Bishop Guertin's Connor McDonald has control over Merrimack's Joey Leblanc just before recording a pin at 145 pounds during the Cards' 42-30 Division II semifinal win Wednesday night at the Colligadome.

NASHUA – They had enjoyed a romp over Merrimack recently, but in Wednesday night’s Division II semifinals, the Bishop Guertin High School wrestling team found itself with no marin for error.

And they managed to pull out a 42-30 win at a very loud Colligadome.

“The good kids won when they had to win,” Guertin coach Paul Rousseau said. “There were three or four matches in there that we really, really needed, and the kids came through.”

As a result, Guertin will host Hollis Brookline, which escaped with a win over Goffstown in the other semi, in Saturday’s finals at BG. In that scenario, the Cards will also find themselves against a team it beat a few weeks ago as well.

Guertin’s problem was it was shorthanded, possibly due to school vacation week, and had to forfeit three early matches at lighter weights,

“We knew we had some holes,” Merrimack coach Bryan Dine said. “Their lower weights were out tonight. We knew they were going to be in a hole … But they’re really, really tough through the middle weights.

“This whole season was a gift, really.”

The Cards’ Charlie Bellavance pinned Merrimack’s Glynn McNay at 285 to start the night, but then came the parade of forfeits (106, 113, 120) to give the ‘Hawks an 18-6 lead. Liam Chapman, though, got a pin at 126 to stop the bleeding but Merrimack’s tough freshman, Mitchell Krupp, got a third period pin over BG’s Calvin Jozokos in a hotly contested match to keep the ‘Hawks up 24-12.

“Mitch has an engine that won’t stop,” Dine said. “He’ll make some mistakes but they all get covered up because he just won’t quit.”

However, Merrimack’s only other win came when top Tomahawk senior Anson Dewar pinned Guertin’s Dan Fleming just 14 seconds in to the match at 170.

That ended a streak of four straight Cardinal wins, beginning with Ben Stawasz at 138, Connor MacDonald at 145, Zach Rioux at 152 and Will Murphy at 160, giving BG a 36-24 lead.

Matt Ha pinned Merrimack’s Colin Jones at 182 to clinch the win.

“Our 126 pounder (Chapman) really came through, and so did Stawacz,” Rousseau said. “Those were two really big matches for us, Charlie Bellavance starting the match off at 285, those three matches could have gone either way.

“We were hoping to win, but nothing’s guaranteed. I’m very happy, I thought the kids wrestled really, really tough.”

And they’ll have to do it again on Saturday.

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