Similar to a blue-collar worker, the Walpole High Wrestling team brought their lunch pale and hard hat to their last home meet of the season and methodically took down their Newton North opponents one after another. Their 63-12 victory on January 31 kept the hard working Rebels in good shape going into the individual meets in the post season.
Caleb Cofsky (103) continued his success that he has had throughout his first season wrestling, pinning his opponent in the second quarter. Like a finely tuned machine, Yovanni Hernandez (112), Mike Siteman (119), and Eric Jansen (125) all followed suite churning out three more pins for the Rebels, putting the team score 24-0 in favor of Walpole. Junior Craig Wilson (130) lost his match, the difference being a single takedown that he could not escape. Junior Cam Benoit (135) and Senior Captain Mike Cofsky (140) got the Rebels back on track pinning their respective opponents in the first quarter with relative ease.
In the 145 pound weight class Tom Lee enjoyed a technical victory, where the referee stops the match after one player scores more than 15 points more than his opponent, Lee one his match 17-2. Senior Captain Joe Wyman also was on the offensive in his match, picking his spots and capitalizing on the Newton North Wrestler’s weaknesses. Although Wyman won 15-0, he seemed disappointed he did not get the pin. Either way, Wyman’s victory further expanded Walpole’s Lead to 46-3. Down 43 points with only five matches to go Newton North was already mathematically defeated.
Senior Captain Sean Coyne (160) had the biggest upset of the night. Coyne struggled in he first period and was down 5-2, a margin he has overcome numerous times in his career. Coyne added two more points in the second period with a reversal, but his opponent earned one point for an escape. Cutting down the score to 6-4 at the end of two periods. In the third period both Wrestlers were exhausted and could not much advantageous positioning over their opponent. When the final buzzer rang Coyne lost 9-8.
Johnny White won his match by technical victory 18-2. White’s lead was 16-2 after the first period and the only points White surrendered were a penalty from illegal hand leverage. White’s match ended early in the second period when he got two points for a take down to catapult him over the 15 point limit. Senior Will Groves(189), who for the majority of the season has put the team’s success first and wrestled over twenty pounds above his normal weight, got another victory for the Rebels. Groves pin in the second period made the meet score 51-6 Walpole.
Senior Justin Ellis (215) got pinned in the second period, but the Rebels bouced back in the last match of the night. Junior (heavyweight) Marvin Jean-Simon quickly pinned his opponent to end the meet 57-12. The Rebels looked strong in their last home of the year but Coyne’s upset disheartened an otherwise successful meet. The meat of the Rebels line-up (140-171) should have great success in sectionals upcoming in February.
