The Newtown High wrestling team became the first Connecticut team to win the George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament Saturday. Bossi is the coach with the maroon shirt and maroon hat in the second row. (Photo courtesy Tom Maurath)
The George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament has been a December fixture in the Massachusetts wrestling calendar since 1968.
In the last decade, there have been more teams and wrestlers from Connecticut competing in the tournament with several individual champions, including Southington’s Paul Calo, who won three in a row from 2017-19.
The Bossi tournament finally got their first team champion from Connecticut on Saturday. Newtown put three wrestlers in the finals and had four wrestlers finish third to help the Nighthawks outlast Haverhill, Mass., 215½ to 210½ to win the 55th edition of the tournament at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass.
Southington’s Chase Kastner won an individual championship at 106 pounds along with Simsbury’s Max Konopka, who beat the top three seeds at 190 pounds and earned the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award.
Jack Gedney, a one-person team from Lewis Mills who trains with Simsbury, finished second at 120 pounds along with Norwalk’s Nick Fatone at 144 pounds.
Newtown won this tournament thanks to 23 pins from the six wrestlers who medaled. Extra points for pins were crucial in a tournament decided by five points. Haverhill finished second for the second consecutive year. A year ago, Haverhill finished one point behind Shawsheen Valley Tech.
Newtown’s Tom Milligan, who was second at 106, was 5-1 with three pins while Fisher Stites, who was second at 165, was 5-1 with four pins.
The four Nighthawk wrestlers who finished third combined for 16 pins with Jon Dasilva (285) getting five pins, Antonio Arguello (144) and Jake Maddox (150) getting four pins and Marc Maurath (157) getting three pins.
Newtown is the only Connecticut team to finish second in the tournament, finishing behind Chelmsford, Mass., in 2015. Fairfield Warde finished third as recently as 2021.
Kastner, who gave up seven points in five wins beat Milligan, 6-0 to win his first Bossi championship at 106 pounds. Stites dropped a 7-0 decision to Haverhill’s Brent Nicolosi in the finals at 165 pounds.
Konopka (190) had an outstanding performance, eliminating the top three seeds, going 6-0 with five pins. He gave up just one point in six matches.
Konopka beat No. 2 seed Elijah Josey of Portsmouth, N.H. in the quarterfinals by pin in 2:57 before pinning No. 3 seed Patrick O’Connor of Londonderry, N.H., in the semifinals in 3:31. In the final, Konopka beat top seed Michael Toppin of Gloucester, Mass., 4-1.
Konopka is the third Simsbury wrestler to win a Bossi championship joining John Mairano (145) in 2021 and Ty Finn (132) in 2019.
Fatone went 5-1 with a pin to finish second at 144 pounds while Gedney (120) had four straight wins with three pins to earn a spot in semifinals. Gedney got an escape with 54 seconds left in the third period to tie his semifinal match with Stone Farnsworth of Coventry, R.I., at 1-1. In overtime, Gedney got the takedown to advance to the final with a 3-1 win.
Peter Rincan of Billerica, Mass., outlasted Gedney, 3-0 to win the title.
Fairfield Warde’s Zach Brzoska (113) and Southington’s Josh Howard (157) each finished fifth.
The tournament is named in honor of Bossi, the Hall of Fame coach with Lowell High. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2000.
Bossi, 89, has been coaching at Lowell since the 1964-65 season, excluding a three-year hiatus from 1995-98 when he served as athletic director at Lowell. He started this tournament in December 1968. Lowell has won 17 Massachusetts state titles and five New England championships (1970, 1973, 1975, 1987 and 2007).
2023 George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament
At Lowell, Mass.
