The 2010 wrestling season commenced with a quad meet this Saturday at Waltham High School. Waltham,, Lexington and Tyngsboro entered the meet eager to prove themselves and set a precedent for the season, but after the competition was finished, the only team to leave the gymnasium with a clear competitive edge was Tyngsboro.
Concord-Carlisle, Lexington and the host of the match, Waltham, all went 1-2 for the meet. Only Tyngsboro accrued more than one win, and they did it by sweeping the competition.
"We got a long way to go," said the Patriots' Coach Eric Rivera. It is Rivera's second year as the wrestling coach and he wants to challenge his players to new standards.
Find out what's happening in Concordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"We're trying to build a new program here," said Rivera, "and we are slowly getting better. We have good senior leadership, and I look forward to seeing our four freshman improve. I'm upset with the loss, but we'll keep going."
Concord-Carlisle took their first match against Waltham (33-24) by using a high-energy attack.
Find out what's happening in Concordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Waltham's team posed a number of threats to the Patriots, and C-C geared up for what it knew would be a hard match. John Yates, Zach Bloom, and Alex Terajewicz wrestled well, forcing Waltham to give up six points in each of their match-ups.
Terajewicz used his long arms to his advantage, driving Waltham's Alex Galdamez into the mat expediently. He pinned the competition in 45 seconds. That pin and a hard fought grapple Chris Yee won against Joe Griggs propelled the Patriots to the win.
While Concord was occupied with Waltham, Lexington faced a tough challenger in Tyngsboro.
The Tigers' (3-0) roster is replete with solid wrestlers. While Tyngsboro had a number of missing weight classes, the wrestlers they used got pins. It was up to Lexington to try to hold out against them.
Lexington's Alex Lieber and Matt Mooney wrestled well. Mooney managed a big win against Tyngsboro's Stephen Jacobs. The room erupted when he stuck Jacobs to the mat for six points. But despite the valiant effort of the team, Lexington fell to Tyngsboro, 30-45.
Lexington's loss made the them hungrier for a win, and Concord-Carlisle entered the match between the two off of their victory over Waltham.
The teams matched up well, but Lexington seemed to enter the match looking to prove itself. Ari Ericson's grapple with Terajewicz epitomized Lexington's win. Terajewicz was dominant at the beginning of the bout. He racked up six points on Ericson early, and pursued him relentlessly, but in the final minute of the third period, Ericson turned the tables and pinned Terajewicz.
Terajewicz was livid and the Minutemen were ecstatic.
Concord-Carlisle's Kyryl Reptushenko and Zach Bloom wrestled well. Kyryl managed to outmaneuver his opponent 13-7 and snag three points from Lexington's Alex Lieber. And Bloom waited for his moment to strike and racked a high point count on Michael Kenney.
Their efforts weren't enough, though, and Lexington barely beat Concord-Carlisle, 39-34.
After the teams' herculean efforts against each other, they seemed exhausted for the final matches. Lexington fell to Waltham 39-32 and Concord-Carlisle was taken down by Tyngsboro 39-33.
