RallyNorth.net

Methuen continued its dual meet splurge, defeating a strong Lowell team (41-27) as well as Tewksbury (48-25) and Andover (58-6).

Freshman Travis Manick continued to impress, winning all three matches, including a solid 7-3 decision over Lowell Holiday Tourney placer Brandon Sao of Lowell and Alex Lima moved up to heavyweight and had meet-clinching pins against Lowell and Tewksbury.

Sophomore twins Travis and Trevor Abdallah had pins at 132 and 152 pins to highlight Methuen's 57-17 rout of Billerica. The Rangers improved to 10-0.

Methuen showed its dual meet prowess in a big way Saturday.

The Rangers romped over BC High, Wilmington, Brockton and Brookline to improve to 9-0 and give signs that they could be tough to beat in the Merrimack Valley Conference. The rout of BC High (54-18) was payback against a team that edged Methuen in the Oliver Ames Tournamentas, romping over BC High. 

Abimel Gonzalez (:30), Billy Wehring (:24) and freshman Travis Manick (:31) all had quick pins to pace Methuen's unbeaten wrestling team (5-0) to a 42-30 win over King Philip. 

Sophomore Darius Franklin was the story of the weekend for Methuen at the Framingham Wrestling Tournament. Competing at 170 pounds for the first time, he defeated the second and third seeds before romping to a 15-0 technical fall in the finals for the title, leading the Rangers to third as a team.

Methuen's youngsters gave an encouraging performance at the Oliver Ames Tournament as the Rangers finished second, just behind BC High.

Leading the way was first-year junior Chris Saba, who was first at 220, recording a pin in the finals, while Dan Aziz (182) and Saul Cabrera (195) also collected gold medals. Aziz won a 9-8 barnburner in the finals while Cabrerae recorded a second-perion pin for his first tournament win.