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MAT MASTERS: Cavaliers overpower BG for Division II title

By Hector Longo - Special to The Telegraph | Feb 20, 2022

Hollis Brookline's Brady Rogers and Alvirne's Jacob Kulick tangle in this 126-pound quarterfinal Saturday at the Division II State Wrestling meet.

GOFFSTOWN – Hollis Brookline High School rolled to its sixth Division II Wrestling championship Saturday, outgunning Bishop Guertin on a day that clearly saw the Cavaliers hungry and decisive in their quest.

Seven Cavs wrestled their way into the championship round, and five came away as state champions.

In the end, Hollis Brookline had amassed 219 points. Guertin grabbed second at 191, and Milford High was third, scoring 143.5 points.

Merrimack (125) placed fifth, while Souhegan (52) was ninth and Alvirne (39) took 10th.

Denied a year ago of a title by Guertin in the finals of the 2021 Dual Meet Championship tourney – a Covid-19-forced replacement to this event – the Cavaliers were all business on Saturday.

Hollis Brookline had five wrestlers soar to the top step of the championship podium with placers in seven other weight classes as well.

Caden Bruseo, at 113 pounds, delivered a semifinal pin in 51 seconds and locked down the title with 77 more seconds on the mat, taking out Merrimack’s Anthony Almonte in the final.

The second seed at 132, Hunter Crea did him one better with three straight wins by fall, the last over top seed Noah Lallas of Spaulding, late in the second period.

Seeded second at 138, Jason Dejoie went the distance with a pair of decision wins, the latter being a 7-5 title thriller over Merrimack’s Mitchell Krupp.

For RJ McAdams at 145, it was three opponents and three pins. The No. 1 seed lived up to the billing when he iced Goffstown’s Logan Froehlch in the finals at 3:06.

Top seeded Troy Moscatelli at 152 wrestled like he enjoyed it out there on the mat, winning quickly by pin in the quarters and then rolling up the points with wins of 17-1 and 21-9 to claim his title.

Jameson Keller, at 106, and 160-pounder Ryan Mercier reached the finals but were forced to settle for second best. Other Cavalier placers were: Ethan Strauss (third at 285), Ethan Bender (fourth at 170), Justin Colby (fourth at 195), Luke Wang (fifth at 182) and Brady Rogers (sixth at 126).

There was plenty of other hardware to go around.

Guertin had six wrestlers reach the finals, going 3-3 in those matches. All 12 Cards on the mat found the podium.

William Murphy was 3-0, scoring a pair of pins before out-pointing HB’s Mercier in the 145-pound final, 8-1.

Matt Ha was equally impressive, again with a pair of falls before knocking off 170-pound No. 1 seed Tucker McCann of Winnacunnet, 11-4.

At 195, Guertin’s Charlie Bellevance hooked up with a red-hot Greg Gagnon of Milford for the title.

Gagnon had stunned HB’s Colby in the semis but Bellevance was up to the task, prevailing 11-9.

James Murphy (182), Zach Connerty (220) and Rocco Geraci (285) were the other Guertin finalists. Colin Foley (113) and Kaelem Wagner (152) scored third places; Alex Jaracz (106) and Jeremy Gallagher (120) finished fourth; John Forcier (126) and Luke Kourkoulaskos (132) added fifth places.

Milford High had a pair of individual champs in the big boys, Ben Kilgore (220) and Dan DeBernardo (285).

Each was a top seed and each delivered big time. Neither went to the scorecards, with both wrestlers scoring pins in the semis and finals.

Spartan Greg Gagnon was second at 195 as was Kyle Lajoie at 120. Ethan O’Connor took third at 160, and Evan O’Connell added a fourth at 145. Matt Ebert (fifth at 138), Noah Kittredge (sixth at 170) and Nate Post (sixth at 182) finished out the docket.

At 120 pounds, Evan Torres was the lone champ for Merrimack. In the semis, he made quick of Portsmouth’s Logan Chasse in 1:17. He took less than half that time – just 33 seconds – to put away Milford’s Lajoie in the finals.

Anthony Almonte (113) and Mitchell Krupp (138) were finalists, and Adam Cummings was third at 145.

Taking fourth were AJ Lesmerises (182), Cooper Carlson (152) and Grant Descheneaux (132), while Brendan Curley was fifth at 170.

Souhegan’s Logan Brown upset BG’s top-seeded Forcier to reach the 126-pound final before losing a two-point decision for the title.

Noah Dennis (third at 132), Christian Knuckles (fifth at 152) and Gannon Arbogast (sixth at 220) wore the other Saber places.

Alvirne had a trio of fourth-place finishes: Jacob Kulick at 126, Logan Jacques at 138 and Grant Dickieson at 160.