Bulldog wrestlers turn in another highlight-filled week

Back-to-back tournament victories for its top two wrestlers and a rare team win against Mansfield highlighted another outstanding week for the Canton High wrestling team, which appears to be rounding into form as the regular season draws to a close.

Senior Derek Haas (Mike Barucci photo)

In a week in which program founder and former coach Tom Bartosek was announced as a 2014 Mass. Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame inductee, the Bulldogs unleashed some very memorable performances, led by senior standouts Chris Sullivan (152 lbs.) and Quinn Merrigan (138 lbs.), who captured their respective weight classes at both the Peckham Tournament at CHS and a 16-team Woburn Tournament held this past Saturday.

At the Peckham Tournament, an annual CHS wrestling tradition, Sullivan pinned all of his opponents while Merrigan was in “complete control,” according to head coach Brian Caffelle.

“Quinn’s strength is his defense, but he was a lot more aggressive and really pushed the pace on kids,” Caffelle said of the defending state champ.

Other standouts for Canton included junior captain Rob DiCalogero, who had a comeback win in the semifinals and placed second overall at 145 pounds; sophomore Brendan Lewis, who placed third at 120 pounds; junior Wavol Prentice, who placed third at heavyweight; and junior Michael Reese, who took fourth at 170 pounds.

In the Woburn Tournament, the Bulldogs finished eighth out of 16 teams as Sullivan and Merrigan both won their weight classes in convincing fashion while Prentice took home fourth after another impressive performance by the first-year wrestler.

“In the third-place match he had his opponent pinned, but his opponent fought off his back and Wavol ended up losing a close one,” said Caffelle. “But I’ve been very impressed with how he has handled himself in those situations.”

Also at Woburn, freshman John O’Brien saw some action at 120 pounds and earned his first varsity win.

“It was a good tournament for us,” said Caffelle. “There were a lot of key wins from guys across the board.”

The momentum seemed to carry over to Mansfield earlier this week as the Bulldogs cruised past the Hornets 51-22 on Martin Luther King Day, improving their season record to 6-7 overall.

“This program has had our number for a while, and we’ve never really wrestled well against them,” noted Caffelle. “But tonight everyone stepped up and it was a total-team effort. You could tell they were motivated to go out there and beat them.”

The star of the match was DiCalogero, who took on the Hornets’ best wrestler, Aurian Dawkins, and managed to pin him after forcing overtime with a strong takedown.

“That was a big rallying win for the team,” said Caffelle. “We just kept rolling after that point.”

Looking ahead, the Bulldogs have two more league matches — at Sharon and at Oliver Ames — before heading to the Hockomock championships on Saturday, February 1. The team will then close out the regular season with a home match against Stoughton on February 5 and a quad meet at Barnstable on February 8.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jan 23 2014. Filed under High School, Sports, Uncategorized. Both comments and pings are currently closed.