Matmen beat Foxboro, place 2nd in Peckham tourney

The CHS wrestling team had a strong week, with a victory over Foxboro and a second-place finish in the 13^th annual James Peckham Wrestling Tournament.

“It was an extremely rewarding week,” coach Tom Bartosek said. “You work hard and expect the best. This was one of our finest weeks ever. First we improve to 11-4 with a win over Foxboro, and then we place second at our tournament.”

The Bulldog grapplers defeated Foxboro 51-25 on Wednesday. Winners for Canton were Ian Mills, Kyle Forte, Matt Kelly, Billy Rothkopf, Kevin Connolly, Will Alfano, Josh Matt, Darrius Wood and Bryan Matthews.

On Saturday Canton entered the Peckham tournament, knowing that they were ready for a strong showing.

“With two of our starters out for the year, we knew that everyone on the team would have to wrestle well,” coach Brian Caffelle said. “Losing both Nick Sullivan and John McCabe and sitting out Tyler Matt put pressure on the rest of the team to step up.”

Connolly, a junior (125-pound weight class) and senior Donovan Lewis (160) brought home the gold for Canton. Seniors Forte (112) and Alfano (140) and sophomore Josh Matt (145) took silver. 

“I feel that our training has been going well all year,” Lewis said. “We’ve shown steady improvement and everyone is working hard. Josh Matt, Ian Mills and Patrick Feeney had big-time performances for the team. We needed them and they came through.”

Seniors Rothkopf (119) and Feeney placed third, and freshman Mills placed fourth (103).

“I was disappointed at only taking second at my weight class,” Forte said. “The pride of winning another trophy for the trophy case made it a little easier to take.”

Norton placed first with 149.5 points, followed by Canton with 118.5. Somerset took third (116) with Dedham placing fourth (113). Sharon, Xaverian, Bristol-Plymouth, Randolph and Middleboro rounded out the nine-team field.

“This was a very competitive tournament this year,” Alfano said. “Coach Mann told us that we could finish as high as first and as low as fifth. We had to make the most out of every match. We beat out good teams like Somerset and Dedham because everyone pulled together.”

“We didn’t clinch second until the Somerset wrestler lost at heavyweight,” coach Sean Rockwell said. “Every one of our wrestlers scored points for the team, and that’s what it takes to do well in a tournament. Although I would have liked to see more of our wrestlers bring home trophies, it was a very productive day.”

“We walked into the gym at 7 a.m. to set up for the tournament,” Rothkopf noted. “When we walked out of the gym 11 hours later we were very tired but extremely proud of the accomplishment. The wrestlers who didn’t compete today did a great job at the tables scoring and timing the matches. Their day will come when they will be on the award stand getting their trophies. We can savor it now but tomorrow we have to get ready for our next meet.”

The Bulldogs travel to North Attleboro tonight (Thursday) for a league match at 7. On Saturday, Canton hosts Hudson, Holliston and Watertown in a non-league quad-meet at 10 a.m.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Jan 21 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.