It looked like the Mahar wrestling team was going to cruise to a victory over rival Athol on Wednesday in Orange. 

The Bears had different ideas. 

Senator Xander Roberts secured a pin over Athol’s Riley Reed at 170 pounds, putting Mahar ahead 42-18 with four weight classes to go, meaning the Bears would have to win each match by pinfall to earn a tie. 

Athol’s Ryan Romero got things started at 182 with a second round pin before fellow Bear Doug Monte picked up a pin one minute into the first round of his match at 195, cutting the Senator lead to 42-30. 

Domanic Shultz won via forfeit at 220, leaving it up to Nate Torres at 285 to get a pin to earn the tie. Torres did just that, earning a pin 12 seconds into the first round to finish the meet in a 42-42 tie. 

“They worked hard until the end,” Athol coach Fred Marks said. “Mahar has a lot of talented wrestler but our guys came through when we needed them most.” 

The Senators built their lead with pins by Abduli Gilmore at 113, Elias Roberts at 120, Sayyid Roberts at 145 and Tristen Gaj at 152. Mahar also earned points via forfeit at 132 and 138. 

It was late round pins that kept the Bears in it early. Evan Ke picked up a pin with 0.2 seconds left in the second round at 106, Dylan Nelson earned a pin with 2.5 seconds left in the first round at 126, and at 160, Athol’s Aiden Kirwan got a pin with three seconds left in the first to keep the Bears alive. 

“It was a great match,” Senators coach John Speek said. “We knew they were strong in their upper weight classes. We had a lot of young wrestlers do a lot of good things. These are the matches you love to be in.” 

Girls basketball

Pioneer 47, St. Mary’s 35 – The Panthers handed the Saints their first loss of the season while extending their own winning streak to four games in the process with the independent victory on Wednesday in Westfield.

Pioneer (4-2) hasn’t lost since Dec. 20 against Frontier.

Trailing 16-8 after one quarter, the defense clamped down for the Panthers over the final three periods. The Saints managed just 19 points over the game's final 24 minutes.

Pioneer trailed 24-20 at halftime but outscored St. Mary's 13-3 in the third quarter to take control.

Offensively, Addie Harrington and Kyler McLelland led the way with 11 points apiece for the Panthers. Hailey Ring, Laura Kahler and Fota N'Diaye all tossed in seven points in a balanced effort.

Next up is a huge home game against undefeated Easthampton (8-0) on Friday.

Athol 43, Pathfinder 21 – The Bears bounced back after a loss to Pioneer on Tuesday with a convincing independent victory over Pathfinder on Wednesday at Mallet Gymnasium in Athol.

Emma Bacigapulo put together a huge night for Athol, nearly outscoring the Pioneers herself with a game-high 20 points. She scored 12 of those points in the third quarter.

Sammy Mailloux added eight points for the Bears, while Jenna Bonenfant netted four points in the win.

Athol led just 14-10 at halftime but outscored Pathfinder by a 29-11 margin after intermission.

Information from events that were submitted after print deadline will be available online (www.recorder.com/sports) or in print the next available day.Late Tuesday results

Boys basketball

Greenfield 56, Frontier 48 — Leading 38-35, the Green Wave offense caught fire in the fourth quarter. 

Greenfield tallied 18 points in the final eight minutes, with Jacob Blanchard, Oli Postera, Caleb Murray, Jackson Campbell, Petru Cojocaru and Caleb Thomas each scoring in the frame to lift the Green Wave to a Hampshire League South win at Goodnow Gymnasium Tuesday. 

Murray led the way with 13 points in the win, with Cojocaru finishing with 12 points, Thomas recording 10 points and Campbell adding nine points for Greenfield. 

Owen Babb finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds, Sasha Dragicevich and Max Millette both scored eight points and Danny Fellows and Nico Fasulo both had six points in the loss. 

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