PELHAM – The Bow wrestling team treated the Division III state meet like a work trip. From the program’s practice to its preparation, from head to toe, the Falcons made it known they had a job to do.
“They all wore argyle socks today because they’re businessman socks,” Bow coach Brock Hoffman said. “And we were all business today.”
Putting a bow on the massive rebuild that started years ago, the Falcons secured their first D-III championship on Saturday in Pelham, grinding through the all-day tournament to edge runner-up Campbell (152) and third-place Pelham (114.5) with a final score of 165.
“This is the five-year plan and it’s been five years,” Hoffman said. “Right now I’m kind of at a loss for words. The whole Bow community has put a ton into this team – the wrestlers, the coaches, the parents – for the last couple years and it’s really, really nice to see it pay off.”
It was a benchmark year for these Falcons, who cruised through the regular season and defeated perennial contender Plymouth for the first time in program history before making their mark on the biggest stage, turning a three-team race into a runaway show for the championship.
“Just the growth over the three years that I’ve been a part of this team is amazing,” said senior Zackary Anderson, who defeated Lebanon’s Caiden Skakalski, 10-2, for the 126-pound title. “My sophomore year we had no chance of winning states, we didn’t think about this. And then two years later we’re here now. It’s been our goal all season long.”
Anderson and Skakalski were in a heated battle tied with two points apiece midway through the third period when Anderson used a timely reversal to take the lead. From there, he took over and scored a major decision.
“You just have to dig deep,” Anderson said. “I was tired the whole time but I’ve been working for this, It’s my final year.”
Anderson was joined at the top of the podium by just one other title-winning teammate, but had several other Bow wrestlers finish runner-up in their respective weight classes to help bring home the team trophy.
Junior Will Zachistal, who entered with a 30-10 mark on the season, rebounded from last year’s second-place finish to claim the title at 285 on Saturday with a late pin victory over Brandon Arnesen of White Mountains. Bow’s Wyatt Reinhardt (106), Skylar Hattendorf (120), Alex Boufford (160) all settled for runner-up honors after narrow losses in the finals.
“Those guys are all pillars of our program,” Hoffman said. “There’s not one point that didn’t go unaccounted for today and they knew that. Bow rises to the occasion. Sometimes they look flat, but when they need to dig deep, they do.”
Hattendorf, Bow’s female freshman phenom, reached the finals at 120 in her first varsity state meet before falling to White Mountains junior Noah Dutkewych by decision, 4-0.
“She’s been doing it all season long at the toughest tournaments,” Anderson said. “It’s her freshman year and she got second, so that’s still a great achievement, but she wanted this. She has more drive and heart than probably every other kid in this room.”
Hattendorf also left quite the impression on her head coach.
“She’s going to have a long victorious career ahead of her,” Hoffman said. “From now to the Olympics. I believe she can get there. I believe she can win.”
While Bow will get the victory parade home, there were plenty of other locals making some noise on the mats and bringing home individual titles.
Kearsarge, which finished sixth with a team score of 83, had senior Gabe Benedict wrestle his way to second at 145 pounds while teammate Reilly Moskalenko pinned White Mountains senior Kevin Curnane for the title at 220.
John Stark sophomore Thomas Johnston kicked off the final matches at 170 and claimed his first individual title with a commanding 5-1 decision over Pelham’s Evan Haskins.
“I try to treat every tournament the same and try and do the same things to prepare myself, but this one definitely took a little extra,” Johnston said. “I was shadow wrestling before I got to bed, just thinking about it I could barely sleep last night because I was so worried about it.
“It means a lot,” Johnston added. “I placed fourth here last year and I wasn’t okay with that. I just went back to work this year, definitely the hardest I’ve ever worked and it just means the world to me.”
The Meet of Champions is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Nashua South High School.
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)