Westford Academy Wrestling suffered a 33-40 loss against Greater Lowell Technical High School (GL) during their Thursday, Feb. 12 senior night game. This end of the season loss was a result of some long-winded matchups that unfortunately did not work out in WA’s favor.
The night kicked off in high spirits as seniors Christopher Demer, captain Nick Dubuc, Devam Gajjar, Ashender Gudavalli, Amogh Hanchar, Bhavik Kancharla, Nikhil Pandia, Lucas Perrotta, James Proctor, captain Travis Prolux, and captain Emre Tanir were all given flowers and posed with their parents and fellow seniors to commemorate the night.
This heartwarming start put the gymnasium in high hopes, but unfortunately, WA lost their first three matchups, allowing the GL athletes to rack up a 0-17 lead in points.
However, all hope wasn’t lost for WA, as they began to hit their stride in the fourth and third matches, which were won in the 126 weight class, bringing up WA’s points to 24-17, with WA now leading.
From that point on, WA’s athletes showed a lot more grit, as the sixth match in the 150 weight class went on for nearly six minutes, with both sides struggling to over power the other. However, GL was able to pin down WA in the last seconds and ran out the clock.
The seventh match in the 157 weight class went similarly, with strong moves being made from both sides. WA’s pattern of struggling to pin down their opponents continued throughout the final minute of the match. Although this time GL was not able to get a definitive win, they were in the most advantageous position when the clock ran out, leaving them the victors of yet another match. These two wins by GL brought the score to 24-28, GL now in the lead.
Another six-minute matchup was fought out in the 165 weight class. The energy of the gym was buzzing as WA managed to force GL into a disadvantageous position multiple times. However, GL was able to turn it around and walked away from the match in the final seconds with a win, the score being 24-31.
WA faced another loss in the 175 weight class, but again showed their perseverance by fighting through nearly 5 minutes of wrestling.
Despite their run of losses, WA managed a decisive win in the 190 weight class, scoring the team a lot of points, and bringing the overall score to 30-34 for Greater Lowell.
With the win now in close reach, and with only one more match to go, WA’s 215 weight class athlete scrambled to stay in the match.
Unfortunately for the Ghosts, GL won the 215 weight class matchup, concluding the meet and leaving GL with the win.
Looking past this loss, the WA captains are very optimistic about the future of the program.
“Our freshmen class is one of the best freshmen classes we’ve had in years,” Dubuc said.
Going into the post season, they also have some goals to improve their mental perseverance.
“You [the wrestlers] just can’t give up. If you’re going 6 minutes, […] you’re winning the match, and you’re giving up for no reason.” Tanir said.
