Morales, Tildsley brothers draw upon sibling strength at Division 1 North wrestling sectional championships
Nathan watched his older brother, Yandel, earn Division 1 North sectional titles the past two years, and seized his opportunity to get the center stage win at St. John's Prep's Mahoney Wellness Center.
Yandel earned the pin at 132 pounds, winning his third in as many years.
'Me and Nathan trained very hard in the offseason,' Yandel said. 'We're drill partners for each other. We're that brotherly support. It feels a little better to win it with my brother.'
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Following with pins at 138 and 150 were another pair of brothers, Shawsheen's Sid and James Tildsley. Both are now 4-for-4 as sectional winners, and James's finals victory was his 200th as a high school wrestler.
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'It's a great feeling,' said James, a junior. 'Me and my brother have been training really hard, that way when we go out on the mat, there's no question about who's going to win.'
Now at 233-4, Sid is inching closer to the state record of 244 by Mount Greylock's Devin Pelletier.
'My goal is to beat the state win record this year,' Sid said. 'For my brother to beat me next year is something that's great, to have two Tildsleys the top two in state history is just awesome.'
A third pair of brothers made the finals: Methuen's Anthony and Vinny DeMaio. Vinny won via major decision 11-3 at 175 pounds, but Mimmo Ternullo Jr. earned a late takedown in the 157 finals and secured a 6-5 victory.
The senior Ternullo, in his first year wrestling, helped St. John's Prep earn the title at home with 269.5 points. Braedon Goes (126), Jimmy Lally (144), and Alex Bajoras (285) also won titles for the Prep.
'I just woke up today and thought I was going to win, like everything was going good in my head,' said Ternullo, who has multiple judo national championships and international medals. 'I was very confident from the first match to the last match. The adrenaline was pumping in the finals.'
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The long term goal for Ternullo is the 2028 Olympics, but he decided to do a year of wrestling. 11 top seeds won at sectionals, one No. 2, and Ternullo the No. 4.
'I just kept looking at the clock and the time was going by super slow,' he said. 'Once I got the takedown, I was like 'I'm going to win this. I'm going to keep him down.' '
The Eagles have won six times consecutively, but it's the first time with Ryan Harding as head coach. He took over for Manny Costa after assisting for five years.
'It's really special,' Harding said. 'I love this place. I bleed for the Prep. I work here, I went to school here, I coach here. I see myself in the kids and I just want to make sure that I help them reach their goals.'
It was not quite a homecoming for Joe Baker, who won a sectional title two years ago representing Danvers High. Saturday Baker won a title via technical fall, 21-4, at 165 pounds as a senior at Beverly.
After becoming the first Beverly wrestler to win at the George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament in December, he has continued to dominate.
'It's definitely cool being seen as the top guy,' he said. 'I don't do it for that. I like to just go out there and wrestle.
'I enjoyed it. I have a great team, great coaches.'
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Division 1 South
— At Xaverian, Weymouth (240.5) rode six individual champions to topple New Bedford (226) and Taunton (194.5). Michael Brooks (138 pounds) got it started with a major decision, and Samuel Ferron (15), Kevin Mackin (157), Jake Thompson (165), Naheem Ridore (215), and David Cummins (285) followed. Edrian Oliva Bojorquez (106), Anthony Bojorquez (113), and Josiah Martins Semedo (120) won for New Bedford.
Division 1 Central / Metro
— In Malden, Arlington (221.5) repeated as champion, with Middlesex rival Winchester (182) the runner-up. Cedrick Daniels (120 pounds) won his third sectional title, and Davi Dos Santos (132), Leo Fellonosa (165), and Brady Bekkenhuis (285) — career win No. 100, and the tourney's outstanding wrestler — were also victors for the Spy Ponders.
'We wrestled well, overall,' said Arlington coach Kevin Cummings. 'We qualified eight [wrestlers] for the state tourney.'
Division 1 West / Central
— Though 215-pounder Sean Keady was its only champion out of six finalists, Natick (236 points) edged out Chelmsford's 223.5 points and four champions at Franklin High.
Division 2 North
— Melrose (209.5) nosed out host Woburn (203.5) for the title, with Nashoba (180) third, and Whittier (171) fourth. The Red Hawks had two champions, Johnny Moraes (113) and Marco Albanese (157), but three others placed second.
Division 2 South
— Bridgewater-Raynham (271.5) rode six first-place finishes, and two seconds to the title at Stoughton, far outdistancing Hingham (178) and Duxbury (178). Jake Alves (132 pounds), Brent von Magnus (138), Brent Allain (144), Luke Driscoll (165), and brothers Fletcher (190) and Jackson Rinke (215) also won.
Division 2 Central
— Milford was once again dominant, putting seven on the top step of the podium at Bellingham High. Brayden Boccia (113 pounds), Dylan Wright (120), Derek Marcolini (126), Josiah Carney (138), Aidan Baum (144), Mikey Boulanger (157), and Luke Donis (190) were victorious for the Scarlet Hawks.
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Division 2 West
— In Northborough, West Springfield (240.5 points) won, thanks to Devon Mateo (113 pounds), Sarmad Alsultani (144), and Abel Varzeas (175) taking home the gold.
Division 3 North
— Senior captains Aydin Lamb (138 pounds) and Sean Callanan (157) won titles to help Wakefield (220 points) finish ahead of Lynnfield/North Reading (197.5) at Gloucester High.
Division 3 South
— At Cohasset High, Foxborough (251 points) finished well above the crowd and placed two champions: Jayden Rocha (150 pounds) and Joseph Blanchard (175).
Division 3 Central
— Host Wayland crowned four champions and racked up 267.5 points. Cole Chase (165 pounds), Anthony Brown (190), Nathan Tobe (215) and Nathan Hartunian (285) were the title- winners for the Warriors.
Division 3 West
— At Mount Greylock in Williamstown, Franklin County's 188 points were just enough to keep ahead of Monument Mountain (185) as the top four teams were separated by just 16 points. Carsten Couture (120 pounds) and Landon Purington (132) were the Eagles' champs.
Craig Larson of the Globe staff and correspondent Ethan Kagno contributed.
AJ Traub can be reached at
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