Needham High School hosted the Metro Sectional Championship meet on Saturday, February 15. Walpole fared well with five wrestlers winning their weight class in Sectionals, the Rebels sent all five Sectional Champions and Tom Lee to State Meet on . Four of the five wrestlers won by pin in the finals of the Sectional Meet.
At the SectionalMeet top seed Steve Shevory (125), who was expected to win, followed through with expectations and won his weight class with a 3-1 victory over Logan Turnbull from Needham. All other wrestlers were able to pin their opponents. Mike Cofsky (135) used his favorite move, the spladle, as a counter attack to his opponents attempt at a single leg takedown in the first minute of the Championship match. Sean Coyne (145) followed suit by pinning Zach Schwartz of Boston Latin also using the spladle.
The next Walpole wrestler who made it to the finals was Johnny White (160). White’s match was the toughest match in the finals for the Walpole wrestlers. Early in the third period White escaped a near pin and used the change in momentum to go on the offensive. White gained control of his opponent and was able to pin him with 2:14 left in the period.
Jamel Roy (215) did not let the disadvantage of being a first year wrestler and being outweighed by most of his opponents stop him from being a Metro Sectional Champ. He had the quickest championship match by pinning his opponents within 20 seconds of the beginning of the match.
The top six wrestlers of each weight class advance to the State Championship Meet. Along with the five Metro Sectional Champions Walpole also sent Tom Lee (119) who finished third in his weight class.
Unfortunately, Walpole did not have the same success in States as they enjoyed in sectionals. Shevory, Coyne, White, and Roy represented the Rebels in the the All-States Meet; however, none of the Rebels advanced past the preliminary round on Saturday Feburary 27.
Although the season did not end as well as the Rebels had hoped. Next year’s team will be returning four wrestlers with post-season experience. Senior captain Steve Shevory said, “I am proud of how well our wrestlers did this year. Next years team will have a lot of senior leadership and should pick-up where they left off in the post season.” First year head coach Devin Pacillo will also have a year of head coaching under his belt. Along with Lee, Cofsky, Coyne, and White, the Rebels have a plethora of skilled veteran varsity wrestlers such as Mike Siteman (112) Kevin Hickey (140) and Joe Wyman (152) who will round out the talented Rebel team for the 2011 season.
