Just a sophomore, Tildsley takes home second New England title

Sid Tildsley did it again.

After an undefeated season as a freshman saw the Billerica resident pile up 60 victories and zero defeats and capture Div. 1 North, Div. 1 and all-state championships, Tildsley added a New England title to his resume.

A tough act to follow?

Sort of.

But on Saturday in Providence, Rhode Island, Tildsley had a repeat performance, completing the four-championship accomplishment by capturing the 138-pound weight class at the New England finals.

“He has more than 100 wins and two New England championships, and he’s only a sophomore,” said Ram coach Doug Pratt. “It’s really unbelievable.”

Tildsley is often matched up against familiar opponents that are cautious when facing him. Last weekend, Tildsley faced many grapplers that weren’t nearly as conservative, and it paid off for the Ram standout.

“He really dominated,” said Pratt.

Tildsley defeated East Hartford, Connecticut's Jaeckez Mendez by fall in the second period in the championship match. At the time of the pin, Tildsley led by a 6-1 score.

The win capped off quite a weekend for Shawsheen's Super Bowl quarterback, who went 4-0 overall.

In the semifinals, he was up by a 10-0 score when he stopped James Linder Jr. of Montville, Connecticut.

The quarterfinals saw Tildsley top Anthony Basile of Xavier Regional in Connecticut, 13-5.

In the first round, he pinned John Fabrizio of Timberlane in New Hampshire.

“And he’s still getting better,” Pratt said. “He had a great tournament. Sid is a three-sport athlete and about 99 percent of the guys he goes up against are one-sport athletes, maybe two.”

Tildsley also competes in track and field in the spring along with football in the fall at Shawsheen.

“He was an All-Scholastic quarterback,” Pratt said. "He's quite an athlete."

At 120 pounds, Shawsheen sophomore Brayton Carbone of Billerica was sixth overall, going 2-2 in his four matches before defaulting his final bout of the weekend due to an injury.

It wrapped up a terrific season for Carbone, who was coming off an all-state championship the previous weekend.

“He had a great tournament,” said Pratt. “Bray is such a hard worker.”

Carbone won his first match in just 24 seconds against Jerry Hill of Bethel, Connecticut before edging Cameron Davis of Cranston West High School in Cranston, R.I. by a 5-4 score.

In the semifinals, Carbone was defeated by David Perez of Ponaganset High School in North Scituate, R.I. by a second-period fall.

Carbone then faced New Fairfield, Connecticut's Joe Mahoney in the consolation tournament and dropped an 8-2 decision. He was injured in that match and defaulted what would have been a match for fifth place against Davis.

Carbone is also a three-sport athlete for the Rams, playing football in the fall and lacrosse in the spring.

Freshman James Tildsley competed at 132 pounds and took fifth.

He ended up wrestling eight matches in two days, winning six of them with the only losses coming to Kayden Ware of Killingly High School in Dayville. Connecticut.

After Tildsley pinned Landon Pease of Rockport, Maine in the first round, he lost a 6-3 decision to Ware in Round 2.

Tildsley won his first three consolation matches, pinning Braxton Ferro of North Attleborough in the first round, winning by fall in the second period against Avery Carl of Middlebury, Connecticut and then taking a 5-2 decision over Kyle Levesque of Xavier High School.

Tildsley then pinned Gavin Ripley of Oceanside High School in Rockland, Maine before facing Ware again in the consolation semifinals and losing by a 7-0 score.

In the match for fifth place, Tildsley pinned William Leischner of Ponaganset High School in the third period.

“James is just so tough,” said Pratt. “He wrestled eight matches in two days and won six of them.”

As a team, Shawsheen ended up sixth place among well over 100 schools that were represented. It was quite a finish to a memorable season for the Rams.

“Not too bad,” Pratt said.

Pratt said recent weeks have seen Carbone and the Tildsleys constantly training together.

“They’re like brothers,” said the coach. “They get along so well and they push each other to always work hard.”

Pratt said Carbone, both Sid and James Tildsley and junior Caleb Caceres of Billerica will now prepare for nationals later this month, March 24-26, at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

The top eight finishers in each weight class are named All-America wrestlers.

At nationals, wrestlers are separated by grade, meaning Sid Tildsley will only face sophomores, James Tildsley will only face freshmen and Carbone will only go against 10th graders.

Cacere, who wrestled at 145 for the Rams this season and went all the way to the all-state tournament, can also wrestle at a lower weight class at nationals and will likely compete as a junior at 132 pounds.