Step up to the mat

Friday, January 20, 2012

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Joe Marchilena photo Merrimack's Ben Cronin tries to get out of the grasp of Bedford's Ben Down Wednesday during a dual meet. Cronin ended up winning the 106-pound match 16-9, but Bedford won the meet 45-33.

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Courtesy photo Bedford's Mike Galinat competes against a Nashua North wrestler during a quad meet Saturday at Reading, Mass.

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There were a number of factors that would determine the success of this year’s Bedford High School wrestling team, but going into the season, one was bigger than any other.

Would the Bulldogs buy into what a new coach was trying to tell them?

Halfway through the season, its safe to say they have.

Bedford has surprised some and shocked others with a strong season that has included dual meet wins over traditional powers like Goffstown, Winnacunnet and Hollis Brookline. The Bulldogs’ only losses this year have been to Milford, one of this year’s other Division II frontrunners, and Nashua North, a Division I team expected to contend for a title.

Not a bad start for a team that lost a couple of talented seniors and opened with a new coach.

“I was honest with (the seniors) and up front,” Bedford coach Bob Benincasa said. “They’re the ones with the most credibility on the team. They’re the ones who have the most amount of responsibility as far as leadership goes. I was coming and showing them a brand of wrestling that they weren’t familiar with, and they needed to take it or leave it. They’ve decided to buy into it.”

There was admittedly some skepticism at first.

“I wasn’t sure of how it was going to go at first, but he obviously knows what he’s doing,” senior co-captain Eric Cooper said. “It’s helping us. He’s pushing us every day, and he’s teaching us the right way.”

Cooper has led the way for Bedford, compiling a 14-2 record, including a first-place finish at 145 pounds at Saturday’s Merrimack Hall of Fame Tournament. The Bulldogs also received strong seasons from their other seniors, co-captain Erik Falkengren, Michael Galinat and Dave Watts.

“We started off the year unsure of how we were going to do, but with a new coach, we’ve really improved from last year,” Falkengren said. “It seems like this year, we have an opportunity as a team.”

One thing Benincasa would like to see the Bulldogs improve on is their wrestling in a tournament atmosphere, in order to prepare for the Division II meet on Feb. 18. Bedford has yet to have a complete lineup at a tournament due to illness or injury.

“When we get to the tournament, we have to send our 14 strongest kids,” he said. “If we do, we’ve put ourselves in a good position to achieve our goal.”

That might have come as a surprise to some at the beginning of the year, but not now.

“I think we’ve surprised a lot of people with how strong we are,” Benincasa said. “I think people gave us a solid preseason ranking, but now that we’ve been into another gear, we’ve really surprised people. I think people knew we were going to contend. W e expected to be a contender, but now that we’ve upped our level of competition, it’s surprised people.”