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Geoff Bluh

Dan Leary of Belchertown, top, and Taylor Balfour of Athol wrestle in the final of the 140-pound class during the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Championships at Pioneer Regional on Saturday. Balfour won in overtime.

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Geoff Bluh

Mack Ransford of Granby, top, wrestles Zach Larabee of Mount Greylock in the 135-pound class during the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Championships at Pioneer Regional on Saturday.

NORTHFIELD - Good things came in threes for area wrestlers at the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Championships on Saturday.

Frontier Regional senior Seth Dellert won his third sectional title in a dramatic overtime victory at Pioneer Regional.

He was joined by Granby junior Mack Ransford and South Hadley junior Alex Dumais in winning individual championships.

Dellert was the top seed at 171 pounds and responded by wrestling his way into the final, where he met Ryan Carabine of Sabis. Dellert jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first period but Carabine cut it in half before the end of the opening two minutes by scoring a reversal.

Dellert led 7-6 after two periods before a wild third. Carabine scored a reversal early to take an 8-7 lead but Dellert was rewarded one point with 1 minute, 22 seconds left when Carabine was called for locking hands and Carabine then allowed Dellert to escape, giving the Red Hawk a 9-8 lead.

Carabine scored a takedown with 11 seconds left in the match to take a 10-9 lead but he again was called for locking hands with six seconds left and the two headed for overtime tied at 10-10.

With Todd Patterson - the last Red Hawk to win three sectional titles - watching from the side, Dellert snapped down Carabine and pinned him 19 seconds into sudden death for the victory.

"I was really nervous - I was feeling the pressure in my stomach all day," Dellert said of winning his third title. "I knew we were both tired and just using his leverage, we were both leaning forward on each other and I stepped back and snapped him down with his head. It feels really great."

Also a repeat winner is Ransford, who now has a pair of championship ribbons. Ransford followed up last year's 130-pound title run with a victory at 135 pounds on Saturday, although it was not easy.

He took on Zach Larabee of Mount Greylock in the final and the duo went back in forth through the first two periods with Ransford leading 6-4 after the second. In the third, Larabee started from the bottom position and scored a quick escape to narrow the gap to 6-5 before he went ahead with one minute left as he notched a takedown.

Ransford evened the score at 7-7 with 30 seconds to go when he escaped and then won the championship with four seconds left when he managed to take down Larabee for two points and a 9-7 win.

"I knew right away it was going to be very, very competitive because two Saturdays ago he beat me," Ransford said. "But I was here to defend my title and I wanted revenge from that match. This is like a shock to me."

Wins on second trip

Dumais made good on his second trip to the 189 finals. Last season, as a sophomore, he lost a 7-2 decision in the championship bout. This year Dumais turned in a workmanlike effort against Conor Johnston of Frontier.

Dumais built a seemingly insurmountable lead late in the match at 12-3. Then, with 27.6 seconds remaining, He finished off the victory by pinning Johnston for his first title.

"It's unbelievable," Dumais said of winning the title. "Conor is a really strong kid, I'd faced him earlier this season, and we kind of have a little rivalry going. So it was nice to face off against him in the finals."

Five other area wrestlers joined Johnston as second-place finishers.

Frankie Weir of Hampshire Regional was pinned by Sean Derby-Kilfoyle of Mount Greylock at 125 pounds,

Dan Leary of Belchertown got his second consecutive sectional runner-up trophy after a 6-4 overtime loss to Taylor Balfour of Athol at 140 pounds.

Another Oriole, Dustin Gregoire, also took second after getting pinned by Eli Coniglio of Mount Greylock at 152 pounds.

Chase Ladue of Gateway Regional wound up second after getting pinned by Dan Boyden of Franklin Tech in the first period of the title bout at 160.

Troy Johnson of South Hadley suffered a heartbreaking loss at 285 pounds when Garrett Girard of Athol scored a takedown with five seconds left for the final two points in a 9-8 decision.

Every wrestler finishing first through fifth will move on to compete in the state Division 3 tournament at Cohasset High School next Friday and Saturday.

Among the wrestlers finishing third were Jared Lauziere (135) and Evan Quinn (171) of Belchertown, Mike Cupak (112) of Granby, Brian Caisse (140) of South Hadley, and Nick Martin of Frontier.

Marc Saulnier (130) of Frontier and Cal Lachowicz (215) of Hampshire were fourth overall.

Fifth-place finishers included Adam MacBrown (145), Alex Ziter (152) and Jay Ringenbach (171) of Gateway, Carl Danoff (130) of Granby, Carter Levreault (160) of South Hadley and Mike Dull (285) of Belchertown.

Sixth place finishers will go to the state tourney as alternates. Among them are Anthony Hoskins (152) and Ben Galica (285) of Hampshire Regional, Cody Ferro (125) of Granby, Jake Cote (130) of Belchertown and Nick Rojas (145) of South Hadley.