Collinsville wrestler earns All-American honors for 2nd year

Collinsville’s Colby Houle earned All-American honors at the National Prep School championships Saturday in Lehigh, Pa. (Photo courtesy Northfield Mt. Hermon Athletics)

Sophomore Colby Houle, who grew up in the Collinsville section of Canton, earned All-American honors for the second season wrestling for Northfield Mount Hermon at the National Prep School Wrestling championships in Lehigh, Pa., over the weekend.

Houle (33-7) finished fourth at 144 pounds for Northfield Mount Hermon out of Northfield, Mass., which finished sixth with eight All-American wrestlers who finished in the top eight of their respective weight classes.

It’s the best finish at the national tournament for Northfield since 2011 when they finished fifth overall.

It wasn’t an easy tournament for Houle, who went 5-2 in the tournament with all five victories being one-point decisions.

He began his tournament with a 4-3 win over Dylan Villers of McCallie School-Chattanooga, Tenn., thanks to an escape with 1:30 left in the match to tie it at 1-1 and a takedown with 46 seconds remaining to take a 4-1 lead.

Houle’s next win was a 2-1 win in double overtime over Marco Cartella of Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio.

The quarterfinal bout with Walker Turley of St. Christopher in Richmond, Virginia was tied at 1-1 in the third period before Turley got a takedown and near fall with 58 seconds remaining to earn an 8-1 victory.

In the consolation bracket, Houle began with a 2-1 win over Brooklyn Pickett of Mount Saint Joseph (Baltimore, Md.) thanks to an escape with nine seconds left in the match.

Houle followed that with a 2-1 win over Nicky Melfi of Severen School (Arnold, MD) thanks to an escape and a stalling call on Melfi.

In the consolation semifinal, Houle secured some revenge with a 2-1 win over Ben Zuckerman of Greens Farms Academy (GFA) from Westport. Houle tied the match with a third period escape and Zuckerman was called for stalling late in the match to give Houle the win.

Zuckerman beat Houle a week earlier in the finals of the New England Prep School championships with a 4-1 win in overtime. GFA won the New England championship, getting past Northfield Mt. Hermon, 331½ to 307.

The consolation final or third place match saw Houle face Turley for a second time in this tournament. Turley took a 1-0 lead with 1:42 remaining thanks to an escape and secured the win with a takedown with eight seconds to go for a 4-0 victory.

A year ago, Houle earned All-American honors for Northfield Mt. Hermon with a sixth place finish at 132 pounds. He was 4-3 in the tournament with two pins.