RallyNorth.net

Central's Tavitian one of six area champions

Saturday, February, 04 By Jeff Hamrick

BEVERLY — On a day when most results went as predicted, Central Catholic’s Ben Tavitian pulled off the biggest upset.

Seeded third entering the Division 2 North Sectional, the Raider senior was last night’s only winner not seeded either first or second. While he might not have been considered a premeet favorite, Tavitian breezed into the finals, needing fewer than 3 minutes to record a pair of pins and earn a spot in the title match where he posted his third fall of the day in 2:34 over top-seeded Peter Salem of Dracut.

“I expected to place, but not much more than that,” said Tavitian after running his record to 31-10. “I was thinking there might be a chance I could win if I worked hard and everything and stuck to my guns. In the end is was just how hard I wanted to work. I guess I’ll have a better seed going into (the state tournament). I can’t wait.”

Defending Division 2 dual-meet state champion North Andover won three of its six championship matches and advanced nine to next week’s state tournament, but the Scarlet Knights finished second in the team scoring. Winchester earned the North’s top seed for the state dual meet in two weeks, finishing first with 247.5 points — nine more than North Andover. Dracut (186.5) and Central (159.5) were the other two teams to advance.

Winning championships for North Andover were freshman Fritz Hoehn, who went 4-0 at 138 pounds with two pins and two technical falls; senior Danny Connolly, who was 3-0 en route to the 160-pound title; and junior Ryan Neals, who won all four of his 182-pound matches. Zane Melillo (132), Jason Ricketts (152) and John Pollard (195) finished second.

“In those last two matches (Neals and Pollard) we needed a pin and a win to win the team title,” said a disappointed North Andover coach Carl Cincotta. “It was not as good as I’d have liked. It would have been nice to at least have gotten one more (championship). It was OK. We took section in the section. We’ll see (Winchester) hopefully in the dual meet. Hopefully in the state final.”

Tavitian was one of three Raiders to win championships. Pat Lacroix won the night’s most exciting final with an 11-10 decision over Greater Lawrence’s Adan Marquez at 120 pounds. Lacroix led 8-5 entering the final period but needed an escape with 7.8 seconds remaining for the title. Ryan O’Boyle, considered by many as the state’s best pound-for-pound wrestler, won four matches while winning the 126-pound championship. O’Boyle had three pins, including a stop of Winchester’s Steve Spry in 2:36 in the title match.

“It was an up and down day,” said Central coach Dennis King, who will take five wrestlers to the state tournament. “We didn’t start out very well. Some of the guys we thought would do well didn’t. But the guys that came into the finals ... having three champions was a good finish.”

In addition to Marquez, four Greater Lawrence wrestlers qualified for state.