The Lynnfield-North Reading wrestling team continues to mow down opponents in its march to the postseason.
The Black and Gold have a chance this week to do something they haven’t done in 10 years: win a league championship, which has eluded LNR since 2015. A dual-meet victory against Essex Tech-Masconomet on Jan. 29 would clinch the title.
This week, the Black and Gold continued to climb to new heights. Saturday, the team made its annual trek to the Cohasset Tournament. Despite missing a couple of key grapplers, the team placed 12 wrestlers and finished third with 196 points. Middleborough won the team title with 226 points with Cohasset scoring 213 points to place second.
Nathan Barstow (113 pounds) won his first career tournament. James Fodera, who has now won all four in-season tournaments LNR has competed in this year (Wakefield, Lowell, Pentucket and Cohasset), won his third straight Cohasset title.
Zack Morse (215) and Dylan Matthews (285) each finished second in their first career tournament championship matches. Zach Inafuko (106, 5th), freshman Lucas Lopes (165, 6th), and first-year varsity wrestler Abdul Abdalla (150, 6th) collected their first tournament place finishes of their varsity careers.
“It is so great to see everyone constantly improving, challenging themselves to exceed expectations and supporting each other,” said coach Craig Stone.
Barstow’s (3-0) road to the championship began with a pin win in 1:12 in the quarterfinals and a 16-2 major decision in the semifinals. He clinched the title with a third-period pin over Middleborough’s Josh Gonzalvez in 4:09 in the final.
Fodera finished 4-0 and won every match by pin. He needed only 11 seconds to win his first-round match, then advanced to the semifinals with a 2:48 pin win in the quarterfinals. He polished off the title with a 2:48 pin win in the semis and 2:23 pin win over Cohasset’s Cole Kearney in the final.
Jakob Hulett (120), Jason Kouyoumdjian (126), and Jack Cuddy (175) finished third in their respective weight classes, Cam Arya (165) finished fourth, and Isaac Medford (150) finished sixth to round out the place finishers.
LNR 54
Pentucket 24
In a back-and-forth contest on Jan. 18 at home, the Black and Gold (17-1-1) jumped out to a 24-0 lead after the first four matches and held off the visiting Sachems, who had closed to within two, 24-22, with four matches to go, winning five of the next six matches by pins to secure the win.
“It was a great crowd to witness a competitive dual-meet,” Stone said. “We have come such a long way in the last four years.”
LNR winners included Inafuku at 106 (1:32), Barstow at 113 (32 seconds), Hullet at 120 (1:43), Kouyoumdjian at 126 (2:12), David Glynn at 157 (5:24), Arya at 165 (3:04), Fodera at 190 (forfeit), Morse at 215 (3:04), and Matthews at 285 (5:16).