Pats fall in Division II dual meet finals

Matt Metcalf, Sports Editor
Posted 2/24/15

The Pilgrim wrestling team battled back from a late deficit to defeat Lincoln, 40-33, in the semifinals of the Division II Dual Meet States on Friday night, before falling to undefeated Chariho, …

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Pats fall in Division II dual meet finals

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The Pilgrim wrestling team battled back from a late deficit to defeat Lincoln, 40-33, in the semifinals of the Division II Dual Meet States on Friday night, before falling to undefeated Chariho, 54-19, in the finals.

Despite not winning the title, head coach Tom O’Connor was proud of the way his team battled to get to the finals, as Nick Carpenter put the Pats ahead, 34-33, with a pin late, before Mike Pereira secured the win in the final match.

“We had a team win against Lincoln,” O’Connor said. “We didn’t get pinned. All of my upper-weight guys wrestled up a weight class. Mike Pereira fought through a tough match and he just got cleared by a doctor after being off for a week and a half. You have to give credit to guys like (Steve) Kavanagh and (Tyler) Parton, who haven’t gotten many wins for us this year, but stepped up for us and physically battled. I’m very happy for my team.”

In the finals, Chariho was just too much for the Pats, as it jumped out to an early lead and was able to build off of that as the meet went on. Pilgrim, who has had injury woes as of late, chose not to wrestle its last three weight classes, as O’Connor didn’t want to risk any further injury. Because of that, the result was a bit more lopsided than it actually was.

Nevertheless, Chariho proved why it was undefeated during the dual meet season, showing tremendous depth throughout its lineup.

“They’re a really good team,” O’Connor said. “They just moved down from Division I this year and can still probably compete up there.”

Pilgrim got four individual wins against Chariho, with Jacob Zuller, Garrison Potter, Kavanagh and Griffin Potter all notching victories in their respective weight classes.

“The Potters, Kavanagh and Zuller are only getting better,” O’Connor said. “I told them when we came here that this is practice, except we’re wrestling other bodies, and let’s take advantage of it – and they did. Some of those guys got pinned in their first match, then came back and won their second match and battled.”

Pilgrim jumped out to an early lead against Lincoln, as Mike Sanville and John Castaldi won the first two matches at 106 and 113.

But the Pats quickly fell behind after a forfeit and three straight losses over the next four weight classes, forcing them to make up points going forward.

They were able to do just that. Pilgrim’s Garrison Potter started the comeback with a victory at 152, before Parton was able to battle through a long match to secure a win at 160.

Kavanagh lost a tough match at 170 to put the Lions up, 33-25, but the Pats weren’t ready to go home quietly.

Griffin Potter was able to get three points for Pilgrim after a tough match to cut the Pilgrim deficit to 33-28.

That set up the biggest moment of the match, as Carpenter was able to come through for his team after just coming back from an injury. The junior pinned his opponent deep into the match, allowing Pilgrim to regain the lead, 34-33.

Pereira then held off his opponent in the final match of the semifinals to secure the win in what was a physically taxing match.

“It all comes down to match-ups in wrestling,” O’Connor said. “We match-up really well when we have to lean on the Potters, Pereira, Zuller and Carpenter. We only have two seniors, so it bodes well for us that our younger kids are getting time and competing.”

The second-place finish caps-off a season in which the Pats won Division II-B with a record of 13-3-1. The season was certainly an improvement after a 9-8 season in 2013-14.

The Pats still have states remaining this weekend – where they will have wrestlers represent the team in 11 of the 14 weight classes.

The state championships will span over two days at the Providence Career and Technical Academy. The championships will begin on Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

Pilgrim knows that it will be up against the best wrestlers in the state, but is hoping that it can perform well.

“We’re going to go and have a fun day,” O’Connor said.

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