Concord grapplers pin Memorial, Central

MANCHESTER, NH – Essential as it may be to growth and maturity, experience can, indeed, be a painful teacher.

The young Central High and Memorial High wrestling teams have discovered that truth, taking on some of the best teams in the state in recent weeks. Thursday night, the lessons continued, as the Little Green and Crusaders were swept by Concord High, 82-0 and 65-15.

Though overmatched by the deeper and more experienced Crimson Tide, both Manchester squads showed their continued improvement from the start of the season. In particular, Memorial had several highlights, including three pinfall victories in the varsity match and additional wins in the JV exhibition matches.

Memorial Head Coach Craig Whittick is less concerned with the wins and losses and more focused on the development of each individual wrestler.

“We’ve got some guys starting to hit their stride at the right time,” said Whittick. “We’ve got the States about three or four weeks away, so this is what we’ve been working towards since November.”

Tavin Bland picked up Memorial’s first win of the night at 113 over Concord’s Dominick Hubbard. Bland got off to a strong start, taking a 3-2 lead after one period and nearly scoring a pin as time expired.

Starting the 2nd period in the down position, Bland wasted little time securing a two-point reversal and turning it into a pin in just 29 seconds.

Concord would reel off several straight victories to secure their team win but Memorial would get in their licks before the night was through.

At 215, Memorial senior Patrick Vachon scored a hard-fought 2-0 win over Concord’s Devon Farwell. The two were evenly matched and neither was able to gain an advantage through two periods.

Vachon began the 3rd period in the down position and caught a huge break when Farwell was penalized by the referee for locking his hands. This gave Vachon a 1-0 lead and put Farwell in a position of desperation. Vachon took advantage, scoring a one-point escape to go up 2-0, then held off Farwell’s takedown efforts to secure the win.

At 285, Memorial’s Jayden Kuilan continued his solid junior season, pinning Concord’s Wayne Gutierrez midway through the third period. But prior to the pin, Kuilan had been dominant. An early takedown and near fall gave the Crusader a 5-0 lead. Just before the end of the 1st period, a beautifully executed single-leg takedown gave Kuilan a 7-1 advantage.

Starting in the down position for the 2nd period, Kuilan scored a two-point reversal to up his lead to 9-1. Gutierrez mounted a bit of a rally, cutting the lead to 9-4 before Kuilan put him away in the 3rd.

“(Vachon and Kuilan) have both been wrestling many years now. They’ve been establishing themselves throughout the city and throughout the state,” said Whittick. “They’re hitting their stride, competing against top wrestlers in the Timberlane tournament the other week and wrestling top teams in the state like Concord.”

Another strong performance was turned in by Casey Horne, of Trinity High. While not officially part of a co-op team, Horne has been competing in exhibition matches alongside the Central team. Thursday night, Horne wrestled twice, including a 2nd-period pin over Central’s Muhammed Ibrahim.