RallyNorth.net

Wed, Feb 04, 2015 07:00 PM @ Timberlane

Team	Final
Londonderry	30
Timberlane	31

Scalzo stuns NE champ to spark Owls in 1-point thriller over Londonderry

PLAISTOW — Thanks largely to Dan Scalzo, the streak lives on.

Scalzo stunned defending New England champion Jean-Luc Lemieux of Londonderry with an 8-6 decision in a 138-pound thriller to key Timberlane to a 31-30 victory, extending its state-record streak of dual-meet wins to 107.

That also improved the Owls to 17-2 while handing Londonderry (9-1) its first loss of the season.

Almost anyone would call Scalzo’s win an upset. But not Scalzo.

“No, I don’t think it’s an upset ... we’re both good wrestlers and I had one of my best matches,” said Scalzo, a senior captain. “I knew I had to keep the match close, but the key was to just keep wrestling. He’s tough.”

The Owls were trailing 24-20 prior to Scalzo’s match with four bouts remaining. With Lemieux (now 33-2) and Kyle Byrd (34-3) still on tap for Londonderry, it seemed like the Lancers were clearly in control.

“We respect him (Lemieux) tremendously and, looking at it, I was thinking he (Scalzo) just had to keep the score close and not give up extra points,” said Timberlane coach Barry Chooljian. “That’s what I told him before the meet, but Dan has a lot of pride and he said he was going for the win.”

Thanks to an early takedown, Scalzo took a 2-1 lead in the first period. With the Timberlane crowd chanting “Scalzo! Scalzo!” he scored another takedown and had a near fall in the second period for a surprising 7-1 lead before holding off a late Lemieux charge for the victory.

“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve had in wrestling and it ranks right up there with winning (Division 1) states last year,” said Scalzo. “That it meant so much for the team makes it special.”

But the Owls’ streak wasn’t safe yet. It required major decisions by Cam Altobelli at 145 and Ryan Peters at 152 to provide a 31-24 cushion, making Kyle Byrd’s pin in the final match academic. Peters usually wrestles at 145 with Altobelli at 152.

“We thought flip flopping them would be key, giving us a chance to get extra points in each weight class, and it worked out,” said Chooljian.

Other winners for the Owls were Derek Bohle, who had a technical fall at 132, and Brian Lonergan, who won 8-3 at 182. Ryan Cole and Noah Beaulieu picked up forfeits at 220 and heavyweight, respectively.

Londonderry certainly wrestled well in defeat. Richard Bilodeau gave the Lancers a pin at 195, improving to 32-3 on the year and Craig Santos, Tyler Byrd and Ryan Cabezas had successive major decisions at 120, 126 and 132.

Also, Mahdi Achab recorded an 8-4 decision at 170 in the first match of the night and 106-pounder Kevin Robischeau used a late flurry to prevail at 106 with a 10-6 decision.

“The bottom line is we’ve been giving up 12 points (in forfeits) and it’s tough to overcome that,” said Londonderry coach Jacon Cucolo. “You put two bodies in there (220 and heavyweight) and it’s a different matter.

“I’m proud of the way we competed and I told the team that. What I liked about this is the team wasn’t happy about it. And in the end, it’s all about the finish. We’ll learn from this and go on.”