Stow Wrestlers Compete in All-States

As recently as October, Nashoba Regional senior DJ Siewierski was earning All-Star accolades as a soccer goalie, while junior Dan Trefry was throwing his weight around a football field. Which just goes to show that you don't have to wrestle year-round to make Chieftain wrestling history.

The two Stow residents did just that by qualifying for the MIAA All-State wrestling meet, which was held last weekend at Salem High School. Never before—not even after last season's head-turning 21-3-1 regular season—had Nashoba sent a wrestler to the all-state meet.

“Last year we had a lot of good individuals who were very solid, but no one was at state championship level,” said head coach Matt Schiller. “This year as a team we weren't as strong as we were last year, but we had better individuals.”

Siewierski, who is also a team captain, advanced to the 171-pound consolation quarterfinals of the all-state competition, placing him among the top eight wrestlers in the state in his weight class. Trefry advanced to the second round of the all-state consolation bracket.

To earn the trip to Salem, Siewierski and Trefry had to place in the top six at the Division II state meet, held the previous weekend at Reading High School. It wasn't easy.

At the divisional meet, Siewierski placed third in the 171-pound weight class behind the same two athletes (Nick Colace of Franklin and Nick DiAntonio of Milford) who would also end up in the all-state finals, an indication of the division's strength in that weight class.

“DJ looked phenomenal,” Schiller said. “In my mind, he annihilated everyone he wrestled.”

In the divisional semifinals, Siewierski and Colace were tied 2-2 going into the third period before Colace prevailed 7-2. But Siewierski wasted no time making his mark on the consolation bracket, pinning Matt Willey of Arlington in 1:49 and winning an 11-2 decision over home-town favorite Jeffrey Arena of Reading, who had been ranked seventh in the state by MassWrestling.com.

“I wasn't expecting to get any pins that day because it's states, and all the kids are really good,” said Siewierski, who beat Willey again a week later in the all-state consolation bracket by the score of 9-5. “But I was wrestling really well that day.”

Meanwhile, Trefry placed sixth at the divisional meet in the 215-pound weight class, falling into the consolation bracket after a gutsy performance against Tewksbury's Derek Lowe, one of the most aggressive wrestlers in the competition. Lowe, who went on to place second in the divisional meet and fifth at the all-state meet, pinned Trefry in the second round.

“I thought Danny actually wrestled Lowe really well,” Schiller said. “Lowe kept trying to muscle him. A lot of kids would have backed down, but he didn't.”

After the loss to Lowe, Trefry won his next two consolation bracket matches to qualify for the all-state tournament—an impressive accomplishment for a wrestler who competed in his first sectional competition just one year ago.

“I was really nervous, since I'd never been there before,” Trefry said. “But I won a couple of matches and started to realize that these kids are good, but obviously I'm doing something right. I guess I can hang with the good kids.”

Both Siewierski and Trefry worked hard on their wrestling during the off-season, attending a showcase competition in Delaware and logging extra hours at Doughboy Wrestling Club in Lowell, which Schiller said helped both immensely.

As for taking a few months off to play a different sport in the fall, the coach doesn't have a problem with it. A season of rigorous soccer workouts has had Siewierski in excellent condition every winter, and muscling heavier linemen on the football field has helped with Trefry's strength and leverage. Certainly playing football in the fall hasn't hurt Milford's DiAntonio, an all-star linebacker.

After his success in wrestling this season, Trefry doesn't have to think twice about which sport will get more of his attention in the coming year.

“Football's all right,” he said. “But I think I'm a little better at wrestling.”

Siewierski, for his part, remains undecided not only about where he might go to college next fall but also which sport he might choose.

“I hope to do both, if I could,” he said.