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Sunday, December 30
Warriors Split - Upend Newton South, Lose to Natick - 12.30.04
Sudbury Town Crier - 12/30/04
by Bill Jansen
Slobberknocher -- noun -- a word of European derivation. A punch or blow so devastating that slobber, spittle, slips, uncontrollably, from the jibs of the one who receives it; a knockout punch.
Wednesday last, South High School got off the train from Newton at the Warriorville depot in time for its annual Dual County League wrestling match with the local grappling bunch.
When Jeff Stein, L-S's 103 pounder put the Lion Shapiro on his back and the referee slapped the mat, the aforementioned slobberknocher was signed, sealed and delivered. Young Mr. Stein, in effect, during the 11th match of the evening, hammered the final nail in the barrel carrying the Lion wrestling squad by making the point total out of reach and L-S could claim its sixth dual meet victory of the young season.
The dual meet actually began at 130 pounds. Eliot Gibbs, wrestling in top form, and fresh from a Lisitano championship at the same weight, pinned Mrs. Mulburg's son in 3:13 of the match in that weight class. Jamie Lynch, at 135, stepped onto Mr. Resilite for his go around, and the visitor, Sam Tuesrav, got the best of the Lynch lad 16-1.
This made the team score six for the good guys and five for the visitors. John Mackinnon, at 140, would be next for the L-Sers. Johnny Mack defused Mr. Bomb of the Newtons 8-0, garnering a major decision, a victory of more than eight points and less than 15, pushing the team score to 10-5.
Captain Nick Rahall, exhibiting unchallenged aggression, pinned Telnorov of the Newtons in 4:35. Team score 16-5.
Danny Braun, also fresh off his Lisitano Memorial championship, at 152, thought he was at a dance recital as his opponent, Tom Kaspar, continually evaded contact by dancing near the edge of the big ring and casually slipping out of bounds countless times to avoid being taken down. Unfortunately, Kaspar got an early takedown, which would prove to be the margin of victory over DB. Kaspar's Arthur Murray tactics almost cost him the match as the official smacked Kaspar with two technical violations for fleeing the mat. But the damage had been done as Braunie lost the contest by one point, 5-4. It's difficult to say whether the Newtons' activity was laudable or simply evasive, let alone somewhat chicken-hearted. This pushed the match score to 16-8, L-S's favor.
Nico Von Stackelberg, at 160, had a wingding of a match with the Newtons' Sherman, finally getting the best of Mr. Sherman 12-7. Deron Zambruno, wrestling a solid match at 171, eliminated the Newtons' Adelman with a 7-0 match score, pushing the team lead to 22-8.
Jason Orlando of L-S wasn't as fortunate as the Lions Chocitow got the best of young Jason, 7-3.
At 215, L-S's Jesse Smith reaped the benefit of a forfeit, pushing the team score to 28 for L-S, 11 for the Lions. Bumping Koby Elias to heavy was coach Harry Coffin's lone strategic move for the evening, it was the only one necessary. Elias practiced his takedowns in the first period, scoring 12 points on the hapless Joseph lad and finally pinned the Newton in 3:13, running the match score to 34-11.
At this point, South was still in the match and could win if it pinned the rest of the way through the next four weights. Then came Mr. Stein. Match over.
At 112, Sandwich's gift to L-S wrestling, Dave Ciampa, got into a dogfight with the Newton lad Shy, but was finally able to stick his opponent with only 16 seconds left in the match. Team score 46-11, L-S.
In a superb display of grappling, South's star, Abe Rosenfeld, got the best of Sammy Bores at 119, by pinning the fighting Sam in :38 seconds of the second period and gaining six more team points, the last to be scored on L-S for the evening. Team score 46-17.
Tim "Dr. Tilt" Leggett, at 125, needed not his signature set of moves, and, instead, used the dastardly Splaydle to pin the Newton's Green in a mere 19 seconds. The thing about the Splaydle is that the person being pinned does not realize he is in deep trouble until it's too late. The final score was pushed to 52-17 and L-S won its third straight DCL match and again topped 50 team points in doing so.
The victory set the stage for the big match of the year early on as L-S would travel to Natick for the Wednesday night match with the vaunted Redmen.
Zebraslobbernocher-noun- a word of Sudbury derivation. A pinstriped official who loses control of a match, is willing, because of a personal oversight, to cheat one of the teams in the match he is officiating thereby knocking all momentum from the grasp of said team and then makes "I don't care" gestures to the fans in the stands all the while he slobbers down the front of his zebra appearing shirt.
n one of the worst displays of officiating and scoring ever seen, the official scorer and referee literally stopped the momentum of L-S Wednesday evening by incorrectly scoring the 125-pound match and declaring a victory for Natick's Howie Choi over Leggett. The 125-pound contest was, indeed, fast and furious and did place a great amount of pressure on the schoolgirl scorer sitting at the scoring table.
