Wrestling: Depth, toughness in consolation brackets, lifts Concord to 4th at Capital City Classic

Concord’s Sawyer McCready holds on to the foot of Joe Linton of Natick (Mass.) High during their semifinal match at the Capital City Classic on Saturday at Concord High School. McCready was pinned in the third period but came back through the consolation bracket to finish fourth in the 150-pound class.

Concord’s Sawyer McCready holds on to the foot of Joe Linton of Natick (Mass.) High during their semifinal match at the Capital City Classic on Saturday at Concord High School. McCready was pinned in the third period but came back through the consolation bracket to finish fourth in the 150-pound class. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff photos

Concord’s Jaxon Carter sits on top of Warwick (R.I.) High’s Seth McGrew in the closing moments of their 144-pound semifinal. Carter lost, 3-1, but went on to win third place overall.

Concord’s Jaxon Carter sits on top of Warwick (R.I.) High’s Seth McGrew in the closing moments of their 144-pound semifinal. Carter lost, 3-1, but went on to win third place overall. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Concord’s Carl Sirrianna is caught in a lock against Plymouth’s Joshua Nossaman during the 190-pound semifinals at the Capital City Classic at Concord High on Saturday. Sirrianna was pinned in the second period to lose the bout, but came back to win the third-place match.

Concord’s Carl Sirrianna is caught in a lock against Plymouth’s Joshua Nossaman during the 190-pound semifinals at the Capital City Classic at Concord High on Saturday. Sirrianna was pinned in the second period to lose the bout, but came back to win the third-place match. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

John Stark’s Alex Descoteau (right) battles Pinkerton Academy’s Anthony Caruso during their 215-pound semifinal match at the 2025 Capital City Classic at Concord High School on Saturday. Caruso won with an 11-6 decision and Descoteau finished fourth at 215.

John Stark’s Alex Descoteau (right) battles Pinkerton Academy’s Anthony Caruso during their 215-pound semifinal match at the 2025 Capital City Classic at Concord High School on Saturday. Caruso won with an 11-6 decision and Descoteau finished fourth at 215. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Winnisquam’s Lazar Arbutina (left) battles Plymouth’s Jaxon Rineer during their 150-pound quarterfinal match at the Capital City Classic at Concord High School on Saturday.

Winnisquam’s Lazar Arbutina (left) battles Plymouth’s Jaxon Rineer during their 150-pound quarterfinal match at the Capital City Classic at Concord High School on Saturday. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

By DAN ATTORRI

Monitor staff

Published: 02-02-2025 11:28 AM

Tournament wrestling doesn’t come down entirely to finalists. The Concord High School wrestling team didn’t have a single finalist on its home mats at Saturday’s annual Capital City Classic, but the Crimson Tide gutted out victories and pins through the consolation brackets, placing six wrestlers and finishing fourth out of 31 teams.

Junior Jaxon Carter (third at 144 pounds), seniors Carl Sirrianna (third 190) and Sawyer McCready (fourth 150), sophomore Biswas Darji (fifth 106) and juniors Max Chung (fifth 157) and Wayne Gutierrez-Sakakeeny (fifth 285) placed for the Crimson Tide, which tallied 136.5 points.

Bishop Hendricken, R.I. (211), Keene (197) and Natick, Mass. (196.5) were the top three teams, while John Stark (17th), Bow (21st), Winnisquam (26th) and wrestlers from Hillsboro-Deering (29th), Franklin (30th) and Hopkinton (31st) also competed.

Host Concord was the only team in the top 10 that didn’t have any finalists – Sirrianna, Carter and McCready advanced the furthest in their brackets by reaching the semifinals – but competed hard in the consolation rounds.

Sirrianna lost to eventual 190 champion Joshua Nossaman of Plymouth in the semifinals after getting pinned in the second period, but he bounced back by pinning Mike Gagne of Aquidneck Island (R.I.) to take third, finishing the day with a 3-1 record.

McCready lost to top seed Joe Linton of Natick in the 150 semifinals via a third-period pin but went 3-2 throughout the day to take fourth.

Carter lost a 3-1 decision in the semifinals to Bishop Hendricken’s Seth McGrew but went 4-1 over the course of the day to finish third after his would-be opponent forfeited the third-place bout.

Gutierrez-Sakakeeny lost in the quarterfinals but rattled off three victories by pin through the consolation bracket to go 5-1 on the day and finish fifth.

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Darji and Chung both went 3-2, with Darji getting bonuses from two pins and Chung winning twice by technical fall to add to Concord’s score.

Gusty performances and fighting through the consolation bracket is becoming a trademark of this Tide team, which opened the 2025 calendar by winning the 38-team Keene Minickiello Holiday Tournament without any individual champions.

John Stark junior Sean Crean was the only area finalist on Saturday, winning three bouts (two by pin, one by decision) to reach the 113-pound finals before losing to top seed Michael Mortarelli of Natick, 8-1, in the final.

Bow’s Jacob Coulon (third 138) and John Stark’s Alex Descoteau (fourth 215) were the other two local placewinners.

All area teams are back in action with duals on Wednesday night and have less than three weeks before the NHIAA division championships will be held on Feb. 22.