Methuen coach Bill James wasn’t certain what sort of staff he would have getting into the 2022-23 season.
After 17 matches, the reply is easy: a reasonably darned good one.
An in depth 42-39 win over Andover final Wednesday gave the Rangers an ideal 17-0 mark to date. Considering the relative inexperience of the lineup in key positions, to say James is happy together with his staff’s progress would qualify as a serious understatement.
“We knew going into the season that we were going to have holes in the lineup because we lost eight starters,” mentioned James, who surpassed the 400-win mark final yr. “We’ve been very fortunate to have younger wrestlers step up and have success and we are going to need them to continue to improve because the Merrimack Valley Conference is so strong.”
In addition to the 17 wins, Methuen additionally captured the Wakefield and Framingham match titles earlier within the season. The lineup is strong up and down the lineup led by Antonio Rios (19 wins at 106 kilos), Dom Gangi (22 wins at 113), Joe Tavares (17 wins at 120), Anthony DeMaio (21 wins at 126), Noah Beshara (17 wins at 138), Vinny DeMaio (21 wins at 145), Jeydany Ortega (15 wins at 152), Shane Eason (19 wins at 160), Joe Bolduc (18 wins at 170), Michael Carmona (15 wins at 182) and Josirus Gomez (15 wins at 285). In addition to them, 132-pounders Jack Stoddard, Conrado Lago and Cael Keough, 195-pounders Jared Rao and Gabe Fonseca together with 220-pounders Dylan Panas and Jariel Julio have supplied the Rangers with high quality depth in filling out the lineup.
James is rapidly to credit score his assistants, John Sughrue, Paul Sughrue, Travis Abdallah and Femi Marquis for serving to to hurry up the maturation course of which has allowed the youthful wrestler to achieve success in such a demanding league.
“The fact that they all wrestled here is huge,” James mentioned. “They believe in the system we run, we are all on the same page when it comes to strategy, technique and expectations.”
Knox nonetheless a contributor at SJP
Tyler Knox spent the previous month making wrestling historical past.
Three weeks after turning into the primary Massachusetts wrestler to win the Beast of the East Wrestling Tournament in Delaware, the St. John’s Prep senior did himself one higher. The first Bay State wrestler to compete on the Doc Buchanan Tournament in California, the long run Stanford Cardinal defeated all six opponents to win the celebrated title.
“He’s possibly the greatest wrestler in state history,” mentioned St. John’s Prep coach Manny Costa. “Knoxy loves and respects wrestling, he does it the right way. He shakes hands, take a shot, scores, work for the pin, end the match, stand and shake hands. Being great at pinning opponents and being a true scholar-athlete has given him the opportunity to attend one of the greatest colleges in the world.”
A fifth-year senior on account of reclassifying after transferring from Pentucket to Northfield Mount Hermon, Knox knew as soon as he arrived at St. John’s Prep two years in the past that he wouldn’t have the ability to wrestle for the college this yr on account of MIAA guidelines. That being mentioned, his expertise at St. John’s Prep has been so optimistic, he opted to remain and function essentially the most gifted assistant coach/apply companion within the state.
“I knew when I came here (in 2021) that my eligibility would be completed after last year,” Knox mentioned. “The thought of transferring to a prep school never crossed my mind. I love the environment here, I’ve had a great time here and I love the coaches.”
With no MIAA competitors to fret about, Knox set about to compete at two of the extra demanding out-of-state tournaments within the nation. The first step was the Beast of the East on the University of Delaware. Seeded sixth at 132 kilos, Knox pinned his first three opponents earlier than defeating third-seeded Cael MnIntyre of Bethelem Catholic (Pa.) within the semifinals (5-0) and top-seeded Caedyn Ricciardi of St. Peter’s Prep (NJ), 7-4, within the finals.
“That was a big tournament for me to win,” Knox mentioned. “I know a lot of people from New England have wrestled here before and not had too much success.”
Fresh off the massive win in Delaware, Knox his abilities throughout the nation to Clovis, California, to compete on the Doc Buchanan Tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, Knox pinned 4 straight opponents to get to the 135-pound finals towards Daniel Zepeda of close by Gilroy, California. Knox could also be doing his school wrestling at a faculty 170 miles away, however he was the determined enemy within the finals and was booed after successful, 5-4.
“It’s funny because before the finals when we were lining up, I was talking to Brock Mantanona, who was wrestling a kid from (host school) Clovis in the match after mine and we were wondering if we would get booed,” Knox mentioned with amusing. “The atmosphere in the finals was unreal, I’ve never wrestled in anything like that before. It was an amazing event, it was so well run, they had the spotlights going before the finals, the stands were packed. It was a great feeling to win there.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com