Bob's BLOG

First let me congratulate all the Western Mass wrestlers that qualified for the New England tournament in New Haven this coming weekend. I have a couple of pics of the Central wrestlers that qualified thanks to Danielle Fournier.  Let me share those with you right now:

Manny Ocasio takes fifth place at all states at 145 lbs

Nate Collins takes the second place medal at All States

Congratulations on a great effort.

This coming weekend will be the last tournament of the season. The New England tournament is the ultimate contest for high school wrestlers in this state. You must qualify by placing in the top 6 at your weight class in the all state stournament. This is no joke. It is a tough thing to accomplish and only the very best wrestlers will ever have a chance to compete there.

The wrestlers from Western Mass who qualified for the tournament are:

Matt Shapiro (Longmeadow High) at 130 lbs

Manny Ocasio (Central High School) at 145 lbs

Dmitriy Donskoy (Longmeadow High School) at 152 lbs

Ian Altman (Longmeadow High School) at 160 lbs

Kyle Humphries (East Longmeadow High School) at 189 lbs

Nate Collins (Central High School) at 189 lbs

Troy Johnson (South Hadley High School) at 285 lbs

Congrats to all 7 of you. You are the best of the best in Western Mass. Good luck this weekend at the tournament.

If you are looking for info about the tournament, I can supply links:

Information Pak

Preliminary Brackets

If you get the opportunity to get down to New Haven this weekend, you can be sure to see the best wrestling this season.

There were several Western Mass place finishers at this last weekend's D1 States. I was able to get some pics from the awards ceremony…..

Enjoy!!

Daniel Salgado of Springfield Central takes 5th place at 112 lbs.

Mizam Tamardaze of West Springfield High School takes third place at 119 lbs.

Matt Shapiro of Longmeadow High School claims the 2nd place medal at 130 lbs

Gary Shea of Longmeadow High School Placed 6th at 135 lbs

Bemnet Banks of Springfield Central takes 5th Place at 140 lbs. Carrick Driscoll of East Longmeadow takes 6th place.

Manny Ocasio of Springfield Central Takes 5th Place at 145 lbs

Dmitry Donskoy of Longmeadow High is the 152 lb Champion while Anthony Brooks of Central High School takes 4th place honors

Ian Altman of Longmeadow High takes the third place medal at 160 lbs.

Ilii Cojacaru of West Springfield High takes 3rd place at 171 lbs.

Nate Collins of Springfield Central High takes second place honors and Kyle Humphries of East Longmeadow takes third at 189 lbs.

The Golden Eagles traveled to Marlboro Wednesday night to participate in the Mass State Dual Meet Championship Finals. This marked the fourth time in the five years since the tournaments inception that the Golden Eagles have gone all the way to the finals of the team championship. The team was the first ever dual meet champion in 2006, but since has not been able to win that elusive last meet. This year was another ride to the big dance, only to come up short in the end. Franklin proved to be too strong for the Golden Eagles as they bowed 38 – 20 to take the runner-up trophy in division one. This year the tournament was handled differently than in past years. All three divisions held their finals at the same time on three mats in the same gym. It was a little like a three ring circus. There was action on every mat and at different times the crowd would roar from different sections of the bleachers. It made for a very exciting evening of wrestling. It seems that the MIAA may have just found the proper format for the tournament. There were many teams that participated in the tournament and the results were final before the divisional state individual tournaments.

The team knew going in that this contest was going to be difficult to win. Franklin is a tough team with a great coaching staff. In the end, Central won 5 matches. There were some close matches, but not enough of them. Getting wins for the Golden Eagles were Daniel Salgado (Major at 112), Peter Hager (Pin at 119), Bemnet banks (140), Manny Ocasio (152), and Nate Collins (189). The job was made more difficult last week when Estavon Gonzales (171) suffered a torn cartilage in his chest. He was unavailable for the finals match which forced Coach McLaghlin to bump many of the wrestlers up one weight class to fill the void. The only guys wrestling in their usual weight class were Tyrique Dowdell (103), Daniel Salgado (112), John Lebron (135), Nate Collins (189), Nate Shea (215) and Jeff Barcher (285). Wrestling up a weight class were Peter Hager (125), Kadar St. Phard (130),Manny Ocasio (152), Anthony Brooks (160), and Anthony Williams (171). Filling in were Ellison Robinson at 119 and Kashaun Ruiz at 145. In the end the lineup just wasn't strong enough to defeat a very strong Franklin team.

