Cavs run over Grizzlies

Friday, January 25, 2013

Joe Marchilena photo

Hollis Brookline's Zach McPherson battles Goffstown's Damin Rakhmanov in the 132-pound match during Wednesday's dual meet. McPherson won with a pin in the third period.

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Joe Marchilena photo

Hollis Brookline's Hunter Longland battles with Goffstown's Christian Melanson in the 220-pound match.

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Joe Marchilena photo

Hollis Brookline's Zach McPherson battles Goffstown's Damin Rakhmanov in the 132-pound match during Wednesday's dual meet. McPherson won with a pin in the third period.

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HOLLIS – The Hollis Brookline High School wrestling team may have been off for a few days, but there wasn’t any sign of rust Wednesday night.

The Cavaliers won the first five matches against Goffstown, and rolled to a 45-20 win over the Grizzlies in a dual meet in Hollis.

HB (7-0 in dual meets) recorded a pin in each of the first four matches, led by Zach McPherson, who started off the night with a third-period pin of Goffstown’s Damin Rakhmanov. The match jumped sparked the Cavs’ freshmen, as Wyatt Farwell (138) and Calem Lomme (145) followed McPherson with pins of their own.

“It’s always nice to see the freshmen stepping up,” HB coach Brian Bumpus said. “We’ve got a ton of freshmen in the lineup, and for me, it’s nice to see guys out there making things happen on the mat.

“It doesn’t hurt having a kid like Zach McPherson going out there and starting things off and getting a pin against one of Goffstown’s tougher kids. That gets things going for us. The freshmen get fired up and they wrestle above and beyond.”

Zach Jennings (152) followed with a pin of Goffstown’s Matthew Gregoire, and at 160, Andrew Butler rallied twice for a win. Down 2-1 to Goffstown’s Jake Austin after the first, Butler took a 4-2 lead after two. Austin got a point to open the third when Butler let him up, and the Goffstown wrestler went ahead with a takedown of Butler.

But moments after the takedown, Butler escaped to tie the match 5-5, and with 15 seconds left, Butler recorded a takedown of his own to win 7-5.

At that point, HB led 27-0, and with Goffstown forfeiting two matches, and with no contest in two more, the Cavs were well on their way to a coveted win.

“This one is always a big one for us, and I think Goffstown looks at it the same way,” Bumpus said. “That’s a win that we want. It’s a date that we circle every year. They want to wrestle Goffstown. The first couple years they were in our division, they beat us up pretty good. The seniors, they remember those years. Those guys get up for these matches.”

Bumpus was quick to remind his wrestlers after the match that the real prize is still three weeks away. The Cavs, the defending champs, will host the Division II meet this year on Feb. 16.

“Our whole season is centered on moving forward,” Bumpus said. “After every match, that’s what we talk about. Since Day 1, Feb. 16 is the day these guys have been geared toward. These types of matches are great and nice to look at, but the bottom line is, at the end of the year, no one is going remember the score of the Hollis Brookline-Goffstown match, but they’re going to remember Division IIs. That’s our focus.”

While the Cavs will be in the mix to repeat, Bumpus sees a few other teams that will have a shot to win.

“It’s going to be whoever is up that day,” Bumpus said. “From our perspective, we’re looking at Bedford, Milford and Goffstown, even Alvirne or Merrimack. It’s whoever is going to put it together and is going to be healthy.”

The Cavs were scheduled to wrestle at Exeter Thursday night, and then head to the Capital City Classic in Concord on Saturday.