New England finalist predictions

[serge]

New England finalist predictions. I believe this year will be a banner year for Rhode Island Wrestling. What weight classes do you believe will make it to the New England finals?

[atlantaal]

OK, here are Atlanta Al’s nearly annual and almost fearless New England Wrestling Championships predictions. I just hope I have the energy for this. I hope you do too.

106 – There are a lot of drawbacks to wrestling at 106 lbs. You have to cut a huge percent of body weight unless you are pre-pubescent. You have the risk of having to wrestle – and maybe lose to – a girl. And if you’re good enough to get to the NE Championships you might even get beat by a middle schooler. Eighth-grader James Tildsey of Billerica MA will be there, although after being ranked No. 1 in NE all season long he dropped an 8-3 decision in the finals of the Mass. Open last weekend to Musa Tamaradze of West Springfield. Yes, Massachusetts now allows 7-8th graders to compete. Tamaradze, a freshman, was only ranked 9th in MA on Jan 3. Oh, and 3rd place in MA is Yandel Morales of Andover, another 8th grader, so he’ll be there as well. The guys ranked 1-2 in CT, trading places during the season, wound up 3-4 in the CT Open, Raekwon Shabazz of Xavier and Deydon Soto of Danbury, are both freshmen. Their conquerors, champ Joe Mahoney of New Fairfield and runner-up Isaac Quiles of East Hartford, I understand are also freshman. I gotta believe that one or both finalists will come from this group and James Blood of Sanford ME, a (gasp!) sophomore. And yet . . . I don’t normally play the home state card in these evaluations since it’s so hard to be objective, but why can’t Jared Hood win it all? No reason I can think of. I think only Blood of the above group has gone through the entire season undefeated; Jared has faced some brutal out-of-New England competition; he has twice shutout battle-tested Ryan Conlan who placed a strong 4th at Lowell; and he’s on the opposite side of Tamaradze and Blood. No reason indeed. Strong possibility that whoever wins this weight won’t be able to legally drive a car for at least 2 years.

113 – It’s very difficult not be a homer with the lightweight talent RI has this year, but all of New England is rich in this regard. Two-time champ and NE placer Peyton Ellis has looked superb this season. But so have NE champ Isiac Paulino of Montachusett MA, who majored the formidable Miles Darling of Essex Tech in the MA Open finals, with 3rd place Alex Schaeublin a former NE runner-up. CT champ Isaiah Adams of Avon is a bit of dark horse, not ranked in NE as of 3 weeks ago and 3rd in CT at last ranking, winning over Xavier’s Max Morse who moved down to 113 when teammate Jackson Heslin moved up. Deegan Tidswell of Mattanawcook ME was ranked No. 6 in NE but lost to Ayden Cofone of Windham in the ME NE qualifier. I don’t know anyone else from the other states that rate the same notice. So I say that winner of the Ellis-Paulino semi wins NEs.

120 – Here again, why not an RI champ? Jacob Joyce has been tested hard for three years: NHSCA, Beast of the East, you name it. It’s like he wrestles for Danbury. He just hasn’t placed in the New England Championships. Yet. That changes this weekend, and it’s just a matter of how high. Max ranked him No. 1 in NE as of Feb. 9 and I haven’t seen anything occur since then to change that estimation. Heslin of CT is surely a talent but he’s a still-growing freshman. Matthew Botello of Hingham MA is a NE champ, but he’s still a freshman. Max O’Rourke of Salem NH is a stud and a senior, but lost to CT’s 5th placer in the Lowell semis. None of the other contenders in CT’s deep 120 class have much paper either. So let’s go with Jacob through the gauntlet of Botella, O’Rourke and Heslin. Stone looked good in the Simsbury tourney but didn’t face a CT Open place-winner, so he might find the going too deep here for a place.