This match marks the end of the dual meet season. The post season is rapidly coming to a close with D1 states this Friday and Saturday, All States next Friday and Saturday and the New England Championships the following Friday and Saturday. Central will be sending 8 wrestlers to the D1 state championships. They are Tyrique Dowdell (103), Daniel Salgado (112), Peter Hager (119), Bemnet Banks (140), Manny Ocasio (145), Anthony Brooks (152), Anthony Williams (160), and Nate Collins (189). The tournament starts this Friday with wrestling starting at 12:00 noon.

Central is in a down year. It's a rebuilding year for Central. I have heard this all year. When you hear it enough times you start to believe it. The team I saw tonight is not rebuilding, it's built. They were not down, they were up. They certainly did not look like a team that was ready to take their Western Mass title and be satisfied. They looked like a team on a mission. Tonight the Golden Eagles knocked off the division one top seeded B-R Trojans in convincing style. The match started at 103 and the Golden Eagles got off to a rocky start when Tyrique Dowdell was bested by B-R's Bob Holstein 4-2. Central then countered with pins by Daniel Salgado and Peter Hager giving the Golden Eagles a 12 – 3 lead. A lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the night. B-R's Matt Libby (125) and Nate Jaramillo (130) scored major victories to close to within one point. At 135, Central's John Lebron played hero again, when he captured a decision against Vasili Gerakas in OT. This was one that Bridewater-Raynham had to be counting on and losing it hurt, especially with Central's strength coming up. Bemnet Banks won by major, then Manny Ocasio won a decision over Adam Traviglione. The score was 22-11 and B-R needed a couple wins if they were going to stay in it. At 152, B-R's Steve Libby outclassed Anthony Brooks and handed him a 13 – 5 major loss. With that win, B-R pulled to within 7 points and needed to win at least one of the next three matches to stay in the hunt. It was not to be as Anthony Williams and Estavon Gonzalez both won decisions for the Golden Eagles and Nate Collins put the match away with a major decision over Steve Capabianco. With the match won, the Golden Eagles did not send anyone to the mat for 215 and 285. Bridgewater-Raynham followed suit and the match came to an end with the Golden Eagles moving on to Marlborough next week to face a strong Franklin team. The "rebuilding" Golden Eagles on a "down year" have moved on to the State Championship Finals.This marks the fourth time in the last five years that the Golden Eagles have made it to the final match in the state tournament.

This is the second time in the last two years that the Golden Eagles have defeated the Trojans to move on to the state finals. This was a close match with several matches that could have gone either way. Fortunately for Central, all those matches that could have gone either way all went Central's way. Bridgewater-Raynham was undefeated going into tonights match. I heard the coach tell the guys before the match that the only reason they were undefeated this season is because they hadn't wrestled Central. The team proved his point.

It all comes down to one match now. One more win will give the Golden Eagles their second state title. There is no guarantee. Franklin is a tough team that has just moved up to division one this year from division two where they were state champs multiple times. This match will be held at a neutral site (Marlborough) and should be an all out war. Get the day off, make your plans and be ready to travel to Marlborough next week to root your Golden Eagles into a state championship.

Just a quick note folks. The match between Central and Bridgewater-Raynham for the state semifinals has been rescheduled because of the threat of a severe snow storm. The match will now take place on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at Bridgewater-Raynham HS.  Driving directions can be found on the schedule page of the website. Plan to come along and cheer the guys into the state finals. The bus is leaving the High School at 2 PM.

In a first of its kind Western Mass team Championship, where 11 teams met in a dual meet championship tournament, the best did rise to the top. Central and West Springfield were the one and two seed respectively and each had a first round bye before advancing through the field to get to the championship finals match. Central defeated Westfield 64-3 and then moved on to East Longmeadow where they were 37 – 18 winners. West Springfield defeated Amherst 39 – 18 and then beat Minnechaug to advance to the finals aginst Central. East Longmeadow and Minnnechaug wrestled in the consolation finals with East Longmeadow taking the third place honors.

