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Throughout the past month, it seemed like everybody in New England caught Super Bowl fever after watching their Patriots win three straight playoff games to get to the big game in Santa Clara, Calif. last Sunday, Feb. 8. The results notwithstanding, it’s time to get back to work, and that also includes the coaches and athletes on the Winchester High wrestling team.
“We can now fully focus on wrestling,” said Assistant Coach Vitaly Napadow, “as the postseason for us is (finally) here.”
The regular season came to an end after the Red & Black blitzed the Marblehead Black & Blue co-op squad on its Senior Night in Swampscott on Feb. 4, 66-12. It was the second time in recent weeks that the Winchester grapplers experienced the pomp and circumstance of Senior Night in an away venue. After that road win, the Red & Black finished up the regular season with a dual meet record of 16-13.
There were lots of pins against Marblehead, plus a big win for Eddie Donlon over a highly-ranked wrestler – Liam O’Brien – in the 138-pound weight class.
“Eddie has had a bunch of tight matches in recent weeks, which should pay off in dividends in the postseason,” said Napadow.
A few days later on Feb. 7, a scheduled quad meet at Greater Lowell was cancelled, because of another snowstorm, but head coach Ryan Errico’s team quickly pivoted and found another tournament at Greater Lawrence Tech that was still on.
“It was great to compete, with the state sectionals coming up,” said Napadow. “The team fought hard, before going 1-2 against the likes of Southeastern Tech (72-6, win), Gloucester (52-27, loss) and host Greater Lawrence (42-33, loss). There were some tough hombres on those teams, especially on Greater Lawrence. Some of those kids we’ll be seeing at the state divisional meet, and so it was good to get a feel for them before the postseason.”
Following the tournament, Ilyas Malik was singled out by the Winchester coaches for being one of their leaders on the mat after having such a special season to date as a 175-pound wrestler, despite enduring a few tough losses down the stretch. They think that type of adversity will get him ready for the postseason tournaments. But overall, they acknowledged the team as a whole has also had tough matches up and down the lineup.
There was good news coming from the Greater Lawrence meet, when Henry Wallace at 120-pounds returned to the lineup to shake off the rust in time for the state tournament, which will begin on Saturday, Feb. 14, in the Division 1 Central / Metro sectional tournament at Malden High School.
There are four sectional tournaments throughout the state – North, South, Central / West and Central / Metro – that encompasses three divisions. The top four wrestlers in each weight class from the sectionals advance to the state divisional round the following weekend, where tentatively the top six – again in each weight class – will head to the All-States, which will determine who represents the state at the All-New England regional meet. The top six again in each weight class make it to the regional competition.
A quick recent look at history shows that Winchester as a team finished second in the sectionals last year, and Napadow naturally hopes that they can this time come out on top after Saturday’s tournament opener in Malden.
“This will be the last day of competition this year for many on the team, and so we hope to see the Winchester fans come out and packed the (Malden High School gym) to cheer on the Red & Black,” said Napadow.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News in November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
