The Londonderry High wrestling team faced a couple of significant competitive challenges last week. And although their results weren’t all that coach Jason Cucolo and his charges would likely have wanted, the Lancers certainly gave it their all in both cases.
The locals knew full well that they’d have their hands entirely full when they made the relatively short ride to Plaistow right here in New Hampshire to take on the Timberlane Regional Owls on their home mats last Wednesday, Jan. 10.
The final team score wound up being 57-12 in the hosts’ favor, with LHS points being tallied by Alex Boucher at 195 pounds on a fall at 2:55 of his bout and Taylor Dyer on a forfeit at 220.
And the locals were back on the road later in the week – with a much longer ride ahead of them – for the Seventh Annual Ed Solosky Memorial Tournament at the Kellenberg Memorial High School in Union, NY on Long Island on Saturday the 13th.
Londonderry took 14 wrestlers to that 13-team event, which featured a dozen teams from New York and the Lancers from the Granite State. And coach Cucolo’s crew ended up right around the middle of that pack, finishing seventh overall.
Unlike most local tournaments, all entered wrestlers at the Long Island event scored points for their teams rather than one wrestler per weight class doing so elsewhere.
The contingent from Masapequa, N.Y. won the tournament title by tallying 329 points, with the John Glenn, N.Y. entry 10 points behind with 319. Londonderry finished with 120.
The locals had Craig Santos win his 145-pound class and Boucher prove unbeatable at 195, Ben Psaledas finish third in the 182 division, and freshman Aiden O’Loughlin finish sixth at 113.
The Lancers will return to action this coming Saturday Jan. 20 when they compete at the Merrimack Invitational.