After taking second place at 144 pounds during the Western Mass. Div. 3 sectional last week, Hampshire’s Adin Clifford said he was hoping for a better performance at the MIAA Div. 3 state tournament than he’s had in the past. 

So far, so good. 

Clifford entered Friday’s Div. 3 state tournament at Foxborough High School as the No. 6 seed at 144 and opened his day with a second-period pin over Pentucket’s Karsyn Otero. Taking on third-seeded Ethan Anastasia of Holliston in the quarterfinals, Clifford earned an early three points with a takedown in the first round and went on to earn a 5-0 decision win to advance to the semifinals. 

Clifford will face off against second-seeded Andrew Daley of Bristol-Plymouth in the semis, which get underway at 10:30 a.m. in Foxborough Saturday. 

Hampshire’s Alex Florek (120), Cody Gaida (175), Finn Dewitt (138), Samuel Mathews (215) and Taylro Mccolgan (132) all qualified and wrestled on Friday, but none were able to earn a win. 

South Hadley’s Roberto Melendez lost his opening match of the day at 285 but stormed back to win a pair of matches in the consolation bracket to reach the consolation round of four, as he looks to keep his hopes of a third place finish alive on Saturday when he opens the day against Athol’s Nicholas Leblanc. Jasiel Ramos went 1-2 at 175 while Jamie Medina also went 1-2 at 215 for the Tigers. 

Frontier’s Konnor James is still alive in the consolation bracket at 157. He earned  a win to start his day, dropped his second match before knocking off Ludlow’s Brady Trahan by a 7-5 decision. His older brother,  Kaden James, dropped his op ening match at 215, rallied to beat Quabbin’s Brady Dennis before falling to Timothy Gerry to close his tournament. 

Belchertown’s Jack Bergeron was unable to earn a win at 132 on Friday. 

Div. 2 States

The Holyoke and Smith Vocational wrestling teams traveled to Salem for the MIAA Div. 2 state meet on Friday. 

For the Purple Knights, Steven Santiago won both his matches at 120 to reach the semifinals. Santiago opened the day with a 12-3 decision win over Bellingham’s Tyler Campbell before defeating Woburn’s Steven Maitre via a 13-1 decision to reach the semis. Santiago, the No. 3 seed, faces off against seventh-seeded Aiden Fogarty of Whittier Tech with a spot in the finals on the line on Saturday. 

Holyoke’s Luis Rivera (144) and Jack Perez (165) were unable to earn a win on Saturday. 

Smith Vocational’s Mateo Henriques lost his opening match of the day at 132, won via forfeit in his second match but dropped his third match to end his tournament. Viking Matthew Small was unable to earn a win at 138.