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Historic win for Hillies

BILLERICA  — Haverhill's wrestling team made history Wednesday night in impressive fashion.

The Hillies whipped Shawsheen Tech, which had been the No. 2 ranked team in the state, 49-27 to finish the season with a 21-0 perfect record. It's the first undefeated season in Haverhill history and the 21 wins is a school record.

"It feels great," said Haverhill coach Tim Lawlor. "We have such a tough schedule, I never thought we'd win them all, but things fell in place and we seemed to always win the key matches.

"I think what helped us is that we've really been focusing all year on sectionals. I think that made our mindset more relaxed going into our dual meets."

There were several key matches against Shawsheen but none more so than at 170 when improving sophomore Israel Tricoche pinned Shawsheen's Michael Steen at the 2:49 mark. Earlier in the season, Steen had pinned Tricoche.

"That pin was so big, it really got us going," said Lawlor. "That gave us a lot of momentum."

Indeed, Joe Santoro followed with a 15-3 major decision at 1:49 and Jay Levy had a 51-second pin at heavyweight.

Other wins for the Hillies were pins by Steven Wise (132), Jake Nicolosi (138) and Sam Prescott (160), an injury default win by 106-pounder Ben Davoli and a pivotal 5-3 decision by 126-pounder Dan Wezesa, who was an Eagle-Tribune Unsung Hero earlier in the season.

"That (Wezesa) wrapped it up for us," said Lawlor.

The Hillies will now gear for Saturday's Division 1 sectional at Methuen which, after all, has been their focus all along. Nevertheless, this will be a regular season they'll be celebrating for years to come.

Timberlane postponed

Timberlane's Division 1 showdown at Concord Wednesday night was postponed a day by the weather. The two unbeaten teams will try to make it up today with the same 7 p.m. start time.