However, most experienced officials keep a running score in their heads during a match, as well they should. The official should be able to tell the scorer what the match score is rather than the converse. At the time, L-S was making a desperate run at the host Redmen the team score being 33-18 at the start of the 125 fiasco. If Leggett wins, the match score goes to 33-21 with three matches to go and L-S has an outside chance of upsetting the hosts. Both coaching staffs met with the official at the scorer's table to discuss what had transpired during Leggett's match. The official checked the scorebook and decided Choi had won, when, in effect, the scorer had the match score wrong. Leggett had won the match by a score of 8-7 rather than the 9-8 score, in Choi's favor, as displayed on the ancient scoreboard in the Natick arena, making the team score an incorrect 36-18. As is usually the case, the official won and arrogantly gestured to the fans as if to say, "I don't really care."
Up next for L-S would be Gibbs and Mike DiScuillo of Natick at 130. Gibbs handily beat DiScuillo, scoring a team three for L-S. Suddenly, the coaching staff of L-S again approached the scorer's table and, low and behold, the score of Leggett and Choi's match was reversed. Coupled with Gibbs' win and the Leggett match score reversal the team score put L-S within the possibility of a win at 33-24 with two matches left.
All that L-S had to do was win out, with one pin, and the score would be tied or score two pins and win the thing outright. But, as stated previously, the let down at the original decision seemed to have defeated the home town lads. Antico, at 135 lost to Dave Nelson. In another poor display of officiating magic, Mackinnon of L-S lost a three-point decision to Joe Cice, giving Natick the victory anyway.
In the Mackinnon match, the official strangely did not award Mack a minimum of four points for near falls as Mack executed the dreaded Peterson roll on two separate occasions. Those points would have given Mackinnon the win.
The whole thing, minus the officiating blunders, was a treat for wrestling fans. With most of the house lights off, and a single, huge light over the mat, tension filled the tiny Natick gym. The random start called the 145 pound contestants to the mat first. Rahall, a team captain, would be in a dogfight of a gargantuan nature, setting the tone for the evening. With the score 2-0 in favor of Corey Heavy of Natick in the third period, Nasty Nick reversed Heavy, tying the score at two apiece. Antico either had to pin Heavy or score back points to garner the win, and that's just what the lad did. With time nearly expired, Antico tilted Heavy into back exposure scoring a deuce and winning the match 4-2.
Coach Bob Annaballi approached the scorer's table to question the official about the two-point near fall as the official did not award the points until after the buzzer sounded, giving Annaballi the opportunity to question the call, but, thank God, to no avail.
Next came the battle of captains at 152. Eric Choi for Natick and Braun took their spots in the little circle and the match began. Choi had to work, but defeated Braun, 8-3, evening the match score at three apiece. Then, at 160, Von Stackelberg for L-S was shown the eye of the big light by Eric Mackenzie and was pinned in :56. Zambruno of L-S, at 171, suffered the same consequence at the hands of Jimmy Hamel in 3:30. Orlando, at 189, likewise was pinned by Nick Leverone in 1:30 pushing the team score to 21-3 in favor of Natick.
In a strategic move which might have paid off had not L-S been forced to place their 215-pound combatant on the mat first, according to match rules, things might have turned out differently. But, out came Elias, who made quick work of Rob Brandt, another Natick captain, and stuck him in :16.
Both teams weighed in two 215 pounders. If L-S could have sent Willy Anderson out at 215 he would have stood a better chance at victory against Brandt, the strategy Coffin was hoping for. But Anderson was forced to give away about 25 pounds to Billy Crisafulli in the next match at 275 and was shown the lights in :57. The team score rocketed to 27-9 in favor of Natick.
The match continued with the 103 pounders and Stein got a taste of top level competition in Mike Stanley of the Redmen. Stanley, a veteran and sectional place winner, stuck Stein in :25, pushing the team score to 33-9.
Ciampa of L-S answered the call at 112 and got the best of Russ Diatalevi, in a great match, 6-3. At 119, Bores of L-S then faced off against Pat Wilkinshaw of the Redmen and pinned the Natick lad in :47. This pushed the score to 33 for the Naticks, 18 for the L-Sers, within reach. But, as explained above, the dual took a downward spiral as the Leggett and Choi match was next.
All in all, an exciting night under the big lamp light. Next up for the Warriors is the grueling Franklin Dual Meet tourney on the 30th of December. On New Year's Eve L-S returns to DCL wars against Hopkinton and the upstart Concord-Carlisle. L-S's dual meet record now stands at 6-1, with a perfect 3-0 in the DCL.
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