ORANGE — Strength, experience and depth lifted the Mahar Regional School wrestling team to a 78-6 win over neighboring rival Athol High School in Suburban League North action on Thursday night.
The sheer number of talented wrestlers on their roster produces volatile practice sessions for the undefeated Senators. The work in the practice room is translating to the regular-season mat for Mahar (7-0, 1-0).
“We are finally getting to the place where we are not putting a new wrestler at any spot,” coach John Speek said. “Having those kinds of numbers of successful wrestlers throughout our lineup makes our room real tough. The level of our room is really up.”
Thursday’s match opened the league schedule for both teams.
“No matter what our successes are, we want to keep on staying hungry,” Speek said. “We have to keep looking forward. There’s a lot of wrestling left this season.”
Mahar’s Issa Gilmore opened the meet with a pin at 106 pounds of Athol’s Josh Stevens in 35 seconds. The victory kept Gilmore undefeated for the season.
“I listen to coach very well,” Gilmore said. “I pay attention. Last year, my brother and sister were wrestling, too.”
Issa Gilmore has the benefit of extra coaching at home with brother Henry Gilmore and sister Carolyn Gilmore, who are both seasoned veterans for Mahar.
“I have been watching them for a while,” Issa Gilmore said. “They’ve been teaching me at home.”
Henry Gilmore hasn’t lost a match either for the Senators, and he stayed perfect with a pin of Caleb Cox at 152 pounds in the third period (5:32).
“I was kind of nervous about it,” Henry Gilmore said. “He beat me last year. This match was a different situation. This was something I was proud of. We are working hard and pushing through practices. Every new kid is improving every single day on the mat.”
The Red Raiders (1-4, 0-1) had issues with depth in the match, forfeiting six different weight classes. The team dealt with a hit from the flu as well as some injuries.
“It went the way we thought it would,” Athol coach Brandon Jeffrey said. “Some if it is our own doing. I told the kids we are just trying to gear up for the end of the season. We have to get back on track and get healthy. I think Mahar would be a tough out even if we were healthy.”
John Hicks picked up the lone victory for the Red Raiders at 220 pounds.
“Mahar has a lot of kids,” Hick said. “They are all solid kids at every spot.”
Hicks made quick work of Leighton Soucie with a pin 39 seconds into his match. Hicks moved up in weight for Thursday’s match.
“I tried to overpower him,” Hicks said. “I wrestle at 195 and 182 and that’s a lot of upper body heavy weight classes. At 220, you can be more aggressive and get away with it.”
Jeff Kidwell picked up a win by fall (3:24) for the Senators against Sawyer Lefsyk at 120 pounds. Kidwell led 8-1 on the scoreboard when he got the pin in the second period.
Mahar’s Luke Chiodo and Athol’s Riley Reed had a solid battle at 138 pounds.
With under 20 seconds left in period one, Reed scored a reversal on Chiodo that almost ended with a pin, but the shoulders were not all the way down when the period ended.
Chiodo recovered to get the win by fall (5:42). At the time of the pin, Chiodo had a narrow 11-10 lead on the scoreboard.
Todd Chiasson continued his strong start to the season for Mahar with a win by fall (23 seconds) over Athol’s Douglas Monte at 160 pounds.
Anthony Nye (182) and Gracin Bisceglia (195) also scored quick wins by fall for the Senators. Nye pinned Riley Young (36 seconds) while Bisceglia got the best of Cain Young (39 seconds).
Carmichael Thompson (113), Domanic Caccoilfi (126), Greg Lehmann (132), Daniel Kidwell (145), Peter Tattan (170) and Brooke Mitchell (285) all won by forfeit for the Senators.
