Brock Hoffman didn’t see this coming,
“I was shocked,” the Bow wrestling coach said after his team took second at Saturday’s ConVal Early Bird Invite. “I just thought it was too early to tell what we had, but the guys that needed to step up really did. It was a really good effort.”
Bishop Guertin rolled to the win in the 13-team event with 255.5 points. Bow had 159 points to finish ahead of Division III rival Plymouth (150.5) and D-I schools Nashua North (129.5), Bedford (129) and Keene (125.5) in the top six.
“We beat Plymouth in tournaments, except last year at states,” Hoffman said.
The Falcons won their first title in program history last season, but Hoffman thought Plymouth would be the team to beat this season. The Bobcats usually have wrestlers who go deep into tournaments to pick up the big points, but on Saturday it was Bow that pulled out the big guns.
William Zachistal (285 pounds) and Wyatt Rheinhardt (113) both took home championship hardware, Nick Wray (106) and A.J. Bliss (152) both finished third and Anthony Diphilippo (145) and Daniel Scott (170) both wound up fourth.
“We had some guys that went deep and really carried their weight,” Hoffman said.
The Falcons also got a lot of work from Alec Schultz (fifth at 138), Eli Diphilippo (fifth at 160) and Hollis Jones (sixth at 160), who all had to stop wrestling because the five-match rule, which limits high school athletes to five matches a day.
Zachistal didn’t have to worry about that as he rolled throught the heavyweights. After a first-round bye, Zachistal pinned his quarterfinal opponent, beat Exeter’s Sam Cross with a 4-1 decision in the semifinals and pinned ConVal’s Gareth Armstrong in the first period of the final.
It was also a three-match day for Rheinhardt, who pinned all three of his opponents – ConVal’s Max Vassar in the quarters, Plymouth’s Giovanni Ciotti in the semis and Bedford’s Jack Emerson in the 113 championship match.
Bliss won his first two matches of the day before getting pinned in the 152 semifinals by Keene’s Joey Wilson. Bliss bounced back tough in the consolation semifinals with an 11-0 major decision against ConVal’s Chris Robbins. Bliss was awarded third with a no contest win over BG’s James Murphy, who had reached the five-match limit.
Wray, a freshman, only needed to win one match to earn his third-place points at 106, which only had four wrestlers. Wray beat Bedford’s Ty Sullivan in the third-place match.
Wrestling
Concord first
Key players: Concord – Abbas Abdulrahman (1st 195), GJ Gimaranzi (1st 170), Sam Wagner (1st 113), Peter Sargent (2nd 195), Evan Berube (2nd 152), Hunter Jeffers (3rd 285), Dan Rosales (3rd 182), Alec Galatis (3rd 160), Khan Amiri (3rd 145), Ethan Comeau (3rd 120), Cortland Miller (4th 160), Jack Sargent (4th 138), Trey Fortier (4th 142), James Bonnell (4th 145), Keith McFetridge (4th 113)
Highlights: The Tide had three individual champions – Abdulrahman, Gimaranzi and Wagner – and placed in the top three in nine of the 14 brackets to win the Salem Blue Devil Classic. Concord scored 219.5 points to top Central Catholic (Mass.) (206), hosts Salem (154.5), Windham (123), Pinketon (122), Wakefield, Mass. (86), Spaulding (82), Goffstown (73) and Nashua South (58) in the nine-team meet.
Concord 1st, Merrimack Valley 7th, Bishop Brady 8th
Key players: Concord – Manny Feliz (1st 55 hurdles, 1st long jump, 2nd high jump), Brayden Kearns (1st 1,500), Matt Lavoie (1st 600), Sam Hilts (1st 1,000), Rovanee Nickson (2nd 600), Vose O’ Sullivan (2nd 1,000), Tristan Alexander (3rd 1,000), Zachary Hooper (3rd 1,500), John Murphy (3rd 3,000), Liam Gleason (4th 1,000), Kyle Hill (4th long jump), Nick Richards (5th 300, 5th 55 hurdles), Aiden Gleason (5th 1,500), Nicholas Snyder (6th long jump), 4×200 (2nd), 4×400 (2nd); MV – Elisha Dodenhoff (5th 1,000), Ethan Dodenhoff (5th 3,000), Marshall Carey-Matthews (6th 1,000); Bishop Brady – Mark Galvin (3rd high jump, 4th 55 hurdles), Joey Bergeron (6th shot put)
Highlights: Feliz won the 55-meter hurdles (8.12 seconds) and the long jump (20-2¼), finished second in the high jump and Concord swept the 600, 1,000 and 1,500 distance races to win its first meet of the season at Plymouth State. The Tide received 45 of its 90 points in the distance events and was supported by two second-place relays. Concord (90) and Windham (83) battled for the team lead in the meet, with Manchester Central (25), Manchester West (22), Winnisquam (21), Belmont (17), Merrimack Valley (13), Bishop Brady (8), Plymouth (6) and Franklin (2) rounding out the team scores.
