Westford Academy Wrestling remained firmly in the lead throughout their second meet of the season, beating out Northeast Metro Tech with a score of 41-36 and increasing their season score to 2-2.
WA’s agility and aggressive takedowns were on full display in the match, but Northeast was able to remain close behind by racking up points through near-falls. Impressively, all of the WA’s points came from pins, many of which took place in the opening seconds of the round. On the other hand, although Northeast was able to execute multiple pins, three of their seven wins came from the points from near-falls.
“We did a great job finishing with pins, both teams had seven wins but we pinned in all of our wins and they didn’t and that’s why we won,” senior captain Shane Clark said.
The lowest weight class match started off the meet with some initial hand fighting, but Northeast was eventually able to achieve their first pin. However, WA quickly tied their score in the next match with junior Chris Demers coming into the match with aggressive hand fighting before securing the pin with a double leg takedown.
WA continued with their intensity in junior Emre Tanir’s match. Tanir was able to lock his opponent to the mat and turn him around for the pin, allowing WA to take the lead with a score of 12-6.
In the next match, Northeast was able to keep WA on the mat, but was only able to accumulate four points through near-falls.
Sophomore Leo Babineau started in on his opponent by quickly going for the legs and bringing him down to the mat. Babineau was able to keep his opponent on the mat with a bodylock before turning him over and pinning him for the win. Babineau credits his success to the practice matches members of the team often drill before competitions.
“I think I did well […] My team prepared me for the meet by wrestling [more aggressively] for longer,” Babineau said.
Following Babineau’s victory was another impressive pin from junior Tony Khvesiuk. Khvesiuk immediately went for his opponents’ legs and was able to lift and slam him to the mat using a double leg takedown and kept hold of him as they hit the mat, securing the pin.
WA continued its winning streak as sophomore Brayden Carratu rapidly lunged for his opponents legs and brought him down to the mat in a pin within 30 seconds, making his win one of the fastest of the match and bringing the score to 30-10.
Northeast won with a technical victory and five points in the next match with WA remaining on the mat but refusing to be pinned despite multiple takedowns and near-falls.
The next match began with senior Qais Saleh hand fighting with his opponent with neither being able to bring the other to the mat. Eventually, Northeast managed to bring Saleh to the mat, but he was able to flip him over and hook his leg to keep him on the mat to secure the win.
“[Saleh] actually won us the match,” Rich said. “He lost to [his opponent] in the Tyngsborough Tournament and then beat him here and pinned him and that’s kind of what sealed the match.”
Saleh attributes his success to the lessons he learned from the tournament and his new approach to his technique.
“Since I knew he was an aggressive wrestler in my second match with him, I decided to wrestle more passively which eventually got me the pin,” Saleh said.
Northeast was able to win the next two matches with pins which increased the score to 35-27. Although Northeast was able to pin WA in the two matches, WA was able to extend the times longer than previous matches and resist the pin for longer than previous matches.
Clark delivered an impressive pin for WA. The match with intense hand fighting which Clark was able to block by maintaining his grip on his opponent’s wrists and shoulder. Clark was eventually able to use his arm grip to bring Northeast to the mat and flipped him in a bodylock to swiftly pin him and win the match to bring the score to 41-27.
Northeast was then able to beat WA in the next match, closing the gap slightly and increasing the score to 41-33.
In the final match, senior Chris Czado faced Northeast in a long match during which the two struggled to keep the other down on the mat. Czado was able to achieve three near-falls, but his Northeast opponent won with 12 near-falls and won three points for Northeast.
WA was able to end the meet in the lead with a score of 41-36, winning their first meet of the season.
In the future both Rich and Clark hope to improve on the endurance of the team and make it through the entire six minute match without getting pinned.
“We need our guys to compete [and] just battle,” Rich said. “They have to have the mentality that it’s going to be a tough match. If after those 30 seconds, it’s still going on, then they need to expect that.”
Clark also mentioned that he hopes the team can improve on overcoming an opponent who has pushed them to the mats.
“I think we could do better fighting off of our backs,” Clark said. “We can’t give up extra points to other teams because we’re getting stuck on our backs.”
With a win under their belts, the team plans to continue their hard work at practice to have a successful run at DCLs and statewide competitions. Clark, who recently placed 3rd in the Tyngsborough Tournament on Dec. 16, has set goals for himself for future tournaments as well.
“Team-wise, I want to hopefully win the DCL and win as many meets as possible,” Clark said. “Personally I want to win sectionals and place as highly as possible in as many tournaments as possible.”
WA wrestling’s next meet will be a home meet on Thursday, Jan. 4th at 6 pm against Lincoln-Sudbury.