The match between West Side and Central was easily the most exciting finals match in Western Mass since the inception of the dual meet team format. Both teams were top ten ranked teams in the state and the level of competiton was extremely high. The match started at 130 with West Sides Risan Umarov pinning Central's Mark Correa in 1:13. John Lebron was next up at 135 against Springfield Bui. John was down 6 -5 with 5 seconds to go when he shot on Bui and Bui backed up away from the shot and was called for stalling. Since he had already been warned, Lebron was awarded a point and the match went into overtime. Lebron won in double overtime 9-6 in a match that West Side had to have been counting on. This was a severe blow to West Side as Central was now moving into the heart of the lineup with momentum. Central swept 140 – 160 with decisions by Bemnet Banks, Manny Ocasio, Anthony Brooks and an overtime victory by Anthony Williams. The score was 15 – 6 in favor of Central and West Side was looking to their standout 171 pounder Ilii Cojacaru to get them back into the match. Estavon Gonzalez wrestled a tough match and managed to stay off his back to save a couple of points for the Golden Eagles. Cojacaru got the major victory with a 12 – 1 win to make the score 15 – 10. Next up was the 189 lb weight class. This weight class was the undoing of West Side. The Golden Eagles had won the toss at the start of the match and the Terriers had to declare first at 189. West Side sent out Slav Piserenko to the mat and the Golden Eagles bumped Nate Collins to 215 and sent Nate Shea out at 189. The strategy was to keep the damage down to a decision at 189 and then steal an important match at West Side's strength (215). Nate Shea did better than that by defeating Piserenko in OT 6-4. Nate Collins then won 6 points at 215 when West Side's Aslan Veysalov was disqualified for too many stall calls. The score was 24 – 10  going into 103 and Tyrique Dowdell did his job by majoring Brian Geng 14-1. Daniel Salgado then mathematically eliminated West Side by pinning Jake Pond in 3:13. The score was 34 – 14 with two matches remaining. West Side won the last two matches, but the contest was over. Central had won their sixth consecutive Western Mass title.

West Springfield wrestled hard. They have a strong team that deserves to be in the conversation when talking about top teams in the state. They are certainly capable of holding their own with the best teams and it's a shame that only one team may advance from the sectional tournament. West Side has shown themselves to be a top ten program and should be congratulated for the success that their program has seen in the last few years. I expect that the Central – West Side rivalry will continue on for many years to come.

I also want to congratulate Westfield High School for hosting a great tournament. Going into a tournament with 11 teams, everyone thought they were in for a long day. The staff in Westfield managed to get through the brackets and move onto the final matches at 3:00 PM. This made for a relatively short day that was appreciated by all. The school and booster programs represented themselves well and put a feather in their cap with a well run tournament.

The Golden Eagles will be moving on to the State Dual meet semi-finals on Wednesday. The team and location will be announced soon.

FYI – The longest streak of Western Mass titles is held by Agawam at 10. Ludlow was second with 6 consecutive titles. Central now has tied Ludlow for second place with their sixth consecutive title.

This was supposed to be a close match. I watched the guys walk out of the locker room to get on the bus and something seemed different about the team. There wasn't the usual joking and pushing around. The guys weren't smiling. What I saw on their faces was intensity. I don't know what Coach McLaughlin said to them to get them ready for the match, but whatever it was, it transformed the team into 45 guys with a single vision. That vision was the league championship.  There was never any doubt in the minds of the wrestlers, this championship would not be taken from them this year. They wrestled to win.

The match started at 135 with John Lebron putting on a valiant effort against West Side's Jose Flores. John came out on the short side of a 7 – 2 score and the Terriers went up 3-0. It would be seven matches later before they would score their next points. Central recorded pins at 140 (Bemnet Banks), 145 (Manny Ocasio), 152 (Anthony Brooks), and 160 (Anthony Williams). Estavon Gonzalez then won a decision over Slav Piserenko 9-2. Nate Collins was up next in what was easily the most exciting match of the night. Ilii Cojucaro bumped up from 171 to face Collins and Nate was victorious 5-4 in double overtime. That put the score at 30 – 3. West Side pulled closer by registering pins at 215 (Aslan Veysalov) and 285(Matt Mercier) to make the score 30- 15.The Golden Eagles then put the match away by registering pins by Tyrique Dowdell (103), Danial Salgado (112) and Peter Hager (119).West Side came back to grab 12 points with pins at 125 (Shawn Le) and 130 (Risan Umarov) but it was too little, too late.

