Just because it’s expected doesn’t make it any less impressive.
Pentucket seniors Tanner Kamuda and Mason Skinner, two of the best wrestlers in the area and a pair of returning Daily News All-Star, were at it again on Friday in the annual Pentucket Holiday Tournament. The duo both won their weight classes, with Kamuda claiming the 138-pound crown and Skinner doing the same at 175, to help the Panthers ultimately place seventh out of 21 teams at their annual tourney with 117 points. Whittier Tech was the tournament champion with 190.5 points, and was followed by Lynnfield/North Reading (167), Greater Lawrence (128) and Salem (127.5).
Skinner certainly had himself an impressive day.
It’s easy to see the confidence he’s wrestling with early on this year, following last season’s magical run to the New England Championship. And to be honest, his toughest match on Friday might have been his first.
Skinner opened his tournament with an easy 19-3 decision, and followed with three straight first-period pins on his way to the title. His quarterfinal match only lasted 54 seconds, then in the semifinals, he pinned Jarmanny Rivera of Quincy Upper in 1:29. That set up a 175-pound title match against Joel Llibre of Pelham (N.H.), and Skinner earned an early takedown to take a lead before eventually getting the pin in 1:54.
Meanwhile for Kamuda, the championship belt came a touch easier.
But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t well-earned.
After getting a bye to the quarterfinals, Kamuda only needed a minute exactly to pin Cole Hovde of Haverhill. He then won an easy 17-1 major decision over Justice Bower of Salem in the semis, before his finals match was cut short and won by default.
But while Skinner and Kamuda won championship gold, they weren’t the only Pentucket wrestlers to reach the podium.
The Panthers had four other placers in their own tournament, with Brody White taking fourth at 150, both Martin DeJesus (132) and Karsyn Otero (144) placing fifth, and 215-pounder Will Lewis earning sixth. White only needed to go 1-2 on the day to earn his fourth, getting a bye to the quarterfinals before earning a 5-3 decision — thanks to a late reversal — to reach the semis. He would lose via a pin to drop to the third-place bout, where he would then fall in a tough 13-3 decision.
Meanwhile, both Otero and DeJesus had impressive tournaments in their own right.
Otero won his opening match with a 36-second pin, but couldn’t keep his shoulders off the mat in the quarterfinals. That dropped him to the consolation bracket, where he quickly rebounded with a 20-0 major decision to keep his tournament alive. Up next was Gavin Oljey of Timberlane, and Otero was trailing the whole way until earning a clutch takedown with eight seconds left to pull off the wild 8-7 decision. That moved him to the fifth-place match, and Otero had a slightly easier time earning a 13-8 decision over Devin Barcomb of Salem to finish his day 4-1 overall.
For DeJesus, it was a similar story after an 18-2 major decision in the first round, followed by getting pinned in the quarterfinals to fall down to the consolation bracket. But the 132-pounder would run the table from there to finish his day 4-1 and earn his fifth-place finish. He won three straight decisions of 22-6, 15-0 and then 16-4 in the fifth-place bout.
Finally, Lewis earned himself some impressive pins. He did lose his opening match to fall down to the consolation bracket, but would earn three straight first-period pins in 1:21, 1:17 and 14 seconds to earn his spot in the fifth-place bout. Once there, Lewis was again matched up with Lukas Dos Anjos of Salem, who had beat him already in the first round. Lewis gave it another good effort, but was pinned to finish his tournament in sixth place after a 3-2 day.