WAKEFIELD — The Anthony Lisitano Memorial Wrestling Tournament is always a special day for the host Wakefield High wrestling team.
For the 23rd time on Saturday at the Charbonneau Field House, the Warriors hosted a tournament in memory of Lisitano (’88), a two-year wrestling captain at Wakefield High and much-loved leader in the community.
Per tradition, Anthony’s brother, Al Lisitano, spoke to the crowd to thank the wrestling community for the support and also encourage each competitor to leave it all on the mat.
Wakefield head coach Ross Ickes, a former teammate of Anthony Lisitano, was proud of another memorable tournament honoring one of Wakefield’s best.
“This tournament means a lot,” said Ickes. “To be able to keep his memory alive, it’s very important to us.”
The D3 Warriors took 2nd overall out of 15 teams with 224 points, just shy of Div. 1 Methuen (252), one of the top-ranked teams in the state.
The top five was rounded out by Shepherd Hill (155), Arlington (139) and Lexington (139).
Wakefield had two wrestlers crowned champions of their bracket as senior captains Joe LaMonica and Andrew Valley got gold at 215 and 126 respectively.
“Both wrestled great, I’m really proud of them,” said Ickes of his two champs. “Really, the whole team wrestled well. We are definitely trending in the right direction.”
The Warriors also had two 2nd place finishers (senior captains Sean Callanan and Zach Arria), two 3rd place finishers (Aydin Lamb and Jaden Fullerton) and three 4th place finishers (Michael Barry, Kip King and Vinnie Digiorgio).
Valley cruised in four matches at 126, two pins bringing him to the semifinals where he defeated Hanover’s Matthew Costello by a 6-4 decision after a takedown in the final period. Valley finished strong in the finals with a 10-2 major decision over Lexington’s Dillon Noonan.
LaMonica also won four matchups, all via pin on his way to gold. He had to work hard in the quarterfinals against Ben O’Brien, getting a fall eventually in 3:11. He quickly pinned Pentucket’s Aidan Burrier in 39 seconds in the semifinals and battled back in the 2nd against Methuen’s Gabe Fonseca to eventually get a pin in 3:12 in the championship bout.
Callanan went 4-1 at 157 including two hard-earned pins to get to the quarterfinals where he beat Hanover’s Peter Clarke in a 13-4 major decision. He pinned Luke Waldman of Reading in 3:13 before dropping to top-ranked Vincent DeMaio of Methuen in a technical fall in the finals.
Arria went 3-1 with a pin, a 17-5 major decision in the quarterfinals and a pin in 1:15 against Methuen’s Corey Kalivas in the semifinals before a close, 3-2 decision went to Watertown’s Brady Gleason in the championship.
Wakefield’s focus every season is on cultivating depth, the difference between good and great teams. They showcased that on Saturday as all of their wrestlers won at least one bout.
“You have to have depth,” said Ickes. “We got contributions from everyone which was huge.”
That depth is especially important when wrestlers battle back to win after losing a matchup, something that their four 3rd and 4th place finishers did well. Lamb, a sophomore, went 3-1 at 138 winning his first two and then bouncing back after a loss to pin Niko Kontos of Lincoln-Sudbury for 3rd place.
Fullerton, a freshman, went 4-1 with three pins leading to the semifinals where he was pinned after a long bout but came back to fall Hanover’s Juneau Mofford in 1:20 for 3rd.
King had a pin and a decision to help claim 4th at 285.
Ickes was especially proud of Barry and Digiorgio, a sophomore and freshman respectively who will be key in accomplishing that depth the team seeks.
Digiorgio went 2-2 at 132 with two pins over Isaac Medford of Lynnfield/North Reading and Brandon Fitzpatrick of Malden Catholic.
Barry went 2-2 at 113 with pins over Lexington’s Adam Keene and Sam Bird of Lynnfield/North Reading.
Ulysses Cullen went 3-2 to earn 6th place points including three victories via pin.
James Fabbri got four wins at 132 to earn points with a 5th place finish. He concluded his day with three straight wins over Dylan Ferguson of Shepherd Hill (3-2 DEC), Austin McClosky of Reading (F, 5:41) and Davi Dossantos of Arlington (F, 5:42), providing a good example of battling back that coach Ickes was proud of.
Overall, Wakefield certainly earned their silver medal and more importantly, provided a new group of wrestlers a great tournament atmosphere and an understanding of what it means to be a good teammate, competitor and leader in the community, just like Anthony Lisitano.
The Warriors moved to 2-0 in dual meets with an impressive 60-12 win over Wilmington on Wednesday. They will travel to Woburn for their next meet this Wednesday at 6 p.m.