Wrestlers keep rolling
By Special To The Crier
Thursday, January 12, 2006

The undefeated-in-dual-meet-competition Hopkinton Hillers paid a visit to Warriorville Wednesday, January 4, and wished they hadn't. The Hillers had their eyes on a Dual County League win against Lincoln-Sudbury and also wanted to keep the elusive no loss string going but the sharp digits of several Warrior fingers made a Three Stooges routine of the match.

     Arriving close to an hour late for weigh-ins, the Hillers were bested by some strong wrestling on the part of L-S, perhaps some of the best wrestling the Warriors have done this year.

     The highlight of the evening came when the 140-pound contestants were called to Mr. Resilite. Coach Harry Coffin, in his best strategic move of the season, instead of sending out the announced participant, put senior Lee Gavin out. Gavin was announced as the L-S 145-pounder. Gavin quickly got the best of Nick Ditman in a fall at 1:17, pushing the team score to 27 for the L-Sers, 14 for the Hillers, allowing the Warriors to coast the rest of the way.

     That move turned out to be a beauty. In so doing, Coffin was forced to kick Eliot Gibbs to 145 to face the outstanding Eric DeWolfe, once beaten and 2005 Framingham Tournament champion. Gibbsie controlled each period, even though DeWolfe scored a last-second reversal in the first period to tie the bout.

     In the second round, "Der Pretzelmeister," Gibbs, reversed DeWolfe and proceeded to expose DeWolfe's back for two points in a near fall. DeWolfe, never giving up, scored two more on yet another reversal, which was quickly countered by Gibbs with his own reversal, putting the match score 8-4 in Gibbs' favor.

     Entering the third period, the two outstanding individuals traded reversals and Gibbs got the victory, 10-6. Nothing prepares a wrestler like strong competition, and Gibbs, coming off a second-place finish at the Lowell Holidays facing the strongest group of wrestlers in any tourney, was well prepared. The match between Gibbs and DeWolfe was well worth the price of admission for grappling aficionados.

     The dual started with the big boys, the 275 pounders, and Jason Orlando of L-S, made quick work, a fall at :35, of Corey Mills.   Next up would be the pee-wee lads, the 103 pounders. Jordan Syatt for L-S continues to gain experience and pinned Charlie Alvin in 1:34.

     Dave Garelik, at 112, lost a heartbreaker but showed signs of brilliance in his loss to the Hillers' Dan Courier, 7-2.   At 119, Steve Baez, who was filling the role of Dave Ciampa who recently suffered a broken nose, was bested by Derek Grant of Hillerdom by fall at 1:28.   In another squeaker and ferociously entertaining match, Ryan McCann, at 125 for the Warriors, pulled one out by beating Scott Carlton 6-5.

     Jeff McKinnon, at 130, continued his string of strong performances by sticking Dan Herwig of Hopkinton in 2:32.   At 135, Jon Starr of L-S was dismantled in a tech fall, 16-1, by Hiller Dan Herwitz in the 135-pound match, setting the stage for the wonderfully orchestrated switches by Coffin at 140 and 145.

     In his best match of the year, Pete Ruyman of L-S pinned Dan Connor of Hillerdom in 5:52 at 152.   Nico von Stackelberg of L-S was next at 160, and von Stackelberg, in a major decision, 15-3, got the best of Dan Cataldo.

     At 171, Alex Racenis of the Hop boys was shown the lights by Justin Nicholson in just :50. The final score turned out to be 46 for the Warriors 26 for the Hop boys. A good show for the L-S lads and the win puts them at 6-0 in the DCL and 9-1 in dual meets.

     There are only three more DCL matches left, all at home. Latin makes the trek from Beanburg on January 11, Wayland takes the short ride down Route 20 the 18th, and Weston will bus over on the 31st. If you are a wrestling fan you won't want to miss the last three duals.

     On Saturday, the Warrior ship took the cruise east to the Watch City for a quadrangular and some strong neighborhood rivalry-flavored wresting against the host Waltham Hawks, the Framingham Flyers and the Malden Catholic Crusaders.

     Other than strong rivalries and good competition, L-S won't face any of the three schools since they all compete at the Division 1 level.

     The Warrior matmen would also learn one of the precepts of high school wrestling: "It's all about the matchups." On the day, Waltham beat L-S, L-S beat Framingham and Framingham beat Waltham. How does one figure?

     The first dual meet in Hawkville would pit the Warriors against Malden Catholic. Starting the match at 145 and going up to 275, the Warriors took five of the seven weight classes with wins by Ruyman at 152, von Stackelberg at 160, Eric Pennington at 189, Jesse Smith at 215, and Orlando at 275.

     Ruyman, Stack, Smitty and Jason O all won by fall. Pennington won a wild match after jumping out strong and holding on in the third period to escape with a 13-12 decision.   When the pee-wees hit the mat in the five remaining matches, Ciampa at 119, won by a third period fall, Ryan McCann at 125 won by a second-period fall and Gavin at 145 won by a first-period fall. There was no contest at 130. The final score was L-S 45, MC 27.

     When is a tie a win? If you were at the quad Saturday you had that question answered. In high school wrestling, if a dual meet ends in a tie score, several criteria are used to break the tie. Using the first two criteria, the Framingham Flyers remained tied with the Warriors. But on the third criteria, most near fall points, the Warriors emerged with a win, breaking the tie. The score was 36-36 after the wrestling had been concluded, so then the math boys took over, the research was done, the rule book was followed, determining that L-S wins on the criteria based tie breaker. A tough pill to swallow if you're a Flyer.

     von Stackelberg, kicked up to 171, won a close one, a 9-7 decision over Rudy Ramirez of Flyerville, Orlando stuck John Tomkens in :30, Jordan Syatt at 103 won by fall, Ciampa at 119 won by fall, McKinnon at 130 won in a fall, Gavin at 140 won in double overtime, and Gibbs won by fall at 145.

    Framingham led until Gibbs recorded the fall in the last match of the dual meet. The outcome then turned out to be: L-S 36, Framingham 36, L-S wins on criteria.

     In the most entertaining dual of the year, the Warriors lost only their second dual of the campaign to the host Hawks by the narrowest of margins, a single point. L-S, leading 34-32 going into the last match, were hornswaggled out of a win when John Catino of the Hawks barely got by Ruyman 3-2, thus giving the Hawks the win, 35-34.

     In the Hawk-Warrior contest, Syatt at 103 won in a fall, McCann at 125 won by decision, Gibbs won a major decision at 140, 16-2, von Stackelberg at 160 won in a fall as did Nicholson at 171 and Orlando at 275.

     The loss pushes the L-S dual meet record to 11-2 with hopes of continuing its DCL win streak to seven out of seven with a win over the Latin Wolfpack of Boston wrestled last night, too late for publication.