BUCKLAND — For many members of the Mohawk Trail and Franklin Tech wrestling teams, Wednesday’s match between the two schools was one of the first they’ve participated in.
With COVID-19 forcing the 2020-21 season to be canceled, many wrestlers haven’t taken to the mat since the 2019-20 season, while others who joined the sport in the last two years came in with little experience.
For Warriors coach Mark Biagini and Eagles coach Mike Aiken, just getting the two teams on the mat Wednesday felt like a win.
“This was most of my kids’ first time on the mat,” Biagini said. “We went to a tournament and four of my kids got on the mat for that and tonight we got eight kids wrestling. It was great to have everybody get at least one match. It was a good night.”
Mohawk Trail ended up getting the better of Tech, winning five of the six matches contested to pull away with a 36-30 independent victory.
“We have a pretty good team,” Warriors captain Will Van Vleet said. “It’s nice getting a win. It was rough not having a season last year. It’s great to be back and it’s great to win. It makes me happier that I get to do it this year. We have a good group and we all like each other. We have a lot of first-years but they’re doing great.”
The Eagles opened the match with a win at 106, as John Santiago pinned Shawn Beckwith with 38 seconds to go in the first period.
It was all Mohawk Trail from that point on. Leading 10-4, Warrior Camryn Laster pinned Emmett Johnson at 120 pounds to tie things up, 6-6. Mohawk Trail then took 126 by forfeit to go ahead 12-6 and extended the lead to 18-6 after Logan Moore pinned Cameron May at 138 with 12 seconds to go in the first round.
The Eagles picked up wins by forfeit at 145 and 152 to tie it back up at 18, but the Warriors won the next two matches — Izaya Romer over Dillon Gagnon by pin in the third round at 160 and Connor Bailey over Jacob Guillemette by pin with 34 seconds left in the second round at 182 — to take a 30-18 lead.
Franklin Tech won at 195 by forfeit to cut the deficit to 30-24, but Van Vleet pinned Jacqueline Churchill with 33 seconds left in the first period at 220 to make it 36-24. The Eagles won by forfeit at 285 to account for the final tally.
With so many first year wrestlers, getting a win was a huge confidence boost for the Warriors.
“My captains are a freshman and sophomore, and they’re [the most experienced] kids on the team,” Biagini said. “We have one senior and it’s his first year wrestling. I love the sport, I love the people. It’s so much fun being out here. I used to run an after-school program with the elementary schools. Some of these kids were those kids. I haven’t seen them in three years and they showed up as seventh graders and wanted to wrestle. That’s the reason I have half the kids. We’re rebuilding, we’re young and we’re just trying to have fun.”
Franklin Tech is also a young squad, and the roster features just three members who have prior wrestling experience. For Aiken, it’s about improving each time out on the mat.
“It’s sticking to the basics,” Aiken said. “We’re working on the consistent mistakes people make when they first start wrestling. Getting better day-to-day is the key to being successful at the end of the year. Everybody is young. We’re mostly first-year wrestlers. Everyone is coming along, it’s just a matter of time.”
Two of Tech’s top wrestlers — Josh Brunelle and Brody Williams — didn’t wrestle on Wednesday but competed in the Lowell Holiday Tournament, gaining valuable experience against some of the best wrestlers in New England.
Wednesday’s match, and each subsequent competition this season, provides valuable experience for all the first-year wrestlers.
“It was good for them to see what wrestling is,” Aiken said. “A lot of these kids have never seen wrestling or attempted wrestling before because there aren’t many schools in Franklin County that have wrestling programs. It’s a challenge to get them out and once you get them out there, you have to play catch up against the schools that have youth programs. That’s the challenge of coaching at the Tech school and I enjoy it and we look forward to it.”
Mahar 37, Lenox 22 — A dominant performance from Kendrah Doane guided the Senators to a key Franklin County League North victory on Wednesday.
Doane poured in a game-high 22 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lift Mahar to a 37-22 win over Lenox in Orange.
Mahar (2-4, 2-1) also received nine points and 15 boards from Saylor Kegans, while Hayden Comeau chipped in three points in the victory. Nevaeh Scribner (two points) and Sophia Woods (one) rounded out the scorers.
The Senators are back in action Tuesday against Pope Francis.