Max Schwartz’s pre-season New England rankings, Dec. 12, 2022

By MAX SCHWARTZ
Special to Connecticut Wrestling Online

Since last year’s ranking of New England high school wrestling was so well received, journalist Max Schwartz is doing it again.

Max wrestled at Norwalk High in Connecticut and is now a sports journalist, specializing in wrestling. He has published multiple pieces with wrestling giant Flowrestling.com, including pre-Covid New England rankings, as well as with up-and-coming Division I wrestling news site Fancowrestling.com.

Max’s pre-season New England high school wrestling rankings are calculated with information from the following:

• Information from coaches, parents and wrestlers
• Offseason tournaments results
• NHSCA Nationals results
• 2022 New England tournament results
• Information from this past weekend’s season-opening events in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are not included in these rankings.

Do you have information for Max about a key result or a weight change? Email Max at [email protected]

106

Miles Darling (Essex Tech/Masconomet, MA) finds himself as the preseason No. 1 as he made the cut down for NHSCA Nationals winning three matches. No. 2 James Blood (Sanford, ME) is the first returning 106-placer. The senior came in second at the NHSCA 106 Junior Nationals. No. 3 Joe Mahoney (New Fairfield/New Fairfield, CT), No. 4 Isaac Quilles (East Hartford, CT), and No. 5 Yandel Morales (Andover, MA) also look to threaten in this weight class.

113

No. 1 Alex Schaebulin (St. John’s Prep, MA) is the highest returning placer, following him at No. 2 is a grappler from Maine, Ayden Cofone (Windham/GNG). No. 3 Cameron Davis (Cranston West, RI) and No. 4 Isiaih Adams (Avon, CT) are also set to do some damage. Adams placed seventh in the highly touted Journeyman Fall Classic in Pennsylvania in October.

No. 5 Ryan Conlan (La Salle Academy,RI) was All-New England last year, placing sixth at 106 but he now finds himself up a weight class. No. 7 Christian Pote (Danbury, CT) was not in the Hatters’ lineup last year. However, a big 2-1 win during the Journeyman Fall Classic over No. 8 Jared Hood (Ponaganset, RI) pushes him into the top ten.

120

Coming in at No. 1 is Peyton Ellis (Coventry, RI). The junior placed third last year at 113, won four matches at NHSCA Nationals, and placed fifth in the Journeyman Fall Classic. Looking to challenge him is the defending New England champion No. 2 Musa Tamaradze (West Springfield, MA), who placed third at the 2022 NHSCA Junior Nationals at 106.

No. 3 Cole Albert (Mattanawcook/Lee, ME), No. 4 Kyle Levesque (Xavier, CT), and No. 5 Julian Henderson (Camden Hills, ME) look to contend for a top spot on the podium as well. No. 10 David Perez (Ponaganset, RI) should throw a wedge in some plans as the freshmen comes in as a two-time middle school Reno finalist, a two-time middle school New England finalist, and a middle school NHSCA and Tulsa National All-American.

126

Stanford-commit Jacob Joyce (Ponaganset, RI) slides into the top spot after winning the New England title last year at 120. Joyce, ranked 13th in the country on FloWrestling, also placed seventh at the highly prestigious Super 32 Tournament. Nevertheless, No. 2 Kaden Ware (Killingly, CT) placed fourth last year in the New Englands and is looking to upset Joyce.

Tyler Knox (St. John’s Prep, MA), who won the New England title at 126 last season and the NHSCA Junior Nationals at 120, has opted to participate in nationally renowned competitions such as Doc Buchanan, Beast of the East, and various collegiate open tournaments to prepare for his upcoming college career at Stanford. He will not be competing in the MIAA All-State tournament or the New England tournament.

132

This weight class is full of returning qualifiers. On top, however, sits No. 1 Hayden Myers (Coventry, RI). The senior placed third last year at 126 and won a total eight matches between NHSCA Junior Nationals and Super 32.

No. 2 James Tildsley (Shawsheen Tech, MA) makes a big jump from 106 to 132. Don’t be surprised if he drops down a weight during the season. No. 3 Tyler Kadish (Newton South, MA) and No. 4 Anthony Basile (Xavier, CT) also look to make some noise as both made it very far in last year’s tournament.

138

Maine is on top here with Derek Cote (Noble, ME). The senior placed fifth at last year’s tournament and also won three matches at NHSCA Junior Nationals. Challenging him should be No. 2 Cam Ice (Minnechaug, MA), who was one win away from placing last season. No. 4 Josh Howard (Southington, CT) was also one victory away from placing at last year’s New England tournament at 126. He looks very ready to start his junior year at a new weight.

145

This weight class is deep. Another Rhode Island wrestler begins the season at No. 1 — Gabriel Bouysouu (Scituate, RI). The junior was the 138 pound champion last season and is currently ranked 15th in the country on FloWrestling. However, No. 2 Jack Richardson (Killingly, CT) won this bracket last year and isn’t looking to give up his throne so easily.

No. 3 Brent Nicholosi (Haverhill, MA) dropped an 18-4 major decision to Richardson in last year’s tournament before winning six straight matches to finish third. No. 4 Sidney Tildsley (Shawsheen Tech, MA), No. 5 Jason Hood (Ponaganset, RI), and No. 6 Maurice Cooper (Hope, RI) all placed at last year’s New England tournament. Hood placed at 138, Cooper medaled at 145 and Tildlsey won it all at 132.

