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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!!