Barrington heavyweight earns fifth-place finish at states

There's no telling how well Doug Coffey would have fared if he stuck with wrestling as his main sport during the winter season.The Barrington High School senior, who returned to wrestling this year, came through with the best performance among 10 teammates who qualified to vie in the two-day state championships Friday and Saturday at Rhode Island College

Coffey, competing in the 275-pound class, placed fifth in helping the Eagles compile 32 points and finish 17th among 31 teams which managed to score at least a point..

Cumberland won the event with 186 points and was followed by Cranston West (153), Hendricken (145), East Providence (113.5) and LaSalle (102.5). Rogers (40) and Middletown (34) were the only Division-Two schools to score higher than Barrington.

Barrington's Doug Coffey (left) goes head-to-head with Westerly's Kyle Broccolo during a heavyweight bout at Saturday's state championship meet at Rhode Island College.

Coffey returns

Coffey, who has spent the last three seasons toiling on the hardwood, was lured back to the mat this year by his former youth wrestling coach.

"I wrestled when I was younger but I haven't wrestled in about five years," Coffey said. "I played basketball. My PAL coach talked me back into it."

The senior was somewhat happy with his tourney results, a fifth-place finish based on three wins in five bouts. He still seemed as if he would have liked the season to continue at least a week longer.

"I'll take it I guess. I would have liked to have gone to New Englands," Coffey said. "I had a good year, kind of."

Consecutive losses to LaSalle's Steve Mendozzi, the top seed who went on to win the state title, and to Division-Two nemesis Kyle Broccolo of Westerly, who defeated Coffey in the championship match of the sectional meet the previous week, effectively eliminated any chance the Barrington wrestler had of participating in the regional tournament this weekend.

Coffey, the No. 2 seed from Division Two, earned a first-round bye Friday night. His first match was a 5-4 victory over Coventry's Kurt Harel. Coffey followed it up with a 9-2 triumph over Hope's Angel Camacho to gain a berth in the semifinals.

"I actually got lucky by finishing in second place in Division Two," said Coffey. "Looking at the bracket, that's the easiest way to get to the semis. I had a nice little run."

Coffey, wrestling in the heavyweight bracket despite tipping the scales at 230, returned Saturday morning to face Mendozzi. The match was scoreless in the second period before Mendozzi took advantage of a Coffey mistake to record a pin at the 2:23 mark.

"I don't know what I was thinking. It was the first time all year I tried to put a leg in and he split me over and stuck me," said Coffey.

Broccolo pinned Coffey in 3:19 to put him in the fifth-place bout against Smithfield's Nick Fusaro. Coffey's loss came about 2:15 p.m. and the gym emptied 15 minutes later. Officials closed the gym for about three hours to set up for the consolation-round finals and championship bouts. Coffey went home and slept, ate a little bit and returned to the mat around 6:10 p.m.

Fusaro and Coffey locked arms and maneuvered around the mat searching for each other's weaknesses. Apparently Coffey found Fusaro's soft spot because he ended up pinning him with 56 seconds left in the bout.

"I wait to see when I can do my thing," Coffey said. "I like to take my time to get my points. I'd say I was in a little better shape than him. I usually don't pin kids. He was out of gas and I pinned him."

Sixth-place finishers

Erik Wagoner and Dan Poses were the only other Barrington High School wrestlers who finished among the top six in their respective weight brackets. Wagoner went 3-3 at 171-pounds and Poses was 4-3 at 189-pounds.

Poses earned his way into the Saturday night matches by winning four of his first five bouts. He pinned wrestlers from Rogers, North Providence and Middletown and scored a narrow 9-7 verdict over Cumberland's Tyler Bridges. Poses' only loss came to Jared Andrade of Exeter-West Greenwich, a wrestler who finished as state runner-up.

Poses had no luck in the late bouts as he was pinned by Warwick's Peter Fransson and then bowed to Westerly's Robert Brocollo 7-2 to finish sixth.

Wagoner's path to sixth place was similar to the one Poses took. The Barrington junior won three of his first four matches to assure himself a spot among the top six in the 171-pound class. Wagoner's lone loss in that span came to state runner-up Matt Travers of East Providence.

"That was a tough match," Wagoner said. "I thought I had him twice in the second period with some hip throws. But he ended up catching me."

Wagoner rallied from his second-match loss to pin Toll Gate's Chris Turco and edge West Warwick's Bill Cavalieri 4-3. But he had no excuses for bowing 12-5 to Anthony Marsella of Woonsocket.

"I wasn't ready to wrestle. I didn't go out there with the right attitude," Wagoner said. "I was too tentative and didn't attack enough."

North Kingstown's Charlie Coppa tied up Wagoner in the fifth-place match and came away a 6-2 victor. The sixth-place finish wasn't exactly what Wagoner was shooting for, but he has set lofty goals for his senior season.

"I've got another year," Wagoner said. "I've got to make sure I don't get hurt so I can come back and dominate, take first and go to New Englands."

Barrington High School wrestlers vie in state championship meet

Doug Coffey came through with the best placefinish among 11 Barrington High School wrestlers who competed at the state championships. The results and records of Barrington wrestlers follow.

103-pounds

Justin Albano (0-2)

pinned by Shane Decristaforo (Cranston East) 1:36

pinned by James Baffoni (LaSalle) 4:49

112-pounds

Steve Thomas (0-1)

pinned by Jessy Penney (Toll Gate) 3:02

119-pounds

Rob McQueen (0-1)

lost to Tim Smith (North Providence) 4-2

125-pounds

Greg Johnson (0-1)