126 – Here as well, Myers has the paper and the experience. But it’s a real tough trio. He split with Linder of New Milford CT over 8 months (won at last NE; lost in Simsbury in Dec.) and both were trumped by NE champ Tyler Knox of St. John’s Prep last April at 113. There are other good wrestlers, of course, but even guys like former MA champ and NE placer Jonah Paulino of Athol and Killingly’s Kaden Ware, who made the blood round of NEs two years ago, were pinned in their finals against the top two. Let me put it this way: if Hayden wins the New England 126 title through both Linder (or Paulino) and Knox then he is my RI P4P No. 1 this season no matter what anyone else from RI does in the tourney.

132 – RI’s prospects aren’t as bright here. Both Robichaud and Torres are tested veterans, seniors, and terrific wrestlers. Hey, Torres even placed 3rd at the Spartan Combat NE tourney in April. But there’s just too much horsepower at this weight. Torres failed to place at Lowell, losing to good-not-necessarily great wrestlers Davoli, Haverford and De Sena, Hingham (3rd and DNP at MA Open). Robichaud finished 3rd at the Chaves/Simsbury tourney losing to CT 3rd Cael Finn (who in turn lost to MA 4th Monteiro of Minnechaug). Then there are the really good guys at this weight, starting with Mr. Sid Tidsley of Shawsheen Tech. Yeah, another Tidsley, a full-grown freshmen who placed 4th at the Spartan Combat NEs as an 8th grader (edged 3-2 by Meyers). He tore through Lowell and the MA Open, so New England wrestling fans are just going to have to get used to seeing that surname. Connecticut has the rare Class S Open champ in Connor Doran of Ledyard, who had a dominant senior season. Maine has another Frost, Caden of Bonny Eagle, whose brother won NE 138 last year. Schaeublin of St. John’s Prep, the MA runner-up is a 2021 NE placer. Davoli and Monteiro, Finn, etc.; it really adds up.

138 – I feel compelled to say it: I appreciate that the New England Council understands that seeding a multi-state tournament is difficult and so ops for a neutral seeding scheme rotating through the weight classes. But when there are two returning NE champs in the same weightclass (Fry and Hunter Adrian, 2020) or two returning finalists in the same weightclass (Fallon and Max Leete, also 2020) there should be an exemption. Place them in opposite sides of the brackets for heaven’s sake! Re-rotate the random order of shifting state seeds. It can’t be that difficult since it doesn’t occur all that often. But no, we have Gabriel Bouyssou and Kai O’Dell both on the top half of the 138 bracket. So, how do they stack up against each other? Well, Gabe’s accomplishments are simply unsurpassed in New England, particularly considering his age. He and O’Dell were in the same weight class in two early season tournaments without meeting, but with Gabe progressing further each time, even placing in one where he beat that guy that beat O’Dell. But O’Dell has wrestled four years in the crucible that is the Danbury wrestling schedule. And I think that, like Bouyssou, he is even better than he was last April. I noted they both faced Dylan Levesque of Xavier this season who both vanquished comparably easily. This match will be huge, maybe the match of the tournament.
But it’s not just a two-man weight class. Just kidding, it really is a two-man weight class. So who else matters? Well, start with the formidable Ty Stewart of Dracut MA and multi-time NE placer Jimmy Glynn of central Catholic MA. How about NE 4th Codey Wild of Timberlane? And the aforementioned Mr. Levesque. ALL are previous NE place winners. Add in Maine champ Derek Cote of Noble who dropped from 145. And not least of all, Ponaganset’s own Jason Hood, who has a reasonably good path to the quarters, probably against Wild, then a possible semi-final likely with the Stewart/Cote winner. I know this is long but I think this is the weight class of the tournament. Note that Glynn and Levesque face each other in an early wrestle-in match, and the winner, AND the loser, could still place in this year’s NEs. This is one of many reasons why I love this tournament.

145 – This one is a little fuzzier, not that there is any lack of talent but I’m just not clear on the separation among the top 1-4, particularly due to seeding. Have to start with Spartan Combat NE Champ Mark Botello of Hingham and John Mairano of Simsbury, who pinned him in the Lowell finals. But they meet if at all in the Quarterfinals, and each were challenged in their own states, Mairano by Jack Richardon of Killingly and Botello by NE placer Brent Nicolisi of Haverhill. who Mairano edged in the Lowell semi. Cooper and Reall were ranked 4-5 in Max Schwartz’s February NE rankings with Richardson 6th, the others 1-3. And there’s Logan Kovacs of Danbury. I’m going with these seven as the 6 place-winners on Saturday. You can pick your own order. There, I gave you a short one.

