Go Wolf Pack!

Our last match of the day was against Forman. The score was very lopsided due to the small roster that the school brought with them. With only 3 official wrestlers and 1 exhibition match, this was to be a very quick match up. Mac McGuire ‘11 did not have much gas left in the tank from going the distance in his two previous matches and lost a heartbreaker of a match to his opponent in an 8-3 decision. Jake Schuster ‘10 had another quick pin of the day, sticking his man with a vicious arm bar. And Marcos Mercado ‘13 pinned his opponent at the 112lb class, finishing the day 2-1. Forman brought a 171lb wrestler for an exhibition, and Jon Sanbar ‘12 quickly dispatched of his third opponent of the day, making him finish with a 3-0 record. His performance on Wednesday shows a lot of promise for his future in wrestling, and I am excited to see what that will entail. So a more realistic score (minus forfeits) would be 12-3 for team score since the line-up was so low. We look forward to this upcoming Saturday the 6th when Hyde-Woodstock will host the Northern New England Invitational Tournament, a very large competition with evenly matched teams. Many of these young men can find success, and several are seeded wrestlers in the tourney. Let’s all go to support the Wolf Pack Grapplers, and cheer them on to hopefully get some pins and wins for the day.

Go Wolf Pack!

Our second match of the day was against Taft, a school known for a solid wrestling program. The match-ups worked against our team as we struggled to get a foothold in from the onset of the match. Several of our lower weight match-ups fell to Taft and put us at a 30pt deficit. Our standouts for the day came from Brendan Stier ‘13 who won his first varsity match of the season, and displayed some real talent against his opponent. He is an up-and-comer in the sport and I hope to have him for the next few seasons to build upon his natural athleticism. Mac McGuire ‘11 went the distance again, beating his opponent in a 13-6 decision. He fought through physical exhaustion to stay in control in an up-and-down match that could have went either way. Jake Schuster ‘10 earned a major decision over his opponent at the 160lb weight class with a 10-2 win. Jon Sanbar ‘12 won his second match of the day with a pin in the first period. As a side note, Sanbar was not slated to come with us for the day, but stepped up to fill a spot when our usual 171lb wrestler did not make weight. His last minute addition helped to make the day as successful as it was. Brian Fegan ‘10 also won his second match of the day with a 36 second pin against his opponent. Although we lost to Taft, the spirits were up due to the effort everyone put into each match, and we were left with our final match of the day against Forman.

The Hyde Wolf Pack traveled to Hamden, CT yesterday to face off in a quad-meet against Taft, Forman, and Hamden Hall. The teams in attendance were tough, yet beatable, and this gave the Wolf Pack the confidence they needed to have a great day. We opened against the host school, and found success early on in the day. Marcos Mercado ‘13 started our streak of pins with a swift win over his opponent at the 112lb weight class. His pin was followed by an amazing match where Mingxuan Xiao ‘11 went the distance against a very tough opponent and won by a 13-9 decision at the 130lb weight class. This was his first win of the season, and his match set the tone for the day. He embodied toughness and perseverance. Adam Carreau ‘11 had an exhilarating match against his opponent at the 145lb weight class, and earned a pin for the day. The match was high intensity and very aggressive on both wrestlers parts. His match was followed by team captain Mac McGuire ‘11 who went the distance for a 16-8 decision. Jon Sanbar ‘12 had an excellent match that displayed his learning attitude through the moves he had practiced and brought to the match. He hit a Ball & Chain tilt on his opponent, and won the match in a 4-1 decision. Brian Fegan ‘10 also had a pin for the day at the 189lb weight class, and continues to dominate on the mat. The victory against Hamden Hall was the momentum we needed to head into our next two matches.

