“If I see someone wrestling I’ll cheer them on … we always cheer each other on.”
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The best example came at the end of the night. After almost three hours of pacing back and forth, Chelmsford sophom*ore heavyweight Thomas Brown stepped onto Mat 1. His back-and-forth grapple with Milford senior Hampton Kaye-Kuter was deadlocked until Kaye-Kuter picked up a point on a reversal in the second period.
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Trailing 1-0 in the third period, Brown registered a reversal of his own. Then another. And with all the Doughboys cheering him on, Brown took down the Nebraska-bound Kaye-Kuter at the buzzer and secured a 4-1 victory. Not only did he repeat at 285 pounds, but he was the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the heavyweight division.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match, an even match, but I was just really locked in,” Brown said.
Brown, Sid Tildsley, and his brother James were three of the original members at Doughboy in the club’s expansion to youth wrestling. Nick Logan, the father of Lowell wrestler Emmett Logan (106 pounds), began training kids as young as first grade. From there, Brown and the Tildsley brothers developed a friendship.
“I was best friends with [the Tildsleys] all growing up, and I would go and spend summer days at their house,” Brown said.
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The three were part of the original Doughboy brothers, the influence of the club spread across multiple weight classes. Along with Brown, Sid (138) and James Tyldsley (126), Algonquin’s Rafael Knapp (170) and Monty Tech’s Jonah Paulino (132) won championships.
Shawsheen pins down first title
As the buzzer sounded, Gloucester’s Jayden Toppan pinned Haverhill’s Matt Harrold in the 220-pound match for third place. And with Haverhill denied a point, Shawsheen celebrated a 159.5-158.5 victory for the team title, the program’s first in the tourney.
“It can’t get better than this,” said Shawsheen second-year coach Doug Pratt. “I know coach [Mark] Donovan is looking down and smiling. We did it for him.”
Donovan, the program’s beloved 36-year coach, died in Oct. 2021 from cancer. Pratt, his longtime assistant, was proud the Rams finally broke through with the win (they were runner-up in 2010).
It was also a big night for the Tildsleys. A year ago, Sid (Shawsheen) and James (Billerica) were on opposing teams.
Wednesday,
they became the first pair of brothers to win back-to-back Bossi Tournament titles since 1994.
Deslauriers powers through at 220
Ashland senior Patrick Deslauriers did not mess around in the 220-pound division.
“I don’t like to stay on the mat if I don’t have to,” said Deslauriers, who recorded pins in all of his wins. “I came here with a goal in mind and I’ve accomplished it.”
In the championship match, Deslauriers and James Duhancik (Stratford, Conn.) battled for three minutes with no points before Deslauriers recorded a pin with 39 seconds left in the second period.
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EMass winners
106 pounds — Yandel Morales (Andover)
126 pounds — James Tildsley (Shawsheen)
138 pounds — Sid Tildsley (Shawsheen)
160 pounds — Brent Nicolosi (Haverhill)
182 pounds — Nate Blanchette (Central Catholic)
220 pounds — Patrick DesLauriers (Ashland)
285 pounds — Thomas Brown (Chelmsford)
Eamonn Ryan can be reached at eamonn.ryan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @eamonn_ryan41.
