RallyNorth.net

Central romps

LAWRENCE — Central Catholic and Methuen have enjoyed some close, intense battles on the mat over the last decade.

But Tuesday afternoon was not one of them as the host Raiders romped to a 57-14 victory, improvinf their record to 20-2 and clinching at least a share of the MVC Division 1 title.

"We wrestled well and I was really happy with the result," said Central coach Jamie Durkin. "We've had a pretty heated rivalry so this was nice."

The meet started at 132 pounds with a technical fall by Central's Stephen Donovan and the Raiders then clicked off four straight pins, including three falls in the first period by unbeaten Mike Glynn (42-0), Nate Vachon and Eddie Ayotte to blow out to a 29-0 lead.

In all, the Raiders won 11 of 14 matches, including seven by pin. But two of the better Central wins were decisions as Anthony Mears (38-3) got a takedown in the last two seconds to get a major decision over gritty Jay Ramos at 220 and Jackie Dehney overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Adam Rader 4-2 at 126 pounds.

For Methuen (22-4), CJ Brown continued his fine season with a 15-0 technical fall at 170, Anthony Romano had a pin in 1:16 at 182 and sophomore heavyweight won his first varsity match with a 4-0 decision. Junior standout Joe Gangi did not wrestle because of a recent illness.

The Raiders will now gear for Saturday's Division 2 North Sectional at Masconomet while Methuen will host the Division 1 North Sectional Saturday.