152

No. 1 Rawson Iwanicki (St. John’s Prep, MA) is the clear favorite in this group after winning the title last year and then placing sixth at NHSCA Junior Nationals. A pair of in-state foes look to challenge him in No. 2 Joseph Tulley (Carver, MA) and No. 3 Jack Walsh (Chelmsford, MA). No. 4 Noah Scalma (Bishop Hendricken, RI) comes in as the dark horse in the weight class, even though he dropped a 10-1 decision to Tulley at last year’s New England tournament.

160

No. 1 Fisher Stites (Newtown, CT) is the highest returning place winner. No. 2 Andrew Reall (Ponaganset, RI) found the podium last year at 145. No. 3 Paul Barrett (Longmeadow, MA) and No. 4 Jeremey Devine (RHAM, CT) look to place this year after winning a pair of matches last season.

170

No. 1 Rafael Knapp (Algonquin, MA) placed third in last year’s New England’s and claimed a 6-3 decision over defending New England champion No. 2 Nate Blanchette (Central Catholic, MA) at the 2022 Super 32 Tournament. The pair of NHSCA All-Americans should do battle a couple more times this season.

The talent doesn’t decline here after the top two. No. 3 Haden Bottiglieri (Brookline, MA), No. 4 Nicholas Baccala (Ponaganset, RI), No. 5 Chad Mairiano (Simsbury, CT), and No. 6 Lucas Coleman (Fairfield Warde, CT) were eachl one victory away from placing in their respective 2022 weight classes.

182

A fifth-place finish in New England was just the tip of the iceberg for No. 1 Spencer Fine (Bishop Hendricken, RI) as he went on to place fifth in the NHSCA Sophomore Nationals.

No. 2 Mason Pellegri (Milton, MA) won three matches in Virginia Beach at NHSCA Sophomore Nationals and No. 4 Brandon D’Agostino (Central Catholic, MA) won two matches last year before he was stopped by No. 3 Sammy Montovani (East Hartford, CT), who also had a pair of wins.

No. 6 Preston Marchessault (Ponaganset, RI) comes into the Chieftain’s lineup as a transfer from La Salle Academy and is looking to have a successful first season with his new team.

195

This weight class has talent. The top four wrestlers all placed last year. No. 1 Brendan Gilchrist (Norwalk, CT) leads the pack after a dominating second-place finish last year; he also boasts a fall over No. 4 Nathan Schobel (Dexter, ME).

No. 2 Corbin Maraia (Chariho, RI) looks to upset the Bear after finishing fourth last year at this weight. Don’t count No. 3 Nathan Leach (Bridgewater-Raynham, MA) out either—he also looks to contend for a title.

220

No. 1 Hampton Kaye-Kuter (Milford, MA) placed fourth last year in New England and then eighth in the NHSCA Junior Nationals, but he’s looking to finish on top this year. No. 2 Patrick DesLauries looks to throw his hat into the mix, along with No. 3 James Duhancik (Stratford, CT), who placed second in Connecticut last year but was a scratch for the New England tournament.

No. 5 Michael DiOrio (Ponaganset, RI) placed seventh in NHSCA Sophomore Nationals and is another La Salle Academy wrestler turned Chieftain. And, like Marchessault, hopes to have a memorable inaugural season in his new colors.

285

Two All-Americans have the potential to clash with No. 1 Thomas Brown (Chelmsford, MA), who placed third and second in New England and NHSCA Freshmen Nationals, respectively. At No. 3 is Dominic Silva (Bridgewater-Raynham, MA), who was one match away from finding the podium in New England last year and then won six matches to finish eighth in NHSCA Junior Nationals.

No. 2 Brayden Marceau (Melrose, MA) also looks to improve upon a fifth-place finish from last year. Also looking to compete are a pair of Connecticut grapplers in Doug Traynor (New Fairfield, CT) and Nuh Adjunski (Danbury, CT).

If you have questions, updates or suggestions for Max regarding his rankings, please email him at [email protected]

New England Top 15 teams

Leading the pack with an astounding nine wrestlers ranked is No. 1 Ponaganset (Glocester, RI). Two transfers at 182 and 220 pounds really help bolster this team’s lineup. No. 2 St. John’s Prep (Danvers, MA) looks to hold off the Chieftains and defend their New England title.

Tied in third is No. 3 Shawsheen Tech (Billerica, MA) and No. 3 Coventry (Coventry, RI), who also look to compete for the team trophy. After those two, there are three Connecticut teams with No. 5 East Hartford (East Hartford, CT), No. 6 Killingly (Killingly CT) and No. 7 Xavier (Middletown, CT). Tied at No. 8 is Danbury (Danbury, CT) and 8 Chelmsford (Chelmsford, MA). Rounding out the top ten is another tie between No. 10 Norwalk (Norwalk, CT) and No. 10 Bishop Hendricken (Warwick, RI).

If you have questions, updates or suggestions for Max regarding his rankings, please email him at [email protected]

Max’s final rankings 2022