Saturday, January 23rd, the Wolf Pack boarded the bus on a cold, dark morning and departed for Greenwich, CT at 5a.m. After a two and a half hour drive, the Wolfpack grapplers shook off their grogginess and weighed in at the 15-team tournament held annually at the Brunswick School. Due to SAT’s and other occurrences, we did not bring our usual line-up, so the expectations on how we would do for the day was unclear at best. The day turned out to not only be far exceeding all of our expectations, but allowed some wrestlers to really step up and shine.

Marcos Mercado ‘13 began the day on a bad note, being disqualified for committing an illegal move four times in a match, but he bounced back to finish the day 2-2 with some spectacular pins. Tom Tarricone ‘10 not only received his first win of the season, he also received his second win to finish with a 2-2 record. Red Bakhsh ‘11 worked through back pains to finish the day 1-2, and Addison Wheat ‘11 came out of nowhere to earn 2 wins against some very tough opponents. Brian Fegan ‘10 lucked out in the brackets and received a bye and a forfeit, and after winning a match, he was placed in the finals bracket for the 3rd and 4th place positions, but had to face the wrestler who narrowly beat him in the first round. He finished 4th for the day and earned himself a nice trophy. Jake Schuster ‘10 worked through the ranks, beating several opponents and was also in the consolation bracket finals for 3rd and 4th. He faced a very tough opponent and went the distance, but could not get the win. He also earned a trophy for 4th place. Forrest Smith ‘12 had an amazing day, beating the heavyweight who defeated him at our last match with Marianapolis in the first round and showed real toughness as he picked off one after another of his very large opponents. In the end, Forrest wrestled against an opponent who was 6′4″ and 280lbs, a real giant! This match almost fell Forrest’s way, but one mistake led to him trapped under the full weight of his opponent. Forrest also received a 4th place trophy.

We left the day proud and tired and made our way back to Hyde after an 18 hour day. With such a ragtag group, we accomplished the unbelievable, and even were tied for 6th place in the team scoring at one point of the day. We look forward to our next match at Worcester on Saturday the 30th. Go Wolf Pack!

The last match of a quad-meet is generally a test of character. The wrestlers are fighting fatigue, self-doubt, and quitting attitudes. After facing off against two tough teams, we needed a morale boost. Thayer came out strong against the Wolf Pack and had an early lead. Some forfeits from their team worked towards our favor, and some great matches by Hyde helped to finish the day off well. Jake Schuster ‘10 earned a quick pin (19 seconds) that highlighted his skill on the mat, Andrew Hawk ‘11 worked all six minutes to win a 14-6 match at the 189lb. weight class and Brian Fegan ‘10 wrestled at the 215lb. weight class (a weight 20lbs above his own) and pinned his opponent. Although a loss, Mac McGuire’s ‘11 match was hard fought and went the distance with an end score of 8-20. Mac is really showing toughness this year on the mat, and I look forward to seeing him in the coming tournaments. We ended the day 0-3 at Tabor, but losing does not come without valuable lessons. Humility is essential to athletics, because as you get better and win more matches, you do so with grace and class gained through the experience of losing. Each wrestler also learned how to be tougher and match up against some great athletes. We look forward to facing off against Choate Rosemary Hall on Wednesday the 13th.

After such a tough loss against Loomis, the Wolf Pack went up against the host school on their turf. The environment was thundering with Tabor fans with air horns and cheering fans. It was a small wrestling room and this raised the intimidation level in Tabor’s favor. We were down two wrestlers and our confidence was not at its highest. With the chips stacked against the team, we rallied together to do our best. Although we fought hard against the team, we found that the lack of experience on the team worked against us as several Wolf Pack teammates were pinned. Mac McGuire ‘11 had the highlight match against his opponent at the 152lb. weight class when he pinned him in an astounding 48 seconds. This was the pin that helped revive some of the teams hope for the day. I will say that Tabor should real class when they took forfeits at the weight classes where we had lost the two members. This is not something you see from many teams in the league, and was a real Hyde moment, outside of Hyde. We had one match left for the day, and this was against a very beatable team.