Sullivan continued to dominate their weight classes, both going 4-0 at 135 and 103 pounds, respectively. Merrigan also notched an impressive 4-0 record in his first-ever varsity action.

Junior David Rosenberg had a strong meet as well, going 3-1 at 125 pounds. “David has really turned a corner,” Caffelle said. “You can tell by the way he wrestles that he relishes his varsity role. He is a good, hard-working kid and a valuable asset to this team.”

Other standouts included senior Quamine Heraldo, who posted a 3-1 mark at 140 pounds, and Vinciguerra, who went 2-2 at 145 pounds in his first-ever varsity action.

“Andrew is a quick learner of techniques,” Caffelle remarked. “This is his first year wrestling, and he’s been a really good surprise. He’s another guy who’s only going to get better. It’s exciting to have someone like that.”

Despite the encouraging performances, Caffelle and his staff remain fully aware of the areas in which the team needs to improve.

“While we have been getting pins, we haven’t been able to fight off our backs,” Caffelle said. “It’s really more of a mindset than a technique.”

Assistant coach Sean Rockwell added, “We need to be more aggressive on our feet, stop reacting and being nervous, and trust our offense. We can’t be afraid to try new things.”

“It’s very important when you’re going up weight classes to keep fighting back, keep learning, and keep improving over the season,” said Caffelle.

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Posted by Danny Joseph on Dec 23 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.