Pembroke 4th
Key players: Pembroke – Tyler May (1st 55 , 4th 55 hurdles, 4th shot put, 5th long jump), James Dupuis (2nd 55 hurdles, 5th shot put), Jacob Marden (3rd 300, 6th high jump), David Testerman (6th 1,000), Ben Dugas (6th 3,000), 4×400 (3rd), 4×160 (4th)
Highlights: May won the 55-meter dash in 7.13 seconds and scored in all four of his events to held the Spartans finish fourth in a season-opening meet at UNH. Oyster River won the meet decisively with 85 points, followed by Sanborn (45), Newmarket (44), Pembroke (42), Campbell (33), Raymond (13), Mascenic (11), Prospect Mountain (10) and Kingswood (7).
Merrimack Valley 1st, Concord 3rd, Bishop Brady 9th
Key players: MV – Emma York (1st 1,000), Sophia Reynolds (1st 1,500), Theresa Irving (2nd high jump, 6th 55 hurdles), Addie Hodge (2nd long jump, 4th 55 hurdles), Elizabeth LaRoche (2nd shot put), Madisyn Garrity (3rd 55 hurdles), Madison Palmer (3rd long jump), Samantha Kimball (3rd 1,500), Madeline Swenson (4th shot put), Cassidy Considine (6th 1,000), Victoria Leak (6th long jump), 4×100 (1st); Concord – Gabriela Pimental (1st high jump), Sarah Waite (2nd 55), Alexis Adams (3rd shot put), Brianna Malette (3rd high jump), Serena Britos (4th high jump), Nydia Lane (5th 300), Sarah Potter (6th high jump), 4×200 (2nd), 4×400 (4th); Bishop Brady – Abby Shagena (4th 600, 5th high jump, 5th long jump), Madison Cole (6th shot put)
Highlights: The Pride scored in 10 of 12 events to win its first meet of the season at UNH. MV (62 points) topped Manchester Central (53), Concord (41), Gilford (41), Windham (38), Belmont (13), Plymouth (12), Winnisquam (9), Bishop Brady (8) and Manchester West (2).
Pembroke 3rd
Key players: Pembroke – Molly Keyes (1st shot put), Charlotte Corbitt (1st 3,000), Cassidy Rondeau (3rd 55, 4th high jump, 4th long jump), Lauren Lehoullier (3rd 1,000), Amanda Montminy (4th 300, 6th 55 hurdles), Isobella Gill (6th 600), Lilly Curtis (6th high jump), Gwendolyn Collins (6th 1,000), 4×400 (3rd)
Highlights: Rondeau scored in three individual events, and Keyes and Corbitt both won their events to lead the Spartans to third place in a season-opening meet at UNH. Oyster River (78 points) had a solid margin of victory over Sanborn (45), Pembroke (41), Kingswood (37), Campbell (37), Newmarket (23) and Raymond (12).
Pembroke 41, Coe-Brown 40
Key players: Pembroke – Ashley Stephens (18 points), Cierra Hill (9 points), Rachel Clark (6 points), Lindsay St. Jacques (5 points), Paige Boudreau (defense); Coe Brown – Lauren Curtin (14 points), Val White (11 points)
Highlights: Stephens hit two free throws with no time on the clock to lift help the Spartans rally past Coe-Brown in their season-opener on Friday. Pembroke struggled against Coe-Brown’s press in the first half, but made the necessary adjustments in the second half and turned up the defensive intensity in the fourth quarter.
Coach’s quote: “First game jitters were definitely evident in the first half, but at halftime the girls came together and told themselves they wanted this game. We came out in the second half with more composure and overcame a seven-point deficit to beat a tough Coe-Brown team. The Lady Spartans showed real grit, especially in the fourth quarter, with a few key defensive moments from Paige Boudreau and Cierra Hill. Overall, it was a great team win with key contributions from all.” – Pembroke’s Caitlin Powers
Records: Pembroke 1-0; Coe-Brown 0-1
Hopkinton 57
Campbell 38
Key players: Hopkinton – Maurgan McGrath (13 points, defense), Katie Meserve (10 points, rebounding leader), Fiona Beane (10 points, assists leader)
Highlights: Hopkinton went on a 33-13 run in the middle two quarters en route to its third straight win to open the season on Friday night.
Coach’s quote: “We shared the ball nicely tonight. The combination of balanced scoring and team defense was the difference.” – Hopkinton’s Pat Roye
Records: Hopkinton 3-0; Campbell 1-2