152 – Not sure it’s any clearer here, though there are some standouts. There’s Rawson Iwanaki of St. John’s Prep, a top guy on a top team. Then Zach Johns of Simsbury, ditto. Most of the other guys previously ranked Top 10 by Max Schwartz didn’t do as well in their States as expected, except Justin Hood, who really showed us what we missed last season. Beyond these three I have no idea. Rutherford and Sclama are seniors and veterans in their last NE chance looking to score points for their contending teams. Let’s see what happens.
160- It’s not difficult to go with Michael Bobola of Xavieran MA (remember: Xavier = CT, Xaverian = MA), 3rd at 152 in 2021 NEs and essentially unchallenged this season, pinning his way to the Lowell finals (including over Mairano’s brother and CT Open champ Chad) before blanking Algonquin’s Rafael Knapp. Then there’s Aidan Zarrella, who topped Knapp in a tourney according to Max and who placed at the Spartan Combat NEs, so ranked 2nd and 3rd by Max respectively. But Knapp slipped to 3rd at MA Open and Bobola just edged Blanchette of Central Catholic 1-0, who had topped Timberlane’s Rousseau at Lowell. So not as much separation as I thought earlier. Isael finished 8th at Lowell after being teched by Bobola in the first round (what, no seed?!) but after four straight consolations wins was majored by Rousseau and pinned by Mairano in a scoreless match. Montachusett Tech’s Xavian Natal was 3rd at Lowell but teched by Knapp in the MA Open 3rd place match. So, who’s on first? Well, Zarrella gets Bobola in the semis if both are successful, and I’ll take that winner as the eventual champ. Baccala has an interesting opener against Knapp and Perez probably has Blanchette in the Round of 16, but I’ll go with the Rousseau/Mairano winner to try to challenge the Zarrella/Botella winner.

170 – You know how every New England tournament there’s That Guy, as in “Oh [Bleep], no one is gonna beat That Guy. I think this year That Guy is William Ebert of Fairfield Warde CT. Of course he has nice credentials, two-time NE placer, CT Open champ, Lowell champ via pin to the finals (including MA champ Desmond McLaughlin of Springfield Central) and a 6-2 win over NE 3rd Jack Mackienan of Pinkerton Academy NH. Stawinski of Essex VT was fourth at Lowell but ranked 3rd by Max over McLaughlin who beat him, with Fine slipping to 5th. Not sure why other than Lundsten gave him some resistance in the State finals. Doesn’t matter since at least Spencer is in the opposite bracket from Ebert, but he will be tested early with NE runner-up MacKiernan in the quarters. Lundsten has the chance to upset a Stawinski/McLaughlin rematch in the other quarters, with That Guy still looming. Going with my gut, I see another Ebert/MacKienan final, with possibly two RI place-winners.

182 – That Guy 2 may be Joshua Cordio of Nashoba MA. Third in NE as a freshman, runner-up at Spartan NE to Nick Fine, he seems to be on mission for this season, and probably next. Plenty of contenders, though not apparently from RI, with the likes of CT Champ Connor Smith, NH MOH Champ Jack McCann, Winnacunnet (over previous NE No. 2 ranked James Murphy of Bishop Guertin), and MA runner-up Mathew Gillis of Ashland. Also ME champ Isaac Heiner and another Essex stud in Oliver Orvis, but really it’s Cordio and everyone else. Tavaras looked good in winning RI, but I don’t see him or any local guys placing in this crowd.

