The Valley League powers could meet in Monday's state final if they advance in their 4 p.m. matchups.
Vinny Guiel and the West Side Terriers are still in the hunt for the state title.By RICK SETO
LOWELL – Central and West Springfield are proving to be worthy standard-bearers for Western Massachusetts high school wrestling, as both Division I powers advanced to the state semifinals after impressive performances Sunday at the Tsongas Center.
Central, the No. 4 seed as the Western Mass. champions, will face top-seeded Methuen on Monday after comfortable wins over Algonquin Regional (60-6) and Franklin (56-9). On the adjacent mat at 4 p.m. will be West Springfield, which edged defending champion Lawrence 31-23, and won its last match against second-seeded Framingham in a 38-33 thriller.
If the two Valley League teams win, they would meet in the final at 7.
West Side’s semifinal opponent is St. John’s Prep, which dispatched Agawam 50-16 in the first round.
“I think this year, having this format, proves to us where we’ve been right along,” Terriers coach Tom Svec said. “We’ve been battling Central all along. We’ve wrestled teams from all over the state, so we know where we’re at. Doing it at a level like this, now we get to showcase it.”
Central might only have an 8-10 dual-meet record, but no one underestimates the Golden Eagles after a brutal schedule that included a visit to wrestling-mad Pennsylvania.
“I think what we’ve done speaks for itself,” coach Darby McLaughlin said. “We’ve been in the final every year since they started this dual-meet tournament and we won it in 2006 (the first year).”
There was no greater hard-luck loser than Hampshire Regional, which lost its final match at 285 to fall into a 39-39 tie with Triton. The teams were still deadlocked after the first two tiebreaking criteria (number of unsportsmanlike-conduct calls and number of matches won), but the defending Division III champions were declared the winners after the third criterion, with six 6-point victories to the Red Raiders’ five.
Hampshire was a 64-18 winner over Tyngsboro in the first round.
Exiting the tournament after their first matches in Division III were Sabis and Dean Tech.
Sabis led 33-29 heading into the heavyweight match, but the Tri-County 285-pounder pulled off a pin in the third period and earned his Cougars six points for a 35-33 triumph. Dean Tech lost 63-9 to Holliston.
For the record, if Central and West Side do wind up opposite each other in the final, it will be their second meeting this season after the Terriers picked up a 31-23 win earlier in the year.
West Side finished strong Sunday with 220-pounder Murad Usmanov and heavyweight Vinny Guiel, but it was Alex Marquez (106), Bryan Geng (113) and William Hearn (120) who got the team off to a great start with three pins against Framingham.
Central got a 12-point swing early in its quarterfinal win against Franklin, as 120-pounder Nick Stahovish managed to get off his back to pin his opponent and 126-pounder Ellison Robinson avenged a 7-5 loss in the state semifinals by pinning Greg Williams.