Walpole Wrestling faced Dedham this past week on Thursday, January 10, and came out on top winning by a score of [?]. Dedham arrived at the Walpole High School gymnasium and as the two teams weighed in, Walpole’s coach Devin Pacelli looked at his team with confidence. The Rebels were still on a hot streak, having defeated 24th ranked New Bedford at their quad meet on January 5.
The meet would start at the 106 lbs. weight class, controlled by sophomore Joe Delaney. Delaney took his opponent down with ease and simply had to control his opponent’s movement for the remainder of the bout to win. He would do so and put the Rebels ahead, setting the tone early. As the meet climbed through the weight classes, the meet would come to the 126 lbs. weight class. Walpole’s junior Garrett Barry wrestled against Dedham’s phenomenal freshman Eric Reyes, ranked 6th overall in the state at 126 lbs. Barry went onto the mat with an offensive mentality, and shot in for a takedown—hoping for a successful attempt. Reyes defended the shot for a short period of time before throwing Barry defensively. Reyes would be the victor in the bout, pinning Barry.
The next big bout of the night would be at the 170 lbs. weight class in which freshman Harry Mourad of Walpole faced off against Dedham’s senior Captain Steve Heaslip, who is also ranked in the state, 10th overall at 170 lbs. Mourad, being just a freshman and a first year varsity wrestler, approached his opponent cautiously, circling at first then initiating a tie up. He shot on on his opponent, looking for a takedown. Mourad, just like Barry, would be thrown to his back. Dedham’s Heaslip would pin him in the first period. In the next bout at 182 lbs. junior Kyle Robbins came out strong. He immediately took his opponent down and went to work looking for the pin. His opponent would prove tough as Robbins would get the technical pin instead of the pin (beating an opponent by 15 or more points similar to slaughter rule).
Junior Noah Kung would wrestle one bout later in the 220 lbs. weight class. Kung would keep his win streak alive pinning his opponent lightning quick in the first period. Kung threw his opponent to his back with a beautifully executed “Jap Whizzer”, which is not his usual style of wrestling. Kung remarked, “I just felt like trying something new and I saw an opening for the throw so I took it.”
The Rebel Wrestlers have one of the best winter sports record so far this season. With the win against Dedham, they improve to 9-4. They will look to compete with the top ranked Braintree Wamps on Tuesday, January 15, at Braintree at 7 p.m.
