Winchester Wrestling Defeats Reading

The following was submitted by Phillip Stern.

wrestling is now 2-0 in dual meets after beating the Reading Rockets 60-6 on Thursday night. Reading High School created a great match atmosphere for both spectators and wrestlers, with introductions of both teams’ wrestlers at center mat, a beautiful rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, and a spotlight on the wrestling actions in a darkened gymnasium.

Nick Stern got things started right with a pin in 30 seconds, and Jordan Darby finished the evening the same way with a pin in 56 seconds. They provided the bookends for six more pins by Steve Spry, Shadi Abujoub, Dan Fallon, Cam Horsey, Ryan Kelley, and TJ Boudreau. Most of the pins were in the first period. In the second period of his match, Abujoub was up 5-0 and in control, but Coach Larry Tremblay knows the importance of winning by the pin and Abujoub knows the importance of listening to his coach.

So when Coach Tremblay shouted, “Run and whip, run and whip!” Abujoub immediately switched his hold, turned his opponent, and got the pin.

Outside the eight matches they lost by fall, Reading wrestled tough and made the match seem closer than the final score indicates. Nick Macrys is Reading’s strongest wrestler and he won a close match against one of Winchester’s best wrestlers, Quinn Gregory. Reading’s only other win came in overtime against Joe Fallon.

The remaining four matches were all close, but all ended with Winchester on top. Nick Cashion was in control throughout his match to defeat Brian Ford 6-3. Doug MacDonald followed with a back and forth match, but tied at 4-4 with 10 seconds to go in the match, MacDonald popped out the back door and got two points for the win. Tristan Hardy took an early 2-0 lead and held on to win 3-2.

Dan McGurl saved all the action for overtime in his match. At 0-0 in the second period, McGurl’s opponent scored an escape and Dan tied it up in the third with his own escape. In overtime,the score was still 1-1 after seven minutes of wrestling. Then, in the final two 30-second overtime periods, Dan scored an escape, a takedown, and a near fall to win the match 7-2.

The next test for Winchester comes on Christmas Eve when they compete in a Quad meet against Billerica, Xaverian, and Needham. The Sachems wrestlers have all have been good and hope Santa brings them three more wins at Billerica.