South Hadley wrestler Troy Johnson extended his season one more weekend as he qualified for the New England individual championships in New Haven, Conn.

The junior who wrestles at 285 pounds finished fifth at the all-state tournament in Salem on Saturday. Johnson is only the third South Hadley wrestler ever to qualify for the final weekend of the season at the New England tournament. The top six wrestlers in each weight division advance.

Johnson and his teammate Alex Dumais both won Division 3 state championships on Feb. 20.

During this past weekend, Johnson got off to a fast start as he opened with back-to-back wins, defeating Aquie Moxan of Norwood 7-4 and pinning Zach Smerlas of Lincoln-Sudbury at five minutes, 17 seconds.

Johnson opened Saturday by losing 12-5 in a semifinal match to Cody Jaramillo of Bridgewater-Raynham.

Forty seconds into his next match, Johnson was pinned by Dennis Costa of New Bedford.

"Troy was just caught off guard," said South Hadley coach Kevin McNeil. "Anytime you lose that semifinal match it's pretty tough for any wrestler to bounce back. He just wasn't himself."

But Johnson finished the weekend strong, pinning Dan Amato of North Quincy at 2:37 for the fifth-place finish.

"Troy said to me after that he didn't even wrestle his best today, so he's really geared up for next weekend," said McNeill. "I think he'll take a lot of people by surprise."

Johnson added, "I never dreamed I could get this far," especially since he did not begin wrestling until January.

"With every loss you learn a little something. I learned that sometimes maybe I need to save my energy for the next match. Basically I just learned to expect the unexpected."

Dumais also won his first match of the weekend at 189 pounds, defeating Tom Pomella of Mansfield 5-1. Nick Collins of Central then beat Dumais 9-4.

He bounced back in the next match, avoiding elimination with a 7-1 victory over Nick Almeida of Somerset. Dumais, a junior, then lost his final match 9-0 decision to Kyle Humphries of East Longmeadow.

"It's tough for Alex because he was one match away from placing at all states," said McNeil. "He didn't even qualify for all-states last season, and he grew leaps and bounds to get ready for this season. He'll keep growing, and he'll be even better next year. He's just got drive."

Granby wrestlers

Granby had juniors Mike Cupak and Mack Ransford at the all-state tournament but neither qualified for the New England competitition. Cupak lost his first match as he was pinned by Ryan Boyle of Central Catholic.

However, Cupak followed the early loss with back-to-back victories in the 112-pound division, as he defeated Zac Sletzinger of Northbridge 13-3, and Tim Gerry of Holliston 12-11.

Cupak then lost his final match by tech fall to Mike Arangio of Wakefield.

"His goal was to win one at all-states and he went out and doubled it," said Granby coach Joe Denette,

Ransford, who won his second straight Division 3 state championship Feb. 20, was eliminated Friday night in Salem at 135 pounds. He lost 5-4 to Sam Larose of Mansfield and 3-0 to Dylan Foley of Algonquin.

"Mack wasn't feeling good at all, it just wasn't his weekend," said Denette.

"Now that these guys have seen what the level of competition is, especially Mike in his first time making it this far, they know what they need to do to get back here next year," Denette added.

Other local wrestlers who competed during the weekend included freshman Frankie Weir of Hampshire Regional and Conor Johnston of Frontier Regional.

Weir, a 125-pound freshman, lost both of his matches on Friday, 10-2 to Avery Wendell of Winchester, and to Kevin Connelly of Canton.

Johnston, a senior who competes at 189 pounds, lost to Greg Richer of Algonquin and then was pinned by Almeida at 1:28.