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Friday, January 5
No Rest for the Weary: Third Place Finish at Franklin Duals - 1.5.05
Sudbury Town Crier - 1/5/05
By Bill Jansen
The school holiday vacation is supposed to be a time for rest, except for those student athletes who choose to compete for their schools.
If the level of competition is high, then there will absolutely be no rest. Lincoln-Sudbury's wrestling Warriors are at the top level of Division 2 grappling in the commonwealth, hence, no lounging about for those grappling athletes.
The L-S squad competed on December 30 down in Franklin's Dual Team Tournament and wrestled in a double dual on New Year's Eve under the arc lights in the new Warriordome.
If the casual observer judges success by just team wins and losses, adjustment is needed for the casual fan of high school wrestling. Team wins are good, but not the be-all and end-all for those who participate.
The sectional and state tourneys are both for individual success and team success. These two tourneys are what coaches prepare for, it is these that those in the know base their judgments of success or failure upon, not just team wins. That being said, a check of what happened over the past week is in order.
As mentioned, on the 30th, L-S ventured down to Franklin for its annual battle in the Franklin Duals. L-S finished third out of seven schools, which ain't that bad.
L-S got into the competition from the beginning knowing what lay ahead, strong teams from all over New England and New York as well as the commonwealth.
2004 came to an end with no exception. Franklin is rumored to have one of the three best teams in D-2. Marshwood, Maine is also supposed to be the premier program from Ayupland. Dropping a match to either school, if your squad hangs tough, is no disappointment.
The wily, sometimes wicked coach of Franklin's Panthers, winners of countless state titles, arranged his dual team skirmish into pools of four squads and three squads. One pool, the L-S pool, was made up of four D-2 Central Sections schools, Milford, Malden Catholic, Franklin and L-S. The other was composed of Springfield Central, a huge D-1 school, Southwick, from Western Mass, and the aforementioned Marshwood.
To determine a champion, after wrestling each team in your pool, round robin style, the two teams which would have the best records during the round robin would vie for first and second, the two teams with the next best records would vie for third and fourth, etc.
In the round robin, L-S defeated Malden Catholic, 47-15, Milford 47-23 but would lose to Franklin, in as good a dual meet that you would ever see, 37-26.
Drawing Springfield Central to wrestle for third, the Warriors easily outdistanced Central 48-21 to take home the third-place trophy.
Against the host, Franklin, L-S lost the first five weights, from 103 to 130, but closed within striking distance on the Panthers with wins at 135, 140, 152, 171, 189 and 215.
But, overall strength propelled Franklin to victory. Featured in that mix was Danny Braun's one-point victory at 152, Jason Orlando's tech fall and Deron Zambruno's pin.
Franklin would go on to hammer Marshwood for first. Could it be both Franklin and L-S would be state champions in Maine? It would seem so.
On the eve of the new year, a double dual between four schools, two Dual County League opponents, Concord-Carlisle and Holliston, as well as neighboring Marlborough, was on tap. C-C's program has been on the upswing for the past couple of years in a rise to reclaim the glory once possessed by the former New England champion Patriots.
In one of the best dual meets in DCL recent memory, C-C, by virtue of winning the final match of the meet, 160, squeaked out a triumph over last year's DCL champion Warriors, 37-34. After 13 matches, L-S had a slim lead over the C-C's, 34-31.
If L-S were to have won the 160-pound match by fall or points, the Warriors could have claimed victory and remained undefeated in the DCL. But, it wasn't to be. The C-C 160 pounder got the best of the L-S lad, making the final score 37-34 in their favor.
The Pats' victory throws the DCL race into turmoil. If L-S wins out in the league, C-C has to lose twice for L-S to be DCL champs. C-C has already vanquished perennial power Weston. Weston beat Wayland and L-S still has to wrestle both schools. It certainly will get interesting in the new year.
In the other dual meets of the double dual, L-S ripped Holliston, 48-15 and Marlborough 62-18.
This brings L-S's dual meet record to 11-3, 4-1 in the DCL. In the double dual, senior Zambruno, at 171, won all of his matches by fall and Elias, at 215, won all of his matches, two by fall. Captain Nick Rahall also looked tough on the day.
Up next is another DCL match which will have been contested Wednesday, before press time, in Hopkinton against the Hillers. Go get'um, Warriors!
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