Issa Gilmore, Jon Mahony, Domanic Cacciolfi and Henry Ndayisaba all scored first-period pins, helping visiting Mahar Regional School score a season-opening 54-21 independent wrestling victory over Hampshire on Wednesday in Westhampton.
Gilmore (106 pounds) won via pinfall in 28 seconds, while Mahony (113) needed just 44 seconds and Cacciolfi (126) took 25 seconds. Ndayisaba won his match at 152 pounds just before the first-period whistle.
“We always talking about how weekends are for fun, Wednesdays are for business,” said Mahar coach John Speek. “It was good to see them go out and handle their business right from the start.”
The Senators, which won four matches via forfeit, also received a second-period pin at 160 pounds from Todd Chiasson. The match of the night came at 182 pounds, where defending 160-pound WMass Div. 3 champion Michael Baldwin of Hampshire edged Mahar’s Peter Tattan, 4-3. Tattan moved up two weight classes to tangle with Baldwin.
“Peter wants to go up and wrestle the toughest wrestler, no matter who it is,” Speek said.
Southwick 45, Athol 26 — Despite some strong individual performances, the Red Raiders weren’t able to come out with a team victory, falling to the high-powered Rams 45-26 in an independent match.
“It was what we expected,” Athol coach Brandon Jeffrey said. “We didn’t have our full lineup with kids sick but there were still some good results.”
Logan Kirwan had the match of the night for Athol, winning a tightly-contested match at 145 pounds with Southwick’s best wrestler, Logan Dubois, despite being sick and having to go to the hospital afterward.
Caleb Cox earned a pin in a mere 15 seconds in his match at 160 while Nate Torres had the same result in his match at 220.
Jon Hicks won via technical fall at 195 and Cain Young won by forfeit at 182.
Hampden Charter 57, FC Tech 21 — A deep and talented Hampden Charter lineup took care of business on Wednesday, handing host Franklin Tech a 57-21 defeat in an independent match in Turners Falls.
The Eagles picked up three victories via pinfall on the night. Peter Saladino worked hard to get one at 126 pounds, where he pinned Hampden Charter’s Omar Awkal in 3 minutes, 34 seconds. Colin Pettis (138 pounds) and Ethan Courchesne (195) also scored pins for the hosts.
Tech’s Kyle Brunelle edged Hampden Charter’s Shaunari Buckhannon for a 6-4 decision at 145 pounds in a battle of wrestlers with Western Mass. championship aspirations.
Mohawk 36, Duggan 30 — In a tight Tri-County League battle, visiting Mohawk Trail used three pins to capture a 36-30 victory over Duggan Academy on Wednesday.
Logan Moore earned a first-period pin at 106 pounds, while Jaden Moore also pinned him opponent at 152 pounds in the opening frame. Nate Wooldridge followed at 182 pounds with another pinfall victory.
Quinton Romer (160), Jacob Martin (132) and Ariana Gougeon (138) all won via forfeit for the Warriors (1-0).
Frontier 54, Gateway 18 — The Red Hawks got off to a strong start with a 54-18 independent victory over Gateway on Wednesday. No further information was reported.
Frontier 46, Ware 36 — Despite big man Peter Carey playing less than a quarter due to foul trouble, the Red Hawks were able to go on the road and pick up a big victory in their first game of the season over a tough Ware squad, Wednesday.
“It was definitely our first game,” Frontier coach Ben Barshefsky said. “It looked like it at times and we have things to work on but I’m happy to come out with a win.”
Frontier’s Sean Richter led the way with 11 points and Donovan Hoffman joined him in double figures with 10 points. Brett Robinson added nine points in the win while Carey and Ethan Machon each had six.
The Red Hawks pulled away in the third quarter, holding the Indians to a mere four points.
Pioneer 75, Easthampton 55 — After a disappointing loss on Saturday to start the season, Pioneer looked much more like the team coach Scott Thayer was hoping to see this season on Wednesday.
The visiting Panthers started strong, scoring 26 points in the first quarter en route to a convincing 75-55 win over Easthampton in an independent tilt.
“I was happy with the way the kids responded after a not-so-good performance on Saturday (against Hoosac Valley),” Thayer said. “We attacked the basket pretty good tonight, spread the floor. The ball movement was crisper.”
Jayden Fox led the Panthers (1-1) with 25 points, while Troy Emond followed with 17 points in the win. Jared Hubbard joined them in double figures with 12, while Liam Bradley-Curtis was solid with eight points and eight rebounds.
“Good to get that monkey off our backs and get into the win column,” said Thayer.
Lee 54, Turners Falls 28 — Kendra Campbell led the way with eight points, as host Turners Falls lost star Dabney Rollins to injury in the second quarter and couldn’t hang with Lee in a 54-28 independent loss on Wednesday.
Taylor Greene, Steph Peterson and Hailey Bogusz all scored six points for the Thunder (0-3), which trailed 33-12 at halftime but played competitively in the second half.
Lee’s Emma Puleri scored a game-high 15 points.
Turners sweeps Holyoke
Olivia Whittier qualified for the Central/West Division 2 championship meet in the 100-yard breaststroke, helping Turners Falls pick up a 68-66 win over Holyoke in a Constitution League girls swim meet on Wednesday in Holyoke.
Whittier’s winning time of 1 minute, 16.55 seconds punched her ticket to the sectional championship meet later this winter.
She also teamed with Allison Wheeler, Jade Tyler and Hannah Marchefka to win the 200 medley relay in 2:21.45. Marchefka took first in the 50 freestyle (35.57), while Tyler won the 500 freestyle (6:11.59) and Wheeler captured first in the 100 backstroke (1:21.78). Wheeler, Hannah Dziedzic, Gracie Rosenburg and Tyler won the 200 freestyle relay in 2:26.87.
Turners improved to 2-0 on the season.
■ In the boys meet, Cameron Bradley just missed a qualifying mark in the 100 butterfly, winning the event in 1:02.40 to help the Thunder snag a 56-12 victory over Holyoke.
Bradley, Austin Sumner, Camden Bonnett and Nik Martin combined to capture first in the 200 freestyle relay (2:36.17) for Turners (1-1), while Martin was the first to touch the wall in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:28.12.