RallyNorth.net

Sat, Feb 22, 2020 09:00 AM @ Neutral Location

Team	Final
Timberlane	1
Pinkerton	0
Salem	0
Windham	0

Parker, Owls prevail again

 

LONDONDERRY — Konrad Parker did it again Saturday at the New Hampshire Division 1 state meet.

And so did, once again, the Timberlane wrestling team.

Last year as a freshman, Parker stunned the No. 1 seed and captured the 106-pound title to help the Owls rally to capture their fourth straight state crown. On Saturday, he pinned the No. 1 seed, Nashua South's Colby Spencer, in the finals for yet another title.

"He beat me in our dual meet and I knew he'd be coming in thinking he'd beat me," said Parker. "I used that to my advantage and I wrestled smarter today."

Parker took it to Spencer from the start and led 9-1 after the second period before recording a pin early in the third period.

The only difference from last year was that the Owls didn't desperately need a Parker win in the finals to prevail as a team. Timberlane had a whopping nine wrestlers in the finals, placed all 14 wrestlers for next week's Meet of Champions and rolled to 310.5 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up Concord (273.5).

"Konrad wrestled really well but it's hard to single anyone out," said Timberlane coach Barry Chooljian, who captured his 27th state crown in the last 28 years and was named Division 1 Coach of the Year after the meet was completed. "Everyone in our lineup wrestled great. It was definitely a real team effort. I couldn't be prouder of my guys."

While it was clearly a team effort, two other Owls deserve special mention because, like Parker, they were repeat individual champs. Sophomore Codey Wild prevailed with a 20-4 technical fall at 132 pounds and Nick Pallaria coasted to a 13-0 major decision over Concord's Jack Sargent.

Of the Timberlane runners-up, 145-pounder Adam Marquis deserved special mention. Trailing Concord's Khan Amiri 4-1 after two periods, he came back strong only to lose 6-5.

Also finishing second for Timberlane were Jake Rousseau (120), John Leavtt (126), Anthony Rousseau (152), Niko Langlois (195) and Chris Lund (220).

Heavy for Salem

There were certainly some disappointments for Salem, which finished third as a team, but the Blue Devils showed their strength in the upper weights when defending New England champ Beau Dillon (220) and heavyweight Josh Ozoria both came away with crowns.

Dillon got a decent test from Lund before pulling away for a 12-2 major decision while Ozoria recorded a pin in the finals.

Also for the Blue Devils, 126-pounder Matt Adams rebounded from gettting pinned in the semifinals to placing third while 138-pounder George Boudreau also came back to take third.

Astros' crown trio

Pinkerton placed fourth as a team and was a perfect 3 for 3 in championship matches, led by senior 182-pounder Sterling McLaughlin, who improved to 39-1 with a convincing pin in the finals for his third straight title.

"My goal as a freshman was to win four but when I didn't win the first one, three was the next best thing," said McLaughlin. "I feel like I've jumped a lot ... now I'm going for first in New England, nothing less."

The Astros' other two champs were 120-pounder Dom Robinson, who took a solid 12-4 major decision over Jake Rousseau to improve to 31-9, and Jack Mackiernan, who rallied for a 4-2 decision in the 160-pound finals.

Sills earns OW

Windham's Payton Sills completed an outstanding tournament to take home Outstanding Wrestler honors. He pinned Salem star Adams for the third time thisyear in the semifinals and then he controlled Leavitt in the finals, winning with a 9-1 major decision.

Wrestling strong matches to take thirds for the Jaguars were Aiden Williams (106) and Sam Oakes (113).