Bristol Eastern wrestling saw its 17-point lead against Southington evaporate in the span of three weight classes. Three straight pins gave the Blue Knights a 34-33 lead over the Lancers with one bout to go.
The final weight class was 220 pounds, and Eastern had senior Trinidad Gonzalez to turn to. The Lancers were in good hands. Gonzalez pinned Southington’s Caleb Chesanow with six seconds left in the second period to give Eastern a 39-34 victory on Wednesday night in front of a lively crowd at Southington High School.. The victory is the 37th straight for the Lancers in regular season dual meets.
“We knew that we had Trinidad coming up on the other side, and I think Trinidad is going to be challenging for a New England championship this year,” Eastern coach Bryant Lishness said. “We knew we had big guns at the end.”
The Lancers secured four wins in a five-bout span to build a 33-16 lead. Gabe Soucy started the streak with an 8-2 victory at 132 pounds, then Thomas Nichols grabbed a pin at 138. Southington got a major decision a 145, but pins from Justin Marshall at 152 and Noah Piazza at 160 bumped the Eastern advantage to 17 points.
The Lancers had a nice lead, but they also had some first-time varsity wrestlers coming up at 170, 182 and 195. Southington countered with junior Billy Carr at 170, Matt Jacobson at 182, and senior Paul Calo, a two-time New England champion, at 195. Carr pinned Joey Morelli, Jacobson pinned Tyler Gleifert, and Calo pinned Dylan Garcia.
“Tyler’s a junior, Joey’s a senior. They’re both light, we still got some guys working their way down to weight at the upper weights,” Lishness said. “Garcia was first time in the lineup, he’s up at 195, of course he draws Paulie.”
It was OK, though, because Lishness and the Lancers had the veteran Gonzalez to turn to in the final bout.
Eastern also got victories from Trent Thompson at 106 and Mason Lishness at 113. Thompson’s pin put the Lancers up 6-3, then Lishness made it 12-3 with another pin.
“They’ve both been working their tails off, and they earned their way into the lineup. Both of them got pins, which was nice,” Lishness said. “I thought Mason had a great match. He wrestled a kid that in the preseason he had lost to. He was down by four, and he was in that under-over position, the kid made a slight mistake, and Mason ripped a headlock on him in the right spot, and he was able to get the pin.”
Alex Marshall lost a 12-2 major decision to Southington senior Jacob Cardozo at 145, but coach Lishness was still impressed. Marshall wrestled tough the entire match and gave up four points instead of five (tech fall) or six (pin).
“He’s grown up on the mats, he’s not your typical freshman. He battled out there, going against Cardozo,” Lishness said. “I have a lot of respect for Cardozo. I like his style of wrestling, I’ve watched him a lot. They did some training together last year with Bristol kids and some Southington kids for nationals and other things. Great kid, super tough wrestler.”
Lishness was also happy with senior Riley McCarthy, who went up against Blue Knight senior Caleb Brick. McCarthy made one big mistake in an 11-6 loss.
“He took a loss tonight, but Caleb Brick is a guy who has been wrestling forever,” Lishness said.
In terms of team points, McCarthy yielded three, the amount given for a decision.
Bristol Eastern heads to Berlin on Saturday for the CJ McCormack Memorial Tournament.
Gallery
Here are my photos from Wednesday night’s match.
