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CHELMSFORD — The third trip to the sectional wrestling finals in five years for Methuen proved no more charming than the previous two attempts. After winning its first two matches of the day, the second-seeded Rangers fell to top-seed Shawsheen 37-23 in yesterday’s championship at Chelmsford High School. Methuen finished is season with at 22-2 dual-match record. The Rangers trounced Billerica 54-21 in the quarterfinals before upending Lawrence 39-32 in the semifinals. “We had some chances we didn’t capitalize on,” Methuen coach Bill James said. “We’ve had a great season though. We’ve actually over achieved what we came into the season looking to do. We have a pretty young team and an inexperienced team.” Against Shawsheen (21-0), Methuen took a 14-10 lead after Mike Eyssi’s 8-0 decision over John Baker. But Shawsheen pins in the following two matches by Bryan Cassiey and Jesse Dillon put the Rams ahead for good at 22-14. “We ended up 22-2 and a sectional finalist,” James said. “It’s still a little frustrating because you want to win everything you do. But at the same time, being realistic, we just have to focus on the individual stuff. We have some kids who can do some damage in those big tournaments. From here on out the kids prove themselves on an individual basis. “You hope they have some high expectations. We did see a lot of the teams that will be in the sectional and I think our kids we be ready for that.” Eyssi was one of four Rangers to finish the day undefeated along with Paul Shugrue at 112, C.J. Doherty at 135 and Chris Bouchard, who won once at 189 and twice at 171. In their title matches, Shugrue posted a 17-0 technical fall over Jonathan Sterns, Doherty pinned Sean Crusoe in 1:06 and Bouchard pinned Anthony Pimentel in 2:44. “I definitely thought we had a good chance to win it,” Bouchard said. “Shawsheen was tough. But this will give me confidence going into state.” Other championship-match winners for Methuen were Sarithi Has at 103 and Jason Pendergast at 125 “I thought if we could come in and wrestle the way we know how, we’d take care of business,” Shawsheen coach Mark Donovan said. “From 152 on, we were pretty good. But in all three of our matches today someone young had something good to do with it.”

LAWRENCE — Central Catholic junior Matt Armano demonstrated perfectly last night why high school wrestling can be exciting as both an individual and team sport.

Methuen clinched at least a share of the Merrimack Valley Conference title with a 41-26 victory over Chelmsford. Shaun McCarthy had a key 7-5 decision at 215 for the unbeaten Rangers (20-0).

Methuen's wrestling team rolled to three easy wins, 61-4 over Lwominster, 56-10 over Georgetown and 60-18 over Pentucket to improve to 6-0. Framingham Tournament champ Shaun McCarthy won three more matches at 215 and Framingham winner C.J. Doherty was unbeaten at 135. Also, Scott Delrossi continued to impress at 160 with three wins.

Sean McCarthy upset the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to take first at 215 pounds and help Methuen to a third-place finish at the Framingham Tourney. Also, seeded sixth, C.J. Doherty took first at 135 pounds.

Edwin Alfonso and Mike Eyssi both bumped up a weight class and had impressive pins to lead Methuen to a 48-27 win over St. John's of Shrewsbury on Christmas Eve.

Freshman Paul Sughrue kicked off his varsity career in style, pinning his opponent at 112 pounds in just 1:22 to help Methuen defeat Xaverian, 40-33. Sophomore Jason Pendergast also excelled at 125 with a solid 9-5 win over one of Xaverian's better competitors.

Paul Sughrue is a freshman.  In semis he beat Mike Bradley of Mt. Anthony.   All three champions those were their ever tourney wins as hs varisty wrestlers