195 – To me there’s a clear No. 1 in Chris Murphy of Guilford, who oddly was only ranked No. 2 in CT up to recently. Murphy was 4th in NE in 2021, a NHSCA Junior All American, and he tops a state who’s 3rd placer, Brendan Gilchrist of Norwalk, easily won Lowell. Murphy topped Gilchrist 6-2 in the CT Open semis. He also pinned Luke Mead in the first period of their Colter Abely final. Speaking of Mead, he still earned an HM from Max but seems to be missing from the NE brackets, along with Zach Raymond and so with DiOrio in. Daylor unfortunately has Murphy in the Quarters. Other contenders are another Essex champ in Kameron Cyr, both NH finalists Cody Rasheed of Concord and Timberlane’s Dom Pallaria, ME champ Sean Wakefield of Massabesic, and surprise MA champ Denis Cha of Arlington. Max still has Gilchrist and Murphy as 1-2. I don’t see RI placing here.

220- I go with another CT stud here, Thomas Lunt of Xavier. Max has Cooper Kelley of Timberlane ranked first, but Kelley was edged in the Lowell final by MA 6th place Timmy Vadnais of Burlington. Michael Jarrell gets a little more love, up to #3, while MA champ Hampton Kaye-Kuter is ranked 4th and Atley Jenness gets #5 despite his fall in the RI finals. Another interesting name is Hayden Gaudette of Mt. Anthony, who has won two Vermont 285 titles and placed 6th in NE for 2021, but probably would have had trouble repeating in VT or placing in NE at that weight. With Lunt, Kelley and Kaye-Kuter on the same side of the bracket I really expect Jarrell to make the finals, with an even chance of winning NEs. Jenness seems to be MIA, so good luck to Gardiner in a brutal bracket.

285 – Everyone knows about Adolfo Betancur; not just in RI but throughout NE. Three-time State champ, two-time NE placer (3-2-looking for 1), NHSCA All American, yada yada. His toughest opponent will be a guy who, up to last weekend, had never won a CT Open title, and has not yet placed in the NE high school championships. Nevertheless the inestimable Matt Weiner of Shelton may be every bit as good as the redoubtable Adolfo. Some relevant history: four years ago Weiner beat Betancur in the finals of the NE Middle School championship. Two years ago in the NE quarterfinals Weiner was leading Adolfo with seconds to go when a last gasp takedown sent the match to overtime and a 2-1 TB2 win, which propelled Betancur to a 3rd place finish while Weiner lost in the consi-quarters in OT. Weiner didn’t appear in the Spartan Combat NEs where Adolfo lost in the finals to Kemp (who he had lost to and then beat for 3rd the previous year), and CT had absolutely no wrestling season in 2021. This year Weiner has made up for lost time, pinning his way through the State, except for a 5-1 win over Danbury’s Adjinoski in the Open semis. Betancur pinned through RI, NY and CT, except for Pitts. A common opponent: Adolfo pinned Scileppi of Xavier in the Colter Abely finals in 36 seconds. Matt Weiner pinned Scileppi in the Class L finals in 30 seconds. Not a lot to parse between these two.

Is this a two-man weight class? Yes, yes it is, in spite of some notable entrants. There is Vermont champ Colton Perkins of Spaulding who was 4th at Spartan Combat NE, and MA champ Thomas Brown of Chelmsford who also won Lowell pretty handily (except for edging Gaudette, a repeat of their match for 5th place at NE last season). Patrick Pitts is ranked No. 5 in NE by Max now, I’m sure based on his finals match against Betancur, and it’s certainly possible he could eke out a place. That’s about as deep as I care to go in a somewhat shallow class. So it’s just that Adolfo has to get by Brown (who he did not meet last year), and Weiner get by Perkins, and then wait for the big boom at the end of the tournament.
That’s it for now. Hopefully I can cover teams tomorrow.

[crosswrist20]

Excellent Job with this write up.. I think you hit the nail on the head about the problems with the seeding(Joyce/Botello and Bouyssou/O’Dell). With all of the information out there it seems pretty obvious that it should be.

[max]

I agree, Great write-up! elaborated greatly on each weight class! a great read and I'm sure they will play out similar to how they are said

[funkmaster]

I think we have 3 champs.

Joyce
Adolfo
And Gabe



I’d throw Meyers in the mix but both Lindner and Knox are in that weight, gonna be a battle for sure.

Another exciting semis match up (unfortunately) Bobola vs Zarella two absolute hammers

Not sure where Jarrell will place , but I have a good feeling it’s top 3