GLOUCESTER — The Cape Ann League/Northeastern Conference wrestling meet is one that most squads have marked on their calendars at the beginning of each season.
For Gloucester High, the anticipation for this year’s event was at an all-time high — not only because it was hosting the tournament for the first time since 2020, but they were ready to seriously contend for a team title in their home gym.
While the Fishermen ultimately fell just short of that goal, finishing second overall to eventual champion Beverly, Saturday afternoon’s performance was certainly nothing to hang their heads about.
“It’s tough; Beverly is now Division 1 and they actually got Danvers’ best wrestler (Joe Baker), who transferred over to Beverly. He’s one of the best wrestlers in the state,” admitted Gloucester head coach Matt Swanson, his team finishing with 209.5 points to Beverly’s 222.5. “So they’re very powerful and a great team. To come this close to Beverly is nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.”
En route to its runner-up finish, Gloucester got some outstanding performances along the way.
Perhaps the most inspiring result occurred in the 150-pound weight class, where sophomore standout Joe Allen came out with an improbable victory. Allen suffered a broken foot during the football season and just recently returned to the mat. Still not completely back to himself, Allen grinded his way through a pair of competitive bouts before taking down Beverly’s Jayden Santos in the semifinals, then doing the same to Justin Bremberg of Saugus/Peabody in the finals with a 7-4 decision in triple overtime.
“It’s been a struggle, still not fully recovered yet, still battling, but I came out here and wanted to win — and here I am now,” said Allen. “I’m really tired, but I kept with it and pulled it out.”
Allen, who also took first at 132 pounds at last year’s meet, credited Swanson for helping him get his mojo back and prepare him for big matches like Saturday’s.
“Coach conditioned us all year. He did us good, real good,” said Allen. “The conditioning is tough; I’m breathing heavy, but pulled through.”
“What an amazing story, a comeback story,” added Swanson. “It was really emotional because a month ago frustrations were high for him. But he’s an athlete-and-a-half. And to be that far behind stamina-wise and come in here in triple overtime and pull it out for a second year in a row is really impressive and great news moving forward for him.”
Of course Gloucester wouldn’t have gotten to where it did without the contributions from star brothers Michael and Jayden Toppan. Once again, both grapplers proved their mettle on Saturday.
Slated at 190 pounds, Michael was gearing up for what was shaping up to be the match of the day with a championship clash against Beverly star Gino Sicari. Unfortunately the latter suffered a knee injury in the semifinals, and while he powered through that round to get the victory, he was unable to go against Toppan in the finals, giving Toppan the forfeit win.
“Although he didn’t wrestle his finals match, he fought hard through an injury and that semifinal was his big one,” Beverly head coach Ben Comeau said of Sicari. “He’s had an injured knee all year and it flared it up in the middle of the match, but he wrestled through it.”
Toppan had bested Triton’s Nick Serino and Pentucket’s Mason Skinner on his way to the championship.
Meanwhile, Jayden Toppan continued to do his thing at 215 pounds. He took down Triton’s Douglas Alyward in the finals with a 6-1 decision, giving Gloucester another huge victory as they fought for the team crown. It was Toppan’s third such victory at the CAL/NEC Meet.
“Never does,” Toppan said when asked if it ever gets old winning the tournament. He had never previously wrestled Alyward but knew going in just how much of a challenge it was going to be.
“Last year (Alyward) was at 182 and wrestled Gino Sicari; this year he bumps up two weight classes and gets me,” said Toppan, the reigning All-State champion. “I knew it was going to be a struggle. He’s double-jointed, really long, and it took a lot of preparation to get ready for that match. But all the hard work paid off at the end.”
After the meet, Jayden Toppan was named the upper weight division’s Outstanding Wrestler.
In the 120-pound class, Gloucester’s Aiden DeCoste snared another triumph for his team. The slippery grappler topped opponents from Saugus/Peabody and Beverly before taking on Salem’s Kevin Spoon in the finals. DeCoste pulled out a tight decision to stand atop the podium.
“I just wanted to be a two-time champ — and by my senior year hopefully be a five-time winner — since I won this last year too,” said DeCoste, a freshman who won the event as an 8th grader last winter. “Once I got to the finals I knew that kid had beat me before, but I’ve beat him a couple times too. I just had to do something big to win it because I was down three (points), so I did what I had to do.”
