By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
The Milford wrestling program has dominated the Hockomock League for the past five years, winning five straight Kelley-Rex division titles, and has a proud history of success at the state and regional level too, including a 2022 New England title for Hampden Kaye-Kuter, but no one in program history had gone undefeated for an entire season including New Englands.
Senior Michael Boulanger changed that last weekend at the New England Championships held in Providence, RI. The second seed at 157 pounds, Boulanger rolled through his first three matches to advance to the final to face top seed Carnell Davis of Ponaganset (RI). Four takedowns in the first period gave Boulanger a sizable lead and he clinched the title with a 17-5 win.
It capped off a perfect 55-0 season, including 27 pins and 24 tech falls. He finished his Milford career at 185-23 overall. Although this was an incredible accomplishment, Boulanger is already looking forward to the next challenge.
“It feels good,” he said in a phone call a week after his title-winning match. “It’s been a goal of mine for a while. I’ve always wanted to win it, but I still have bigger goals that I’m looking to accomplish. So, I’m trying not to get complacent and keep working.”
Boulanger will be competing in the NHSCA National Championships in Virginia Beach at the end of March and then the Duke University-commit will almost immediately turn his sights on preparing to make the leap to college wrestling.
“I was a little relieved for a couple minutes, but then I remembered these other goals I have,” he said. “It felt good in the moment but I’ve got more work to do.”
Moving forward has always been the default mode for Boulanger, who focuses on staying on the attack and keeping his opponents on their heels (as evidenced by 205 takedowns this season). It is an approach that Milford coach PJ Boccia has instilled in his team and one that Boulanger used to devastating effect in his dominant run.
He won the title at the prestigious Lowell Holiday Tournament, won the team and individual titles at the Hockomock League Championships, Div. 2 Central sectionals, and D2 states, and won the title at all-states. He won 19-3 in the final at Hocks, won all-states with a 21-5 tech fall, and then won New Englands with a 17-5 decision.
“I try to keep my pace up,” he explained. “I feel like if I keep attacking then whoever I’m wrestling against can’t attack and score, so I feel like if I keep the pace up and get to my offense then I’m wrestling pretty well.”
The New England final was a good example of why this works so well. He jumped out to a 13-3 lead after just one period and was able to carry that big advantage through to the end.
“I got to my offense early and I scored a few takedowns quick, but he was battling too,” Boulanger said. “Outside of the first period it was a tough match. I was just trying to stay on the offense and stay with the attack. I knew I couldn’t let off the gas.”
Even for a wrestler as dominant as Boulanger has been this season, losing focus for one second, one slip, or one mistake, could flip a match in a hurry. Over the course of a long season, from tournament weekends to long Saturday quad meets, it is remarkable that he avoided any of those moments to stay unbeaten.
“It’s easy to think, once you have a lead, that you can kind of coast the rest of the match but that’s when you get caught on your back and scary things happen,” he said. “I always try to keep wrestling to the end.”
He continued, “It’s hard but I try to stay hungry in the practice room and, if I keep working, I have confidence and faith that my training will show in the matches.”
One of the first things that wrestlers talk about when asked why they love the sport is the work that it takes. All of the conditioning, the training (on and off the mat), the physical exertion form a bond between the athlete and the sport.
“I really like the grind of it,” said Boulanger, who switched from jujitsu to Milford Youth Wrestling in second grade (and now wrestles for MetroWest United out of Natick). “When I was younger, I was never the tallest or the fastest, so I didn’t really think I could excel at any of the other sports. I liked how you could learn new techniques and you could always keep improving.”
He added, “It takes a lot to stick with wrestling, to keep improving, after you take a tough loss to get back up and keep competing. It’s hard. I respect all my teammates and my opponents too.”
Winning is fun and there has been a lot of fun for the Milford program in recent years. Even in the later stages of the postseason, as fewer wrestlers are competing, the Hawks continue to practice together and offer encouragement.
Boulanger said, “We just continue to support each other and it makes it seem like we’re in the regular season, same routine. I feel like I’ve grown an incredible amount with the team, the coaches. I wouldn’t be where I am, right now, today, without them.”
Even now, with all of the titles that he has won over his four-year career, Boulanger continues to look forward. He wants to make a run at nationals and he is excited about the opportunity to wrestle at Duke. There is still a lot more to win on the horizon.
Asked whether there was a moment in his career that he realized he could be this good at wrestling, he replied, “I never got in that mindset where I thought that I could be really good at it. I always tried to focus on keeping improving from where I was.”
Woodall makes incredible first impression
Not long before Michael Boulanger took the mat for his final match at 157, the Hockomock League already had a New England champion. Franklin freshman John Woodall held on for a 5-4 win over Greater Lowell’s Antoine Jackman to win the title at 106 pounds and complete a perfect first season for the Panthers.
Woodall became the first Franklin wrestler to win a New England title since Dan Telhada’s win at 145 pounds in 2010. Telhada also won the title in 2009 at 140 pounds.
He won all four of his matches by decision (11-2. 7-, and 11-4 to get to the final). In the championship match, the Hockomock League champion fell behind to a takedown but escaped and got a takedown of his own to lead 4-3 after the first period. Woodall escaped for a point in the second and Jackman did the same in the third. Woodall held onto his one-point lead for the final 1:57 to earn a hard-fought win.
It was his second win against Jackman, who came in as the top seed, in a week. They also faced off in the all-state final, with Woodall winning that match 5-3.
“It’s incredible what he was able to do as a freshman,” Boulanger said. “Even just to get used to the high school matches (they’re longer than in middle school), that takes a little adjusting and he didn’t lose a match.”
Franklin coach Cam Kelly added, “Johnny is an extremely hard-working kid with an infectious smile. His competitiveness really rubbed off on the entire team.”
Historical information provided by Bob Tillman was used in this article.