This was the first step for the Golden Eagles heading into the post season and marks the end of the regular season. West Side and Central should meet again (barring upsets) on Saturday in Westfield at the Western Mass dual meet championships. Saturday should be a much different match if West Side has all their wrestlers available. The question is, will the Golden Eagles be able to sustain the intensity that they had tonight. If they wrestle with that same intensity on Saturday, the outcome should be the same.

Here we GO!!! The regular season is coming to a close and I expect it to finish with fireworks. This season is ending with what promises to be the biggest league match in many years. West Side against the Golden Eagles. I have been looking forward to this match for a while and now it's finally here. This one is for all the marbles, kids. The league championship. It's an important match, but may not be as important as the next match when the two teams meet on Saturday. And they will meet again on Saturday, I have no doubt that West Side and Central will meet in the sectional dual meet championship to decide who will move on to the state championship. So Wednesday is important, but in the big picture, it's just a warm-up for Saturday.

There are a lot of people trying to predict the outcome of this one, but it's no easy pick. The way I figure it, the matches that should be a no brainer are Central winning 112, 140, and 189, and West Side winning 119, 171 and 215. I am giving a slight nod to Central at 145 – 160 and a slight nod to West Side at 130, 135 and 285. This one is going to come down to depth. Who has the best wrestlers at each teams weakest weight classes. We all know where the strength on each team lies, but who has the depth and the heart. My prediction? Central 35 – 31.

You can bet that the bleachers will be overflowing at West Side. I expect large contingents from both sides. The gym will be loud, the wrestling will be exciting, and you can bet that the outcome will be in doubt right up to the very end. Get there early and get a seat. This one is gonna be a full house. If all goes as expected, we will be talking about this match for years. See ya there!!!

I left early…. I admit it. I was going to stay to get all of the final results, but I was hungry and tired and just wanted to go home. I know how Central ended up and I figured I could get the rest of the results from the Springfield Paper in the morning. Big mistake. I know we are going through a recession, but when did it become a great business idea to give less, and charge more for it to try to overcome a decrease in sales? I have had it with the newspaper. They have had shoddy coverage at best when it comes to our sport. There are spotty results and when there are results, most times they are wrong. I complained about this a few years back and was told the problem was that the coaches were not calling the results in. I know this year that the results are getting called in, they simply aren't being reported. The Republican and their staff have pretty much stated by their actions that the only High School winter sport worth reporting is basketball. So be it. I promise I will do my best to report as much as possible about our sport. I will not leave early again without results. I will try to give you a better product and I won't even charge for it. By the way, I am canceling my subscription to the Springfield Republican. If you are reading the paper for your sports news, you should probably cancel also. Perhaps someone will start a daily paper that actually cares about what is going on locally. The guys in our sport train harder than any other sport. They deserve the recognition for achievements that they make on the mat.

Sorry about the rant. It's been bugging me ever since I got my first Monday newspaper that didn't have enough newsprint to line the bottom of the birdcage. The only thing worth reading in the paper anymore is the obits. I will find those elsewhere.

Central came in third. The Golden Eagles got an easy draw for the first two rounds. Amherst was Central's first opponent. They won one match. There were four uncontested weight classes and Central beat up the Hurricanes 46 – 3. Next up was Agawam. Central had faced Agawam less than two weeks before and there were no surprises here. Coach McLaughlin had the opportunity to insert a few of the JV werstlers in the lineup to get them some varsity experience. There were three uncontested weight classes and the final score was a respectable 36 – 24 win for the Golden Eagles.

Duannesburg. This is why the Golden Eagles go to the Northeast Duals. To wrestle good teams from out of the area. Duannesburg is one of those good teams. They are from upstate NY and have become a great rival for the Golden Eagles. Duannesburg and Central have been passing the Northeast Duals trophy back and forth for four years now. I look forward to this match every year. This year was better than most.

