RallyNorth.net

Seventh heaven for Owls

Sunday, February, 28 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

NASHUA, N.H. — Timberlane junior heavyweight Ben Tammany sure knows how to cap off a title celebration.
With the Owls already having long since wrapped up their seventh straight Meet of Champions team title in overwhelming fashion, Tammany put an exclamation point on the day with a stunning pin in the finals.
Facing Franklin behemoth Matt Kaplan, who entered the match with a 43-0 record and a tradition of  recording fast pins, Tammany kept his distance in the first minute and then had a sudden takedown. He quickly turned Kaplan and then got the pin with 20 seconds to spare in the first period.
“I’ve been thinking about him all year,” said Tammany, who improved to 34-5. “I knew he was a strong kid and I thought I could wear him down.
“This makes me feel very good and I can’t wait for next week (New England tournament).”
That gave the Owls their seventh champion and 11th qualifier for New England and a whopping 265 points, compared to 92 for runner-up Winnacunnet, marking the biggest point spread in MOC history.
“What a great way to end the tournament,” said Timberlane coach Barry Chooljian. “To have seven champs, 11 qualifiers and 16 placers (in the top six) is a tremendous accomplishment.”
Tammany’s pin once again showed that — for the third straight year — the Owls are, top to bottom, dominant. They had champions at the start (Zach Bridson) and finish (Tammany) of the lineup.
Bridson started the finals with a bang, improving to 42-1 with a 42-second pin of Salem’s Ryan Bolduc for his third straight pin of the day.
Will Smith followed at 112 with his second win over Salem’s Jon Rheaume in two weeks, this time by a 10-2 major decision, giving up the first two points and then scoring 10 straight.
Matt Morris gave the Owls their third crown, at 130, winning when Pelham’s Mike Perruccio defaulted because of sickness. Perruccio earlier won a New Hampshire Referee Scholarship for his outstanding season and should be ready for New England (Friday and Saturday in New Haven, Conn.) while Morris improved to 32-6.
The fourth champion, Alex Smith, who many felt should have been named tourney Outstanding Wrestler, recorded a 31-second pin in the finals, had three first-period pins on the day, six straight over the last two weeks, and is now 40-6 on the year.
Following at 152 was Dylan Lockard, who recorded a 3-0 decision in the championship match, while Nick Lawrence continued his strong run at 160 with a 16-4 major decision to improve to 48-5.
Finishing second for Timberlane was banged-up Nate Lawrence, who lost to Outstanding Wrestler Kyle Gaffney of St. Thomas at 171, while senior Kevin Vadeboncoeur (119), junior Shane Tremblay (189) and senior Wes Grew (215) all qualified for New England by taking thirds.
Tremblay had a tremendous rally, coming back from a 6-2 deficit in the last minute to prevail 9-6, and Vadeboncoeur’s match in the consolation finals was just as exciting as he prevailed in overtime, 4-3.
The area’s only non-Timberlane champion, Pinkerton senior 140-pounder Collin Crowell, could have also made a case for being tourney OW. He dominated his weight class, recorded a pin at 1:05 in the finals and improved to 33-1 for the year.
Also for the Astros, who finished third as a team, Tanner Burke finished second at 119 after leading Victor Peters for two periods, and surprising Daniel Barker was runner-up at 135. In addition, 103-pounder Alex Gerhold and 130-pounder Dave Owens finished third to qualify for New England.
The Astros would have been second but had three points deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Joining Perruccio at New England for Pelham will be Josh Medeiros, who was third at 112.

Meet of Champions
Top team scores (31 teams): 1. Timberlane 265, 2. Winnacunnet 92, 3. Pinkerton 90, 4. Salem 66, 5. Concord 65, 6. Merrimack 58, 7. Con-Val 51, 8. Bishop Guertin 46, 9. Plymouth 43, 10. St. Thomas 40, 11. Goffstown 38, 12. John Stark 31, 13. Pelham 30 1/2, 14. Londonderry 27, 15. Milford 25, 16. Memorial 25
Winners and local New England qualifiers (top 3):
103: 1. Zach Bridson (Tim), 2. Ryan Bolduc (Sal), 3. Alex Gerhold (Pink); 112: 1. Will Smith (Tim), 2. Jon Rheaume (Sal), 3. Josh Medeiros (Pelham); 119: 1. Victor Peters (Win), 2. Tanner Burke (Pink), 3. Kevin Vadeboncoeur (Tim); 125: 1. Jeff Cole (Merr); 130: 1. Matt Morris (Tim), 2. Mike Perruccio (Pelham), 3. David Owens (Pink); 135: 1. Bob Daniels (Con), 2. Daniel Barker (Pink); 140: 1. Collin Crowell (Pink); 145: 1. Alex Smith (Tim); 152: 1. Dylan Lockard (Tim); 160: 1. Nick Lawrence (Tim); 171: 1. Kyle Gaffney (St. Thomas), 2. Nate Lawrence (Tim); 189: 1. Dylan Ryan (Exeter), 3. Shane Tremblay (Tim); 215: 1. Tyler Baulier (Merrimack), 3. Wes Grew (Tim); HVY: 1. Ben Tammany (Tim)