Team results (top 10): 1. Newtown 215½, 2. Haverhill MA 210½, 3. Shawsheen Valley Tech MA 179, 4. Bedford NH 156, 5. Coventry RI 151½, 6. Fairfield Warde 140, 7. Miflord MA 127, 8. Andover, MA 126½, 9. Salem NH 126, 10. Tewksbury MA 125, 11, Simsbury 124, 12. Central Catholic-Lawrence MA 122, 13. Timberlane Regional NH 120½, 14. Greater Lowell MA 120, 15. Chelmsford MA 116
Other Connecticut teams: 19. Southington 113½, 44. Stratford 70, 68. Staples 34, 73. Lewis Mills 30½, 74. Norwalk 30, 75. Hall 28, 90. Sheehan 16
2023 George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament brackets and results
Championship matches
106 Chase Kastner (Southington) dec. Tommy Milligan (Newtown), 6-0
113 Nick Desisto (Tewksbury MA) pin Derek Marcolini (Milford MA), 3:07
120 Peter Rincan (Billerica MA) dec. Jack Gedney (Lewis Mills), 3-0
126 Peyton Ellis (Coventry RI) pin Emmett Logan (Lowell MA), 3:31
132 Jonah Paulino (Montachusett) pin Talen Walton (Salem, NH), 1:43
138 Sidney Tildsley (Shawsheen Valley MA) pin Shea Morris (Haverhill MA), 1:50
144 James Tildsley (Shawsheen Valley MA) dec. Nick Fatone (Norwalk), 10-4
150 Gabriel Stickney (Greater Lowell) MD Seth Hastey (Bedford NH), 13-4
157 Teghan McConnell (Bedford NH) dec. Luke Connolly (Northeast/Fenwick), 3-0
165 Brent Nicolosi (Haverhill MA) dec. Fisher Stites (Newtown), 7-0
175 David Pento jr (Londonderry NH) dec. Anthony Matas (Essex VT), 9-2
190 Maximus Konopka (Simsbury) dec. Michael Toppan (Gloucester MA), 4-1
215 Mason Pellegri (Milton MA) dec. Jerameel Vazquez (Hampden Charter East MA), 5-3
285 Thomas Brown (Chelmsford MA) pin Gabriel Thomas (Brookline MA), 1:44
Consolation finals (third place)
106 Antoine Jackman (Greater Lowell MA) dec. Cole Glynn (Central Catholic MA), 6-4 OT
113 Michael Morris (Haverhill MA) dec. Zach Brzoska (Fairfield Warde), 8-5
120 Stone Farnsworth (Coventry RI) dec. Jason Ballou (Andover MA), 8-5
126 Dylan Kadish (Newton South MA) dec. Nathan Sayers (Xaverian MA), 8-1
132 Caleb Caceres (Shawsheen Valley MA) dec. George McAteer (Xaverian MA), 4-1
138 Kiaben Kennedy (Bedford NH) dec. Caleb O’rourke (Salem, NH), 5-1
144 Antonio Arguello (Newtown) pin Aidan Baum (Milford MA), 5:18
150 Jake Maddox (Newtown) dec. Caden Smith (Central Catholic MA), 5-3
157 Marc Maurath (Newtown) pin Josh Howard (Southington), 2:25
165 Joseph Bolduc (Methuen MA) dec. Lucas Alvan Ludlow, MA (Ludlow), 3-1
175 Anton Puhach (Ashland MA) pin Shane Field Salem, (Salem MA), 0:28
190 Elijah Josey (Portsmouth NH) dec. Tom Murphy (Champlain Valley VT), 3-2
215 Jayden Toppan (Gloucester MA) medcial forfeit over Matt Harrold (Haverhill)
285 Jon Dasilva (Newtown) pin Ason Jones (Coventry RI), 2:21
Fifth place
106 Aiden Morris (Haverhill) dec. Amauri Hernadez A (Tyngsborough/Dracut), 10-9
113 Izaiah Santiago (Central Catholic) pin Ethan Quinn (Simsbury), 2:59
120Cale Wood jr (Haverhill) dec. Brody McDonald (Salem, NH), 2-0
126 Yandel Morales (Andover) forfeit Miles Darling (Essex Tech/Masco), 0-0
132 Nicholas Archambault Andover, MA (Andover) dec. Nicholas Ugolini (Agawam), 12-10 OT
138 Dominick Spadaro (Fairfield Warde) dec. Lance Bordeleau (Pinkerton Academy), 6-2
144 Landan Gray (Saint John’s) pin Jay Chase (Sheehan), 0:42
150 Ilya Shlemanov (Agawam) dec. Manny Perez (Londonderry), 7-6
157 Jake Ashman (Natick) pin Kaelib Reynolds (Greater Lawrence), 1:56
165 Justin Duhancik (Stratford) pin Jamie Evarts (Brookline), 2:47
175 Kian Amouzgar (Concord-Carlisle) pin Bradan McNeil (Beverly), 2:11
190 Patrick O`connor (Londonderry) medical forfeit over Gino Sicari (Beverly)
215 Owen Matthews (Milford MA) dec. Andrew Mikosz (Southington), 9-3
285 Dominic Rijos (Springfield Central) forfeit over Hayden Robinson (Raymond Rams)
