Wayland hosted sectional opponents Josiah Quincy, Hudson, and Weston last Tuesday to wrestle off for the Sectional Dual Meet title. Wayland’s first opponent in the Sectional Semi-finals was against rival Weston. The match started off well, with a win from freshman Griffin McGrail, but went downhill fast with a major decision, then a pin in Weston’s favor.



That was about as good as it got for the Wildcats as Wayland avenged those losses with three straight victories coming from Ben Garelick (125), Bryant Wolf (130) and Mike Testa with a pin at 135. Weston managed to stop the bleeding, for short a time, however, with a pin over first time varsity wrestler Asher Lovesky (140). Wayland got back on track with three straight dominating performances by captains Max Lewin and Matt Lombardo, and then junior Zach Sperling.

Weston managed to put a few more points on the board at 171 and 189, but Wayland shot right back with wins of their own at 215 and heavyweight. This ended the match at 44-25, with Wayland advancing to the sectional finals.

After a tight but winning match against Josiah Quincy, Hudson would be the Warriors’ opponent for the title. The match started at 112, with a strong performance and quick pin by Greg Eng, putting Wayland up 6-0. Hudson forfeited their next match at 119, increasing Wayland’s lead by another 6 points. Following this was the match of the night, a rematch of the 125 lb individual sectional tournament finals between Wayland captain Ben Garelick and Hudson’s Derek Jordan.

The match started off well for Garelick with a first period takedown, then an escape for Jordan, ending the period at 2-1. The second round would see an escape by Jordan and a couple of flurries, but no additional scoring. Tied at 2-2 with the decision of top, bottom or neutral in the final period, Garelick chose bottom, hoping to end the match a clean 3-2. Things were going according to plan, as Ben escaped, giving him the lead by a point. It was then that Jordan threw Garelick to his back; Garelick managed to reverse his Hudson opponent, then turn him for two to take it into overtime, where Garelick took the match with a takedown.

Wayland dominated the rest of the match, losing only four weight classes, taking the rest with pins coming from Wolf (130), Testa (135), Lewin (145), Sperling (160) and Price (215), as well as a tech fall by Matt Lombardo at 152 and a tight decision at 171 coming from Cunningham.

The Warriors also found success at the Division III State Tournament in Wakefield. Seven wrestlers qualified for the following week’s All-State tournament by placing in the top six. Taking sixth were juniors Zach Sperling (160), Bryant Wolf (135), and sophomore Max Garelick (119).

Max’s brother Ben took 4th at 125 lbs., and Matt Lombardo took 3rd at 152 lbs. Wayland also had a pair of state champions in seniors Mike Testa (130) and Max Lewin (145). Lewin was awarded “most falls least time” for pinning his way through the tournament.

Overall, Wayland placed 2nd in the “unofficial” team scores, with Winchester taking 1st. This shows that we have a strong potential of making it to the Dual Meet State Finals.