Minutemen Youth Wrestling

Fifteen of the Minutemen traveled to South Berwick, Maine where they competed in the 2003 Marshwood New England Youth Championships on April 5th. In their first experience away from home the Minutemen held their own and had a fine showing. The tournament was broken down into grades and held team scoring. Placing the highest was the Bantam's (K-2 Grades), they placed 7th with 85 team points. The following are the highlights from each wrestlers matches: Bantams Division: Anthony Zovich wrestled in the 46 lb weight class losing to eventual champion 8-4 in the semi-finals. Anthony then pinned his two opponents in the consulation bracket to place 3rd. Matt Cote wrestled in the 46.5 lb class winning his first match 8-0. He the lost in the semi-finals and finished 4th losing in the consolation final 6-3. Colin Cunningham wrestled in the 47 lb division pinning his first opponent and then losing 7-0 to the eventual champion. Coin lost to Howie Kilpatrick from Colchester, CT and placed 4th. Jeremy Eliades competed in the 54lb class, pinned everyone he faced but due to a error was dropped into the consolation bracket and only placed 3rd. Ricky Mullins competed in his first tournament at 54.5 lbs. He won his first match in overtime 6-4. He then lost his semi-final match 5-4 and met his first opponent for 3rd place which he lost 6-3 and ended taking 4th place. Sean Pentalow was sick the night before the tournament and wasn't himself as he competed in the 55 lb division and lost both his matches. The two losses were against the 3rd and 4th place finishers in his division. Ryan Butler wrestled in the tough 64 lb division. He won his first match 4-0 and then faced CT rival RJ LaBeef who beat him 4-2. Ryan then lost his next match 6-2. Tyler Cunningham competed in the 70 lb division. After losing his first match he won his next match against Peter Gerrish from Mountain Valley 6-2. He then lost to eventual 3rd place finisher James Garvey from RI. David Balfore competed in the 84 lb division and lost his first match 11-4. David then went on a tear and won his next three matches including a 9-8 win for third place. Mason Powers competed in the 90 lb division. Mason won his first match 5-0 but was feeling under the weather and lost his semi-final match 2-1 (his first tournament loss of the year)to eventual champion Devin Hurt. Mason was then unable to compete in the consolation round. Novice Division: Ryan Bisson coming off a broken thumb had another tough break as a referee called a pin against him in his first match while he was out of bounds. Still whirling from the loss Ryan lost his second match 3-2 against Joshua Hines from Peru. Kevin Moss wrestled in the 84 lb division. Kevin lost his first match 2-1 against Jack Simpkin. He then beat Dillion Tibbetts 6-3 before falling to Dillon Nadeau of Southington 5-2. Both wrestled placed in the division. "All in all it was a great experience for the kids" staed Coach Roger Moss. We could easily make this an annual event for our program. "After placing 7th as a team I think the boys want to come back and prove they can do better."