Melrose wins league title at 7th Brawl in the Hall, 50-24
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—It was a night that led up to the hype.
Each February, the Melrose High and Wakefield High wrestling teams have seen their seasons boil down to their final competition at the Brawl in the Hall at Memorial Hall in Melrose to determine the winner of the Melrose Freedom League. This year, both teams were coming into the night with near-impeccable records. Melrose is 29-5 and ranked #12 in the state, while Wakefield (22-7) is ranked #20. Both were unbeaten in the league and posed a threat to the other.
And on Tuesday night, Melrose prevailed in a 50-24 shellacking at Memorial Hall, which avenged last year’s loss and returned the coveted Middlesex Freedom League trophy to the halls of Melrose High.
It was a packed house with fans of all ages, including dueling high school fan sections who bring it every year to out-chant each other. The teams entered the evening tied at three Brawl in the Hall victories in six years of competition, but only one could break the tie and win the seventh, tie-breaking victory.
“I thought it might be down to the wire, and I wouldn’t have expected losing a heavy that we’d still win by that margin, but everyone came up big tonight,” said Melrose head coach Larry Tremblay after the win. “Obviously Wakefield is a great team.”
Melrose came to the mat relentless, and Wakefield was simply overpowered, losing some unexpected weight classes to pins from impressive Melrose underclassmen who carried the night early. Melrose ran to a quick lead with a pin by Brennan Secour (106), who pinned his Wakefield opponent Kevin Fabbri with five seconds left in the first.
And sophomore Owen Savage (113) put Melrose up 12-0 when he pinned his competitor Jason Correia in the first after a half nelson. That led to Melrose’s state leader, the unbeaten Johnny Moraes who battled in the 113 and took leads of 7-0 and 10-0 enroute to a 15-0 technical fall over rival Mike Barry. Then, Melrose would jump to a 33-0 lead with a very impressive pin by Jack Shea over Josh Johansen in the second period.
Though out-performed, Wakefield was able to secure two pins by the work of Aydin Lamb and Kip King. Lamb got to business with a pin that put Wakefield on board 22-6. But Melrose would continue to roll with a pin by Cian Sullivan (138) who took down Jimmy Fabbri with 4 seconds left in the first. And sophomore Luke Kelly took leads of 3-1, 7-1, and 11-1 before he pinned Wakefield’s Pat Boyle, which put Melrose in the driver’s seat, 35-6. Freshman find Parker Seibel also put his mark on the evening with a pin over Erik Hubbard with 17 seconds left in the first to give Melrose a giant 41-6 edge.
Perhaps the main event of the evening was the pairing of Melrose’s Marco Albanese and Wakefield’s Sean Callanan, both considered one of the best in the division and state in the 157, and two wrestlers who will likely see each other again in the post season. Albanese, who reached his 100th victory earlier this season, took an early edge of 3-0, and 7-1 before Callanan crawled back in the match on a series of escapes. The third period was critical as the two tied it up on points, 9 each. But Albanese pulled away 12-9 and 16-9. Callanan would come as close as 16-13 on a takedown but Albanese prevailed 17-14 for the key Melrose win. “That was the event of the night,” says Tremblay. “Callanan is great and he had a lead over Marco in the second and third but those two were relentless. The thing with Marco is he can beat anyone. He’s just gifted and quick out there.”
(photo by Raj Das edphotos.com)
With Melrose up 44-10, Melrose wouldn’t dial it in, and they enjoyed a convincing first period pin by senior captain Quinn Fogarty against Christian Diflorio, 50-10. Wakefield would get some heavyweight points by Nick Roehrich, Ahmed Othman and Kip King to bring some late points in the match, but it was all Melrose, who savored their fourth Brawl in the Hall victory in the 7-year competition.
“We moved our lineup,” says the coach. “And we knew we had to win the first four by pin, and we won three of them and Johnny’s [Moraes] win really put us where we needed to be. I was impressed by all of them: Parker [Seibel] and Brennan [Secour], my freshman, go out there completely un-intimidated. Cian [Sullivan] had a huge night and Luke [Kelly] always wins when he gets his first 8.”
Melrose will now focus on the MIAA Div. 2 North Sectionals held this weekend at Woburn High on Saturday. Melrose, ranked first in the division, should be considered a favorite along with Whittier and Woburn.