Franklin Matters: HockomockSports.com: Teams of the Decade #17: 2014 Franklin Wrestling

Thursday, May 7, 2020

HockomockSports.com: Teams of the Decade #17: 2014 Franklin Wrestling

HockomockSports.com has compiled their "Teams of the Decade" listing and started revealing them this week working up from #20 to #1. In the 17th slot we find the FHS wrestling team.

Team: Franklin Wrestling
Year: 2013-2014
2014 Kelley-Rex Division Champions
2014 Division 1 Central Champions

"There have been a lot of great individual performances by Hockomock wrestlers through the years, but few teams had the depth of Franklin in 2014. The Panthers started slow as they incorporated new faces, but they rolled through the league (including a big win at North Attleboro) to win the league double, claiming both the dual meet and league championship meet titles.

Franklin carried that success into the postseason, winning the Div. 1 dual meet crown and the D1 Central title as well. The Panthers finished third in Div. 1 and fifth at All-States, showcasing a high level of wrestling throughout the roster.

Head coach Carmine Colace said after the Panthers edged North Attleboro at the 2014 league meet, “We do have a lot of depth; we do and that really helps. Today was a real team effort because we had some tough matches in the semis, but nobody got down on themselves and they all battled back.”

After winning the dual meet title, Franklin went into the Hockomock Championships as favorites and took control of the leaderboard early on. The first four weight classes were won by the Panthers. Mike Coppola (108), Cam Kelly (113), Ben Zogby (120), and Dan Pisani (126) went back-to-back-to-back-to-back to start the final round and Griffin Tighe (195) added a fifth individual title later that evening."