Milford keeps rolling

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Joe Marchilena photo Milford's Andrew Bellantoni wrestles against Merrimack's Nick Klaver in the 285-pound match during Monday's dual meet.

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Joe Marchilena photo Milford's Thomas Scannell tries to hang on to Merrimack's Billy Leblanc during the 126-pound match during Monday's dual meet.

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Joe Marchilena photo Milford's Andrew Bellantoni wrestles against Merrimack's Nick Klaver in the 285-pound match during Monday's dual meet.

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MERRIMACK – The Milford High School wrestling team continued to roll Monday night, knocking off Merrimack 51-14 in a dual meet.

The Spartans recorded six pins in the win, including wins by Andrew Bellantoni (285-pounds) and Dominic Nguyen (113) that took just 50 seconds.

“Technically, we wrestled very well,” Milford coach Dana Bourassa said. “I’m impressed with the work ethic of this team. We had a tough loss to Exeter (on Saturday) … and we bounced back.”

Milford won 10 matches against a banged up group of Tomahawks in a match that had been rescheduled from earlier in the season. It was the start of what will be a busy week for the Spartans, as they were scheduled to host Hollis Brookline and Spaulding on Wednesday before hosting Windham and Franklin on Saturday.

Joe Albina also recorded a pin for Milford, needing just 1:22 to take down Merrimack’s Kyle Heidbreder at 170, while Connor Borne (152) overcame a late 2-1 deficit against Kyle Mercer to win with a pin at 4:37.

Both Andrew Myers (182) and Jordan Gaudette (220) won their matches with pins at the 4:43 mark. Gaudette’s win came against Merrimack’s Ronnie Miner, who was filling in at that weight class for Merrimack.

“We have four starters out of the lineup,” Merrimack coach Tim McMahon said. “We’re just trying to fill the gaps, but it was a tough match.

“The 220-pound match, Ronnie Miner, he weighs 189 and it’s really his first year wrestling. We asked him to go out there and see if he could wrestle the kid. That’s a top-ranked kid in Division II and he’s got about 35 pounds on (Miner).”

Miner kept the match scoreless going into the third period, and elected to go down to start the period. Gaudette needed 43 seconds after that to get the pin.

“We probably made a mistake putting him down,” McMahon said. “Some of my first-year wrestlers who aren’t usually in the lineup wrestled harder than anybody else. I thought we were hanging around in some matches.”

Merrimack opened the meet with a win at 138, as Brandon Dine held off Caleb Wright 7-1, but Milford won the next eight matches to go up 42-3. Ben Cronin got a win at 106, beating JT Bellantoni 19-4, while Bryce Choinard picked up a win at 120.

Also getting wins for Milford were Joe Pellitteri (145), Scott Dannewitz (160), Tyler Keating (195) and Thomas Scannell (126).