Bishop Guertin's James Algeo (top) and Hollis Brookline's Marty Burns battle it out during a close match at 138, won by Algeo 5-4 duirng the annual final regular season dual meet between the two schools at the Colligadome. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They wrestle in high school on a large mat, but when it comes to the annual Bishop Guertin-Hollis Brookline dual meet, they may as well make it a giant chess board.

The Cards used strategy to move some wrestlers around and it paid off as they topped their Division II rival Cavaliers 42-36 Wednesday at the Colligadome.

“I thought the kids did a helluva job,” Guertin coach Paul Rousseau said. “We had some injuries, moved kids around and shifted our lineup. We were very fortunate, we won the coin flip which allowed us to have choices in the matches we wanted. Kind of a chess match.”

Guertin’s big deficit was an injury to Liam Connerty at 190, so the Cards bumped up Will Murphy two weight classes. Down 30-24 after HB’s Cam Nichols pinned Cole Williams at 165, the Cards got three straight pins – with Sam Ronzio besting Jacob Velez at 175, then Murphy easily taking care of Daniel Halas at 190, and Matt Goldstein beat HB’s Philip Berke at 215. Those 18 points made it 42-30 to clinch the win.

“Ronzio would have bumped up to 190, but I wasn’t sure of that,” Rousseau said. “But when Ronzio won I and Murphy winning at 190, everything fell in our hands.”

Cavs coach Brian Bumpus took the loss in stride, because the big day is the Division II state meet his school hosts on Feb. 17, a tourney format.

“We’ve wrestled BG the last dual meet of the season the last eight years or so and it’s always a battle,” Bumpus said. “It’s always tight. We weren’t really sure what they were going to have for a lineup because they’ve had some guys out. … but they were ready for us.

“Our focus shifted a few weeks ago from these dual meets to refocusing on that divisional tournament. It’s going to be tight. These guys (BG) will bring some firepower. It’s going to be an interesting event.”

But so was last night’s meet. BG got a win by fall at 106 by Austin Steinruck over Cavs freshman Guy Lafreniere, and then later with the teams deadlocked at 12 the question was what would BG do at 132, where HB’s Caden Bruseo was waiting. Guertin forfeited there, and then got a big win by a tight 5-4 decision by James Algeo over Marty Burns at 138.

“We started off the match really, really good,” Rousseau said. “And because we won the coin flip, we were able to forfeit at 132, then bump up (Algeo) at 138 – by decision, but still won.”

“Them moving away from Bruseo, that was kind of a dagger,” Bumpus said. “Which was smart. Paul knows his stuff, obviously.”

The Cavs still had the led 18-15 but everything changed as the see-saw began. BG went ahead 21-18 when John Forcier pinned HB’s Oliver Damon at 144, and the Cavs grabbed the lead back with a pin at 150 by Jacob Critchfield over Jack Foster, 24-21. Guertin then evened things up at 24 with Nick Rivera getting a 14-8 decision at 157 over the Cavs’ Dylan Manley. Then HB got its last lead with Nichols’ pin.

In other early matches, BG’s Jack Kaler pinned Scout Crea at 120, and Gavin Turcotte returned the favor for HB over Gavin Peloquin at 126. And in the final match, Cavs heavyweight John McCole, one of the best around, pinned Guertin freshman Bishop Kearns in 41 seconds to account for the final.

“I’m happy, I think tournament is going to be wide open,anyone can win it, Hollis can win it,” Rousseau said. “I feel great about winning tonight. We bumped around, the kids came to wrestle. Despite some injuries, the kids stepped up to the plate. It was a complete team effort. We had no room to make any mistakes.”

Checkmate.

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