RallyNorth.net

North Andover Scarlet Knights Wrestling '13-'14

Sat, Feb 22, 2014 09:00 AM @ North Andover
Team Final
at North Andover 151
Central Catholic 47
Whittier 27

North Andover's triumphant trio

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Saturday, February, 22 By Jeff Hamrick

NORTH ANDOVER — On a night when points were at a premium, Zane Mellilo provided an ignition that teammates Fritz Hoehn and Brad Drover later forcefully drove home.

Trailing Winchester by 2 1/2 points entering a championship round in which both schools had four entries, North Andover used major decisions by each of its three victors to win the school's fifth consecutive Division II state title. Each member of that trio won their second consecutive divisional crown.

The Scarlet Knights finished with 151.5 points — three points better than Winchester, which lost both of its head-to-head matches with the Scarlet Knights.

"We knew we had to get two more major decisions (after Mellilo's victory)," North Andover coach Carl Cincotta said. "That means both (Hoehn and Drover) had to win by eight points or more. We were hoping Fritz would at least get a major, so that would take the pressure off of Brad to not need to get a pin or a (technical fall) ... But you feel very confident when you have the two best wrestlers in New England."

But the plan needed a strong start from the sixth-seeded Mellilo, who missed the first month of the seson with a torn meniscus in his left knee. One week after dropping a tough 9-8 decision in the sectional finals to Central Catholic's Brandon DesFosses, Mellilo sparked the Knights'rally with a convincing 13-2 decision over Winchester's Garrett Ludwig, who knocked off the top-seeded DesFosses in the quarterfinals.

"I was a little cocky going into last weekend, and it bit me in the (butt)," said Mellilo, who ran his record to 16-3 with his second straight 132-pound title. "I just knew if I didn't work hard this week I was going to lose this match and I couldn't let that happen. My team needed me."

Mellilo's win set the stage for Hoehn and Drover, who each won Division II titles last year at 152 and 160, respectively.

First up was Hoehn, who will enters next week's All-State tournament with a gaudy 42-3 season record after his 10-2 victory over Winchester's Antyhony Fraumen at 160 pounds.

"I knew for us to win as a team, I had to do more than just win," said Hoehn, who twice scored takedowns after releasing Fraumen. "I just had to get as many points as possible ... to set us up for the win."

That team title came moments later when Drover remained perfect on the season at 44-0. Drover, who like Hoehn pinned each of his first three opponents, repeatedly let Beverly's Tom Wilbur escape for takedowns that led to a 13-4 170-pound victory.

"I was thinking that I could beat (Wilbur) on my feet," said Drover, who recorded 11 of the 15 points scored in the second period. "I had him before in the sectional finals (an 11-3 major decision), and I knew I could take him down a bunch of times."

As big as those victories were, North Andover also received a major boost from Jack Perry, who bounced back from a 3-0 deficit in his third-place bout to pin Central's Tom Pagliarulo, who had defeated the Knights' freshman in both of their previous matches, including 6-3 in last week's sectional final.

"I was just realy happy to be there," Perry said. "I knew what to defend against and what was coming so it helped I had wrestled him before. I just knew I really needed to win this for our team and it would be crucial."

North Andover's only disappointment came at 113 pounds when second-seeded Peter Taylor dropped a touch 6-3 decisiion to top-seeded Kevin Thomas of Natick. Other Scarlet Knights to advance to this weekend's All-State tournament in Lowell were the Villalba brothers Dan (fourth at 126) and Nick (sixth, 138).

"I'm very happy," cincotta said. "Everything is just icing on the cake now that we have that trophy. I really want to focus on the individuals now."

In additiion to Pagliarulo Central qualified DesFossas (third) and Donovan Nolan (sixth, 152) while Whittier's Tyler Tannian finished fourth at 138.

Game Statistics:

Division 2 States

Team scores: 1. North Andover 151.5, 2. Winchester 148.5, 3. Catholic Memorial 117, 4. North Attleboro 82.5, 5. Reading 76.514. Central Catholic 47, 22. Whittier 27

Winners and area placers (top six advance to All-State):

106: 1. Michael Aquino (CM), 3. Jack Perry (NA), 4. Tom Pagliarulo (CC); 113: 1. Kevin Thomas (Natick), 2. Peter Taylor (NA); 120: 1. Jordan Darby (Win); 126: 1. Mark Gutierrez (CM), 4. Dan Villalba (NA); 132: 1. Zane Mellilo (NA), 3. Brandon Desfosses (CC); 138: 1. Nick Makrys (Read), 4. Nick Villalba (NA), 6. Tyler Tannian (Whittier); 145: 1. Thomas Grifa (Silver Lake); 152: 1. Austin Renzi (NAtt); 160: 1. Fritz Hoehn (NA); 170: 1. Brad Drover (NA); 182: 1. Mike Bentley (Woburn); 195: 1. Joe Fallon (Win); 220: F1. Frank Girolamo (Stoughton); HVY: 1. Grady DiAntonio (Milford)

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