3 CHS wrestlers earn sectional crowns; team repeats as finalist

Seniors Kyle Forte (112 pounds) and Will Alfano (140) and junior Kevin Connolly (125) all took sectional crowns while the Canton team repeated as South Sectional finalist for the second weekend in a row.

“Canton has never had three champions at the same sectionals before,” coach Aaron Mann said. “This has been an award-winning year for our squad. And it was even better to have it in front of our home crowd.”

Pembroke walked away with the team championship with 289 points. The Bulldogs edged out Cohasset by a score of 180 to 178. Hanover finished fourth with Foxboro, Scituate, Hingham, Rockland, Carver, Norwell, Bristol Aggie, Middleboro and South Shore Voke rounding out the 13-team field.

“Our guys came to wrestle,” coach Brian Caffelle said. “Everyone contributed to the success of the team.”

Caffelle noted that Kyle Forte won a close decision 1-0 over Gus Helbock from Cohasset — avenging a loss to him earlier in the year.

 Kevin Connolly pinned Matt Merritt from Pembroke in the first period to clinch his title, and Will Alfano totally dominated Brian Palmer from Scituate (14-0) to ice his victory.

“Three Bulldogs entered the finals,” Caffelle said, “and all of them brought home the gold.”

Senior Donovan Lewis fought through a knee injury to take third at 160 pounds. Seniors Billy Rothkopf (119) and Tyler Matt (189) placed fourth to qualify for the Division III state tournament next weekend. Freshmen Ian Mills (103) and Mark Kisil (135) also placed fourth to qualify.

“Taking eight wrestlers to the state tournament is a real accomplishment,” coach Sean Rockwell said. “To have more than half your team wrestling at states shows you the hard work that our wrestlers put in during the offseason.”

Senior Kevin Lopes (130) and Darrius Wood (215) both placed sixth and were named alternates at their weight classes for the state tournament.

Josh Matt (145), John McCabe (152), Austin Hurley (171) and Kyle Hanlon (hvywt) also competed for the Bulldogs.

Canton High School’s Aaron Mann was awarded the Massachusetts Wrestling Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year for 2010, and coach Tom Bartosek was voted Co-Coach of the Year for the Division III South Sectional Tournament.

The MIAA Division III state tournament will be held at Cohasset High School. Wrestling will begin at noon on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Feb 18 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.