The defending Division I champion Londonderry High wrestling squad experienced distinct ups and downs last week, losing a dual meet with a tough opponent at LHS but then posting a winning record at Pinkerton Academy’s annual Border Wars competition.
The home-standing Lancers didn’t enjoy the kind of success they’d hoped for against the tough Concord High Crimson Tide at LHS Wednesday, Jan. 13, dropping a 42-22 decision to the Tide.
Londonderry received weight class wins from Ryan Cabezas at 126 pounds (a 3-2 decision), Tyler Byrd in the 132-pound bout (fall just 1:30 in), Andrew Chase at 138 pounds (16-11 decision), Craig Santos in the 145-pound bout (fall at 3:25), and Mahdi Achab at 170 pounds (10-1 major decision).
But the LHS contingent then bested two out of the three opponents it faced at the Pinkerton event last Saturday, Jan. 16.
The Lancers edged the Winchester (Mass.) crew by a 35-33 score in round one at the border wars, lost a tie-breaker with the host Pinkerton Astros in round two, and then plowed past the Acton-Boxborough bunch from the Bay State in a 48-14 blowout.
The Windham High School grapplers wound up winning the six-team dual tournament by defeating Pinkerton by a 39-33 tally.
In its round one defeat of Winchester, Londonderry received bout victories fromTyler LeBlanc at 113 pounds (2-1 decision), Dave Donnelly at 120 pounds (6-2 decision), Cabezas (fall at 1:12), Byrd (fall at 1:11), Chase (technical fall, 19-2), Santos (fall at 1:35), Colin Reardon at 152 pounds (8-3 decision), and Achab (6-2 decision).
In the head-to-head battle with Pinkerton, the Lancers and Astros knotted themselves up at 39-39, and the tie had to be broken based upon the total number of first points scored. Based on that measure, the hosts won.
Lancer wins were claimed by Donnelly (via forfeit), Cabezas (8-3 decision), Chase (fall at 3:45), Santos (fall at 3:09), Reardon (fall at 2:58), Achab (forfeit), and Ben Psaledas in the 182-pound bout (fall at 49 seconds).
In the third-round besting of Acton-Boxborough, Londonderry victories were claimed by Donnelly (fall at 5:03), Cabezas (fall at 38 seconds) Byrd (fall at 18 seconds), Chase (fall at 1:18), Santos (forfeit), Reardon (fall at 1:48), Achab (fall at 2:20), and Psaledas (fall at 2:34).