Wrestling is in and of itself an individual sport. One wrestler from each team, on the mat, facing each other and going at it for six minutes or until one is pinned. The hardest thing to do with wrestlers is to get them to function as a team. If they win their match, they are happy. If they lose, they are sad. When it comes to wrestling as a team, sometimes winning isn't as good as winning right and losing isn't as bad if you lose right. It's all about the team points. Individual results count, but if you are going to be successful as a dual meet team, you have to get the wrestlers to buy in to the team concept. When two good teams face off against each other, single points from single matches can mean the difference between winning and losing. Duannesburg and Central wrestled to a 31 – 31 tie. In regular dual meets, there are no tie breakers. In a dual meet tournament, there cannot be a tie. Someone has to move on. Duannesburg won the tie breaker by winning more matches than Central. There were so many places in the match where one point could have been obtained. Peter Hager lost a tough match at 119. He lost 8-6. Manny Ocasio lost a heart breaker to Ryan Brown 9-8. Jeff Barcher lost his heavyweight match by one point, 4-3. It was a great match to be a part of. I saw John Lebron come off the mat after losing his match by a score of 16 – 5. He was jumping up and down and pumping his fist in excitement. Not because he won, but because he lost right. He wrestled a superior opponent and managed to stay off his back to keep the opposing team from scoring those 2 extra points. That's what I mean by buying into the team concept. John was excited, because he helped the team. He did his best with everything he had to get one job done for the team. He lost right. Bemnet Banks wrestled at 140 and had a major decision pulled from his grasp with seconds to go in the match. He won, but he wasn't happy. He knew he had let the team down by not getting that extra team point for the major decision. The result was a tie. Duannesburg had the criteria. Duannesburg went to the finals and Central dropped down to the third place match. Central wrestled Pomperaug for third place. It wasn't much of a match. There was no contest at 189 and the Golden Eagles coasted to a 46 – 18 victory. It wasn't first, but it may have had a more valuable result. Perhaps it will help the guys realize that wrestling for Central is a team sport. It's good to win your match, but better to win right or lose right for the team. Perhaps they can now understand and buy into that concept. It won't take long to find out. When Central meets West Springfield this Wednesday it may just come down to a point or two. It may come down to which team buys into the team concept more. It might come down to a guy like John Lebron, running off the mat with a big smile on his face and pumping his fist in the air because he lost. Well, not because he lost, but because he lost right. That might just be the difference between league champs and league runners-up.

Last night, Central traveled to Longmeadow to face the Lancers in a league match. Every season there seems to be at least one match where a lot of guys are either hurt, banged up or sick. Last night was the match this season. The list of starters that were not wrestling was too long for comfort. Out was Danny Salgado (112), Anthony Brooks (152), Estavon Gonzalez (171) and Shaun Lockett (285). Last night saw the return of Manny Ocasio (145) and Nate Shea (189, 215)  who came into the match to raise their arm and take a forfeit. The match was tense at moments and the competition was high quality, but in the end Longmeadow had too many holes and Central won 33 – 23. Of actual matches wrestled, Longmeadow won 6 and Central won 5. Two of Central's wins (Peter Hager – 119 and Nate Collins – 215) came by pin. Longmeadow scored one pin at 135 when Gary Shea stuck John Lebron. The most exciting matches came at 140 lbs and 160 lbs, both of which Central lost. At 140 lbs, Bemnet Banks seemed to have the match in control up 4 – 2 with seconds to go when Matt shapiro scored to tie the match. In overtime, Shapiro got the quick takedown to shock the Central crowd and come away with the win. At 160 lbs, Anthony Williams was trailing Ian Altman 2-1 in the third period when he took a shot and seemingly took Ian Altman down with his feet in bounds. The ref called the take-down out of bounds in probably one of the worst calls I have seen all season. That certainly changed the tenor of the match and Anthony had to try a desperation take-down attempt late in the period and ended up on the bottom losing 4 – 1.

Central squeaked the win out and now has a week to get healthy to face off against West Springfield in the final league match of the season. Both teams are undefeated in league action and West Springfield is stronger this year than I have ever seen them. West Side has a legitimate opportunity to knock Central off this year and walk away with the Western Mass crown. If both teams are healthy, I would have to give the nod to Central. Thats a big IF and a small nod. It's gonna be a barn-burner and West Springfield will be hosting in their home gym. I expect this one to be packed to the rafters with fans as this is going to be the most competitive D1 league match in the valley since the days of the Agawam – Central rivalry. With the title up for grabs, I expect both teams will be flying high and pumped for the match. Make your plans early kids. You won't want to miss this one……..