Manfredi named assistant coach of the year
JOAO VALDEVINO prepares for his match at states with assistant coach of the year Matt Manfredi. Valdevino was the state champion at 160 lbs. this weekend. (Wakefield Wrestling Photo)
Published in the February 25, 2020 edition.
WAYLAND — Wakefield junior Joao Valdevino won a state championship over two days of work at the Div. 3 state meet held at Wayland High School over the weekend. Valdevino earned the crown at 160 lbs. going 4-0 and ending with another victory over Victor Rodriguez of Melrose in the championship bout in 5:38.
Valdevino pinned Curtis Taylor of Nauset 52 seconds to open the tournament. He went on to beat
IT WAS a great day to be a Warrior at the Div. 3 state meet especially for state champ Joao Valdevino and assistant coach of the year Matt Manfredi. Pictured from left to right is assistant coach Mike Grover, Manfredi, Valdevino and head coach Ross Ickes. (Wakefield Wrestling Photo)
Wayland’s Damien Parseghian by a 9-0 major decision in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Valdevino took down Triton’s Ethan Tremblay via pin in 3:46. The matchup against Rodriguez was the toughest, but Valdevino earned points with three takedowns and an escape before ending it with a pin.
The Warriors had six wrestlers qualify for states with Bryan Fabbri (106), Dan Lamonica (285), Jameson O’Callahan (126), Jimmy Grover (170) and Matthew Cunningham (152) joining Valdevino.
Lamonica earned a 5th-place finish. He made it to the semifinals before falling to eventual state champ Tristan Kemp of Quabbin. The Wakefield senior pinned Southwick’s Ryan Musanbai in the firs round in 52 seconds. Lamonica then took down John Charbonneau of Northbridge in 5:47. It was an exhausting match with the two players combining for 23 points before Lamonica got the pin. After falling to Kemp and Dougie Clark of Saugus-Peabody, Lamonica defeated rival Eric Pimentel of Melrose by a 1-0 decision.
Wakefield, who took 14th overall at states, had a third wrestler make it to a second day as O’Callahan took 8th place. He beat Tri-County’s Matthew Dowd in the first round by pin in 1:46.
O’Callahan was topped by eventual champ Connor Keegan of Sandwich but bounced back with a 9-2 decision over Cohasset’s Gregor Guempel to guarantee an 8th place spot.
Nobody else earned a victory but it was a great experience for the team who came away with more hardware as Matt Manfredi was named assistant coach of the year. The Wakefield High 2010 graduate and former member of the wrestling team has had a big influence on the Warriors for the last few years and certainly earned the award.
