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Howland pins Poland in sectional tuneup
Both teams tuning up before sectionals
By charles grove
poland
Pins were a dime a dozen Thursday night in Poland as the Howland Tigers took a dual meet against the Bulldogs 51-24.
Nine of the 10 matches ended with pins, with Howland notching six. The Tigers also won every match from the 160-pound weight class on up.
While both coaches said they were focused on next weekend’s sectional tournament, Poland head coach Tony Stellato had few kind words about his team’s performance.
“I’m not happy,” Stellato said. “Some of our guys stepped up as we asked them to do, but other guys didn’t show up and that’s not what you want to see at this time of the year. We’ve got a lot of things to correct prior to next Saturday.”
The meet looked to be as evenly matched as possible initially. Connor Dotson pinned Mike Costello at 126 pounds before Brad Perry answered for Poland at 132 by pinning Austin Price.
Howland was victorious at 138 when Frank Viera pinned Braden Olsen and Poland bounced back at 145 pounds with Davis Esarco dominating Shawn Carr in one of the more high-scoring matches. Esarco was up 10-3 in the second period before getting the pin.
“I wrestled [Carr] last week and it was 11-3,” Esarco said. “I was just trying to keep pushing the pace and keep scoring more points.”
Things were looking up for Poland after Jake Blackburn won his match against Ray Kaso at 152 pounds but that was as good as it got as Howland swept matches at 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, and 285 pounds.
Howland head coach Matt Zakrajsek said health issues with both teams was a big reason for the large number of pins. Howland was battling knee and concussion issues while Poland has had a flu bug sweeping through its locker room.
“We had some guys filling in,” Zakrajsek said. “We just threw whatever we could to get out there. We still had a few forfeits, which you never want, but I’m still happy with everybody’s effort.”
The Howland sweep in the upper weight classes began with Cross Scarpaci pinning Dante Peretti 58 seconds into the first period. Afterward, Nathan Scott pinned Joe Villiani at 170 pounds with one second remaining in the first period, earning the win despite trailing the match 5-2 at that point.
Chris Kowach pinned Zach Morris at 182 pounds late in the second period and Sam Reesman made sure there was little doubt about the overall outcome, pinning Sam Russo at 195.
Howland won by forfeit at 220 pounds and a low-scoring grudge match at 285 saw Tyler Hamilton defeat Evan Montgomery 2-1.
Stellato questioned his team’s desire to win Thursday and said he planned to challenge his wrestlers before next weekend’s sectional tournament.
“Some of the kids need to want to win and refuse to lose if they don’t want to go out and have their season be done next weekend,” Stellato said. “I’d like to see our seven seniors advance into the district tournament, but that’s going to be up to them. You can only coach so much.”