“Aiden really impressed me today; I voted for him for Outstanding Wrestler in the lower weights,” added Swanson. “He was unbelievable.”
At 175 pounds, Gloucester’s Evan Mione earned a second place finish, falling to Beverly’s Bradan McNeil in the finals. McNeil rolled through the competition all afternoon, securing three pins in just 1 minute and 28 seconds.
“I wrestled (Mione) multiple times before, so I knew it was all possible,” said McNeil, who pulled off an impressive move to secure the victory. “It was a bar stack, bar half stack, a textbook move. The half was there, had a bar already in and just stacked him on his head right on the edge of the mat.
“It was pretty tiring all day; all tournaments are,” McNeil added. “So it’s definitely a little taxing to push through.”
McNeil, whose match finished before the final team results were officially announced, said his team had been working all year for this opportunity.
“We’ve been working our butts off,” he said. “Everybody did offseason work, going to (wrestling) clubs and everything, and we’ve all been grinding in practice. So I feel like it’s really deserved (that) we pull it off a second year in a row.”
Also winning their classes for champion Beverly was Cooper Lang (113 pounds) and the aforementioned Baker (165). The Panthers also secured second place finishes from Brayden Pouliot (106) and Kasey Nako (157), as well as third places from Tristan Gold (144) and Jack Consedine (215).
In their final championship clash of the day, Gloucester freshman Max Thomas impressed at heavyweight. The first-year big man secured a pair of hard fought victories in the quarters and semis before running into Danvers veteran Adam Guzofski, who ultimately pulled out a 7-5 decision.
“I mean, Max is only a freshman and he’s so talented. He’s truly already a dog,” Guzofski said of his opponent, Thomas. “He’s even throwing me around a little bit out there. I think he’s going to be great and have a lot of success moving forward.
“(But for me), it feels great. I really worked hard for it, went out there and made it happen,” he added.
Gloucester also secured a trio of third place finishes on the day, coming from Jayden Chadwick (126 pounds), Anthony Murawski (157) and Zachary Hashley (165).
The strong home showing was was a successful outing all around for a Fishermen team that now turns its attention to sectionals.
“We’re only 11 years old as a program, and to utilize this revamped field house with the new track and everything, it’s just a beautiful facility to run this tournament. Everything went smooth,” said Swanson, who thanked Gloucester athletic director Bryan Lafata for all his hard work in setting things up. “We’re moving on to sectionals now with all this momentum; we’re looking forward to it.”
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Taking home the third place trophy was Saugus/Peabody with 180 points. They, too, got some tremendous performances, including an entertaining triumph from Max LoRusso at 138 pounds. He breezed through his first two bouts before topping Lynnfield/North Reading’s David Glynn with a pin in the finals.
“That’s my friend. I’ve been wrestling with him since I was a freshman when I first started,” LoRusso, a Saugus native, said. “We trained offseason together at Red Roots and Doughboys, and we were actually texting each other last week about the CAL/NEC and I’m like, ‘I’m gonna see you in the finals’, and that’s what it was. So he’s a great opponent, always a tough fight.”
LoRusso was extremely motivated after finishing second a year ago.
“Last night I was thinking about last year and I was just hungry for first place,” he added. “We actually had six of us that made it to the finals, so a great showing for us. And to see David in the finals, that was awesome.”
Those other Saugus/Peabody grapplers to reach the finals included Sam LoRusso, a winner at 157 pounds; Jackson Deleidi (runner-up at 113), Elias Diaz (runner-up at 132), Justin Bremberg (runner-up at 150), and Luke Calder (runner-up at 165).
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Marblehead/Swampscott snared fourth place overall with 155.5 points. Brady Haskell was crowned champion at 106 pounds and Mason Hinshaw took second at 144 to lead the charge. Liam O’Brien added a third place finish for the Black-and-Blue as well.
Salem, which finished eighth with 86 points, got the second place finish from Spoon at 120, as well as a third place from Miguel Arcila (150) and a fourth place from Justice Bower (132).
Essex Tech/Masconomet managed 65 team points for a ninth place finish. For them, the day belonged to standout Miles Darling, who picked up a dominant win at 126 pounds. Darling was named the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler for the lightweight divisions.