By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Boston Youth Wrestling has two wrestlers headed to the Youth New England Championships after a busy, and successful, weekend.

Both Kelvin Santiago (160 lbs) and Danny Paulino (175 lbs) from the Frederick school will be heading to Lowell to compete in the tournament after placing sixth and fourth place respectively, in the youth state championships.

“It’s the most premier wrestling at the youth level for New England,” said Jose Valenzuela, director of Boston Youth Wrestling. “It will be a big challenge for Kelvin and Danny, but a big reward for them as well.”

Valenzuela described how this tournament had a foreign environment after his wrestlers won the South Sectional tournament in the previous weekend. Even though neither Santiago nor Paulino have wrestled for more than a year, they were getting attention from various players and coaches upon entering the state championships.

Valenzuela gave all the credit to their coaches.

“It really shows the great coaching at Frederick, the fact that they take these two kids who never wrestled and turn them into decent wrestlers,” Valenzuela said.

Santiago in particular showed a lot of potential in his match with the first place winner of the state championship, Benton Whitley. Valenzuela described how Santiago nearly pinned the springfield youth wrestler in the semifinal round.

Just a day before Sunday’s state championship, 12 other city wrestlers competed in the Big East tournament, a competition for less experienced wrestlers.

Dorchester’s Enockson Jacques (160 lbs) took home the first place honors after beating Frederick’s Josue Deleon.

“You always just tell your kids to have fun,” Valenzuela said. “Whatever happens, they’re still teammates.”

The Youth New England Championships will be held at Lowell high school on March 9.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

The Division 3 Central wrestling sectionals are Saturday and Quincy Upper School coach Malcolm Mitchell is confident his wrestlers will make their mark.

“You just have to get it in your kids' minds that we’re going to compete,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to show up, we’re going to be prepared, we’re going to go hard, we’re going to put our nose to the grind. We’re going to do what we do and if that’s good enough, we’re going to win.”

Mitchell, who has chosen eight seniors to compete in the sectional tournament, said the leadership of the upperclassmen was essential to the program's rise.

“We have a ton of freshmen and new kids and it was good to have seniors that are not the most heralded guys but at the same time they work hard," Mitchell said. "They always work like champions. They work through injury, they work through pain and they set the proper examples."

Quincy Upper's eight seniors are brothers Corey Crowley (230 pounds) and Jake Crowley (145), Muhammid Muhammid (180), Adrian Shelton (170), Ray Zalentin (113), Joseph Gonzalez (138), Nelson Kedey (220), and Josiah Cassiani (132).

Mitchell said that while he expects all of his wrestlers to do well, he would like to see veterans Kedey and the Crowleys win their classes. Mitchell said they exemplify his squad's unity and teamwork.

“They really like one another, they get along, they work together and they support one another, which I think is really important,” Mitchell said. “Wrestling’s a tough sport. You got to have a friend that knows how to be hungry with you.”

Mitchell has seen many of his newcomers improve throughout the season, and two will be going to the sectional tournament. lSophomore Darius Hale (195 pounds) has earned one spot. Mitchell said the next two days of practice will determine who gets the last spot.

No matter what happens in Saturday’s sectionals, Mitchell is confident that the future of wrestling within the city is bright.

“There’s a youth program in Boston being run by Jose Valenzuela and we’ve been on some things and we have plans for next year to do some things together and things look really good for the city in terms of wrestling,” Mitchell said.

The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Wayland High School.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at zolankannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Wrestlers from city schools accept their MYWA South Sectional Tournament trophy. (Photo courtesy of Boston Youth Wrestling)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

This past weekend was another successful one for Boston Youth Wrestling.

The city team, represented by the Frederick, Dorchester/TechBoston, Quincy and McCormack schools, won the Massachusetts Youth Wrestling Association (MYWA) South Sectional Tournament.

Twenty four city wrestlers represented the four schools with 10 qualifying for the Youth State Championships at Algonquin Regional high school on Sunday, Feb. 17. While Boston Youth Wrestling director Jose Valenzuela was proud of the success of the city team, that was not his focus in the tournament.

“The main goal for this weekend was to bring as many wrestlers from Boston as possible, to give them all an opportunity to compete at the state-wide level,” Valenzuela said. “I would have been satisfied with any outcome from our wrestlers, but winning the tournament title was just an added bonus that really exemplifies the hard work and dedication of the wrestlers and coaches at practices around the city and the willingness of our teams to work together towards one mission.”

Wrestlers from the Frederick school did well in the tournament. Clayton Rodrigues (76 lbs) and Danny Paulino (175 lbs) placed first place for their respective weight classes. Jaraiel Wiggins (130 lbs), Tyreece Jeffreys (136 lbs) and Kelvin Santiago (160 lbs) all took home second place awards. Jahi James (195 lbs), from the Quincy school, also landed second place.

The other 14 wrestlers will be competing in the Big East Tournament at Reading high school, an end-of-season competition on Sunday, Feb. 10.

While the number of participants was a great sign for wrestling in the city, Valenzuela said there is a much deeper meaning in the success of the tournament.

“We certainly have a lot of talented wrestlers that proved they’re as good, or for some better, than other kids that have grown up on youth clubs or teams,” Valenzuela said.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

A match from a Boston Youth Wrestling tournament last May. (Boston Youth Wrestling))

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

The second annual City Junior Wrestling Championships will be Saturday, at the TechBoston Academy.

In addition to TechBoston/Dorchester and Frederick, the participants from last year’s championship, Boston Youth Wrestling has also expanded to the Irving and McCormack middle schools. Along with the four BPS schools, private and parochial schools are also expected to join in the action.

Jose Valenzuela, the founder of Boston Youth Wrestling, started the organization with a team of just a couple Dorchester high school students. Since then, the organization has grown to having 110 participants in four middle schools and three high schools.

“The main idea is to support the coaches at these schools and get these kids on the wrestling mat,” Valenzuela said. “We want to expand the opportunity for wrestling but we're also trying to give them the skills they need for life.”

Valenzuela added that while these students are improving in wrestling skills, they are also increasing their perseverance, gaining strong discipline and learning how to put effort in everything they do.

The championship this Saturday should be another opportunity for an abundance of students to improve on these life skills while improving their overall wrestling game.

The founder is inviting anyone who wants to see the great wrestling in the city, as well as anyone interested in volunteering as a referee, scorer, or concession worker.

Details on the tournament are below:

Location: TechBoston Academy, 9 Peacevale Rd

Weigh-ins: 8-9 AM

Wrestling starts at 9:30 AM

3 matches will be wrestled at a time, and we are hoping to conclude all matches at 1 PM

Medals will be awarded to the Top 3 wrestlers in each weight class (we will use Madison weights to determine groups)

Tournament fee = $10 or $100 for a team with more than 10 wrestlers, and the fee can be paid at weigh-ins

Concessions will be sold, and although we won't charge admission for parents, a suggested donation to Boston Youth Wrestling will be requested. To learn more about Boston Youth Wrestling, click here.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.