Schools

Winchester Wrestler Quietly Leads Team

The Sachems only have one loss this season thanks to the leadership of Steve Spry.

The following was submitted by Winchester parent, Philip Stern.

On a day when the North Andover Scarlet Knights were upset by Lawrence Lancers, the Winchester Sachems wrestling team quietly piled up wins against the Quabbin Panthers (49-7), Georgetown-Ipswich Royals (54-3) and the Greater Lawrence Reggies (61-12).

Winchester now has 21 wins with 1 loss and is hoping for a rematch with North Andover in the Division 2 State Team Championship Tournament.

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The last two years, Winchester’s season ended with losses to North Andover, the eventual state champion both years. North Andover is very strong again this year, ranked No. 2 in Massachusetts behind Methuen of Division 1, but Winchester is close behind at No. 4 and beat Lawrence earlier this season.

Winchester may not have stars like North Andover’s Fritz Hoehn and Ryan Neals, but it has a solid wrestler at every weight class and solid leaders like co-captain Steve Spry.

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At the Winchester quad on Saturday, Jan. 21, Spry won all three of his matches, culminating with a narrow decision over No. 6 ranked Lenny Jorge of Greater Lawrence.  

Spry leads the Sachems with 32 wins and with his work ethic in the wrestling room. He has not missed a single wrestling practice during his four years on the team, and will be proud to have his name go up on The Board with the other 13 “4x Iron Man” honorees if he sustains the streak.  

He is already guaranteed a measure of Sachem immortality because his name will be listed on the boards in the wrestling room with the other captains of Coach Larry Tremblay’s successful program.

Spry broke into the varsity lineup last year as a junior, ran up a respectable 31-12 record, and finished fourth in the Division 2 North Sectional tournament. This year, wrestling at 126 pounds, Spry placed in all three tournaments the Sachems entered, winning gold at the Wilmington Sons of Italy, silver at the King Philip Tourney, and finishing 7th at the very competitive 50-team Lowell Holiday Tournament. His personal goal is to place in the State Tournament this year, but an even more important goal is to lead the team to a strong finish in the Team Championship tourney.

Spry is more comfortable talking about the team than about himself. When asked the key to his success this year, Spry repeats Coach Tremblay’s adage “steel sharpens steel” and credits daily practice with tough partners like Nick Cashion and Nick Stern. Spry says the team has a good chance to win the State Championship because the team has depth and a great attitude, with no negativity.

In the off-season Spry practiced at Smitty’s Wrestling Barn, often driving a carload of teammates up to Danville, New Hampshire. He also attended tournaments around New England and trained at Jeff Jordan’s Wrestling Camp in Ohio.

During the season, Spry says, “We all go hard in the room and push everyone to get better.” He calls coachesTremblay and Eric “Bubba” Johnson “one of the best staffs around. They push us hard and I’m grateful for that.”  Spry believes the “shared misery” builds team loyalty and creates tough, gritty competitors.  

That toughness was evident this weekend at the third and final quad meet at . In addition to Spry’s gritty defeat of Jorge, his teammates fought to the end to win their matches. The most exciting match of the day was Shadi Abujoub’s victory over Wilken Amador of Greater Lawrence.

Amador is powerfully built and used his strength to win takedowns nearly putting Abujoub on his back, but Abujoub fought to limit the damage and gave up no near fall points. In the third period, Abujoub’s superior conditioning and toughness allowed him to turn the tables and pin Amador for a victory that got his teammates so charged up they went on to run away with the meet.

Another tough victory was earned by sophomore Billy Christopher making the most of an opportunity to wrestle in the varsity lineup. In the team’s first match against Georgetown-Ipswich, he fell behind Mike Gallanar but battled back in the third period to tie the match at 5-5. With his teammates cheering him on, Christopher turned his opponent for back points just before the period ended to win the match. His teammates emulated his effort and dominated Georgetown-Ipswich, not losing a match until the final weight class.

Spry, Cashion, Cam Horsey and Ryan Kelley won all three of their matches at the Winchester Quad. Teammates Stern, Dan Fallon, Tristan Hardy, and Dan McGurl went 2-0 on the day.

Everyone else on the team contributed with at least one victory, including Jordan Darby, Quinn Gregory, Joe Fallon, TJ Boudreau, Drew Piispanen, Doug MacDonald, and Joe D’Amico. Every member of the lineup will have to continue to wrestle tough if Steve Spry and the Winchester Sachems are to achieve their goals in the post season which starts Feb. 4.

Before then, Winchester has two more Middlesex League matches against Watertown on Jan. 24, and Woburn on Feb. 1, and a long day of wrestling against St. John’s Prep, Milford, Northbridge, and Marlborough at Marlborough High School next Saturday, January 28 starting at 10 AM.


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