After a two week hiatus from their last match against top ranked Framingham, the Rebels overcame a sluggish start to beat Milton 67-9 on January 6.
Sophomore Caleb Cofsky (103) had a tough time against a skilled Wildcat wrestler to open the meet. In the first period, Cofsky surrendered two back points then escaped and got a point for a technical violation. 1:15 into the first period Cofsky’s opponent was awarded two more ponts to make the match score 4-2 at the start of the second period. The second period was a struggle for Cofsky. After an exhausting two minutes Cofsky was able to hold off his opponent to keep the score at 4-2 going into the third period. In the third period Cofsky was taken down twice and escaped once to make the final score 10-4. The next weight class was also lost this time when sophomore Yovani Hernandez got pinned in the first period to make the score of the match 9-0.
The turnaround for the Rebels came with Mike Siteman in his first meet of the year after serving a suspension. Siteman (119) made quick work of his Wildcat opponent pinning him in the first period. Eric Jansen (125), Craig Wilson (130), and Cam Benoit (135) followed suit pinning their opponents in the first, first and second period respectively.
Senior Captain Mike Cofsky (140) used a fan favorite pinning combonation- the saturday night ride, to beat his opponent and put the Rebels up 30-9. Junior Mike Demers also beat his opponent by pin in the first period.
Joe Wyman (152), Another Senior Captain beat his opponent 6-1. Wyman’s opponent prolonged the match by stalling and defensive wrestling making no attempt to score points. The only point Wyman’s opponents scored was from escaping after a takedown from Wyman. In the 160 pound weight class Senior Captain Sean Coyne dismantled his opponent winning 8-0 and putting the Rebels up 43-9. Johnny White (170) had the quickest match of the night pinning his opponent within 30 seconds of the start of the match, a common theme thus far in the season for the Rebels captain.
A standout match in the meet was in the 189 pound weight class. Walpole’s Will Groves wrestled to weightclasses heavier than his normal and still pinned his significantly heavier opponent in the first quarter. Justin Ellis (215) fell behind in his match when he surrendered three points for a techniqal violation. Going into the third period down 5-3 Ellis got a takedown and pinned his opponent. The meet came to an end with Marvin Jean-Simon (Heavyweight) pinned his opponent in the first period after slamming him to the mat. Jean-Simon’s pin made the final score 67-9.
The commanding win over the Milton Wildcats got the Rebels back on the right track and improved their record to 4-1. The Rebels will look to fine tune their techniques and get their lower weight classes back to where they were in the beginning of the season in their next meet against Dedham on Tuesday January 11.
