CHELMSFORD — The Saugus-Peabody wrestling team posted a pair of runnerup finishes, a third-place finish and a sixth-place finish to place fifth out of 20 teams Saturday at the Bruce Rich Invitational tournament at Chelmsford High School. The team tallied 137 points, well behind Central Catholic, which tallied 253.5 points to take the team title.
Northeast Metro Tech-Bishop Fenwick placed two wrestlers to pick up 44.5 points and finished 19th.
Thirteen of 14 Saugus-Peabody wrestlers won at least one match. Jackson Deleidi (120 pounds) and Max LoRosso (144) led the way with second-place finishes while Anna Felicio (106) placed third and Tucker Landry (113) placed sixth.
For Fenwick, Jackson Cody (132) placed third and Ernie Landry (215) finished sixth.
After a first round bye, Deleido (3-1) opened with a 54-second pin over Trevor Ward (Leominster), then defeated Blake Brandolini (Framingham) in a 14-0 major decision. He advanced to the championship match with an 8-5 decision over Isaiah Burgos (Chelmsford) in the semifinal, then lost a 2-0 heartbreaker to Izaiah Santiago (Methuen) in the final.
LoRusso (4-1) defeated William Vezina III (Minnechaug) by pin in 1:12, then defeated William Lippman (Northern Middlesex) with another pin (2:52) in the round of 16. He followed with a 6-3 decision in the quarterfinals over Shane Shugrue (Central Catholic) and an 18-2 technical fall win over Jayden Diaz (Greater Lawrence) in the semifinals. The ride ended with a 10-0 major decision loss to Dan Greaney (Leomoninster) in the championship bout.
Anna Felicio (4-1) opened with a 23-7 technical fall in 2:39 over Caden Anderson (Westford Academy) then was pinned (1:24) by Jackson Ella (Bedford) in the quarterfinals. After a win by forfeit in the consolation round of eight, she defeated Gabriel Soares (Bristol County/Dighton-Rehobeth) in a first period pin (1:55) in the consolation semifinals. The third place match featured a rematch with Ella. This time, Felicio came out on top with another first period pin (1:22) to clinch third place.
Landry (2-3) lost his opening round match in a 2:16 pin to Izick Diaz (Lawrence), then battled back in the consolation bracket with first period pins over Chris Demers (Westford Academy) and Samuel Upham (Bedford). After a 20-4 technical fall loss to Izaiah Brown (Framingham), he lost the fifth place bout in a second period pin to Izick Diaz (Lawrence).
Michael Maraio (150), Landon Rodriguez (132), Lukas Fondulis (138), Justin Bremberg (157), Cesar Cruz (165) and Jaden Ceac (190) finished the tournament 2-2, while Jake Murray (126), Evan Johnson (175) and Anthony Encarnacion (285) won one match each.
After a first round bye, Cody opened with a 15-0 technical fall win over Rodriguez in the round of 16, then won an 8-4 decision over Marc Girgis (Chelmsford) in the quarterfinals. After losing a 17-3 major decision to Kai Li (Minnechaug) in the quarterfinals, he rebounded with a 1:48 pin win over Philip Watson (Framingham) in the consolation semifinals and a 1:07 pin win over Thomas Sears to clinch third place.
Ernie Landry (2-3) opened with a 4:25 pin win in the quarterfinals over Gio DiPlatzi (Framingham), then advanced to the semis with a 12-0 major decision over Jiovanny Morales (Lawrence) where he was lost to Meehan in a first-period pin (51 seconds). After losing 5-1 to Azziz Suarez in the consolation semifinals, Landry came up short in the bout for fifth place, losing to John Zannotti (Leominster) in 45 seconds.
Saugus-Peabody is back on the mat Thursday at Cambridge Rindge & Latin (7). Next up for Northeast/Fenwick is a quad meet at North Reading against Belmont, Salem and Lynnfield/North Reading (10).
