Lewis, Corkery lead CHS wrestlers at Peckham tourney

Junior Steven Corkery wrestled in his first tournament final last Saturday. (Mike Barucci photo)

The impressive team depth that had CHS wrestling coach Brian Caffelle so excited at the start of the season has suddenly become a necessity as the Bulldogs continue to be tested by injuries to several key starters.

And while the extra mat time for some of the squad’s younger wrestlers will certainly be a net positive in the long run, the short-term results have been decidedly mixed. This was the case again on Saturday as the Bulldogs struggled in team competition but still had their share of individual standouts at the 19th annual James Peckham Invitational Tournament in the CHS gymnasium.

An annual Canton tradition dating back to 1998, the Peckham Tournament is the wrestling program’s signature regular season event, featuring hundreds of matches across a very competitive 10-team field. This year it was Norton that took home the team title, followed by tournament newcomer New Bedford in second place and King Philip Regional in third. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, ended up taking sixth at the event after placing fourth overall a year ago.

Leading the way for the host team were senior captain Brendan Lewis at 126 pounds and junior Steve Corkery at 106 pounds, who both finished second in their respective weight classes after losing in the finals.

Lewis, who sports the team’s best individual record thus far, faced a particularly tough draw in the finals as he took on former Hockomock MVP and All-State place-winner Brett Layton, who transferred from Stoughton to New Bedford this year.

“It was a little bittersweet for Brendan,” Caffelle said afterwards. “This year he really had his eyes on winning the tournament after having never made it to the finals before. But overall his tournament performance was great, and he did everything he could to win that match against [Layton]. And as I told him after the match, I think that’s about the toughest kid he’s going to face all year.”

As for Corkery, this was his first tournament final as a varsity wrestler, and Caffelle said he absolutely deserved it, earning two solid victories in his first two matches of the day.

“Steven is one of the more experienced guys at the weight class, and he’s really starting to trust his offense now and starting to get a good feel for his double-leg, which he uses a lot against opponents,” Caffelle said. “He ran into a tough opponent in the finals, but this was a good confidence builder for him and he’s definitely capable of doing good things for himself this season.”

In addition to Lewis and Corkery, three other Bulldog wrestlers finished among the top four in their weight classes on Saturday: Tom Monagle (182 lbs.), who went 3-1 on the day and placed third overall, and Jack O’Brien (120 lbs.) and Mark Whalen (220 lbs.), who both took fourth.

In assessing his team’s performance as a whole at this year’s Peckham Tournament, Caffelle said he saw “a lot of good things out there” and was pleased with the team’s competitiveness against a very challenging slate of opponents.

“I thought we did well overall as a team,” he said. “I thought we got some big wins from guys at different weight classes and it was a great experience wrestling in front of our home crowd. I thought the kids really worked hard in every match, and even some of our wrestlers who went 0-2, they were smart, they were aggressive, and they were able to gain some valuable experience on the mat.”

This week, the team was expected to get some more guys back from injury as they prepare to face league foe Oliver Ames tonight at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will host another big event — a five team “super-quad” meet beginning at 9 a.m. — followed by another away match next Wednesday against Sharon.

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