Souhegan's Jack Kaler controls former BG teammate Austin Steinruck in winning the Division II title at 132, his fourth championship in four years. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

GOFFSTOWN – There’s strength in numbers, and the Milford High School wrestling team proved that on Sunday.

No, the Spartans didn’t get any team or individual title hardware at the Division II championships at Goffstown High School, but they had a ton of wrestlers and 11 of them scored points, three reaching finals.That allowed Milford to finish a distant second to repeat champion Goffstown, 209-162.

In doing so the Spartans edged the Sabers of Souhegan, who finished five points behind them at 158 in third despite having three champions.

“I’ve got a great group of kids, they all wrestled really hard today,” Milford coach Joe Faucher said. “Nobody lost a match from not wrestling hard. … We had more success than we did failure today, so I’m really happy with the team.”

The area, in fact, controlled spots two through six. Bishop Guertin, which had two Division champs, was fourth at 127, ahead of fifth place Hollis Brookline (109) and sixth place Alvirne (97.5). The Cavs had a winner and the Broncos had two. Merrimack, which had a winner, was 11th at 61.5.

The individual story of the day may have been Souhegan’s Jack Kaler, who won his fourth straight title in his four years – two of them were at BG – by beating former Cardinal teammate Austin Steinruck at 132 with a 20-5 technical fall. Fittingly, he was named the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler.

Here, though, was Milford’s day:

Colton Schuster fell to Goffstown’s Cole Nault by fall in the 113 finals. Spartan Francisco Juvera was decisioned 9-7 by Portsmouth’s A.J. Craig in the 138 finals, while the Spartans’ Max Hammerstrom was second at 126, falling to Goffstown’s Willem Pierce in the title bout 5-2.

The Spartans had four thirds: Cam Stickney at 132, eliminated by Kaler in the semis; Heavyweight Jameson Noble, Kiernan Lordan the same at 120, and Phillip Wright at 157. Calix Lajoie finsished fourth at 144, Jack Clancy fourth at 175, Elijah Wales fifth at 190, Jace Wilhelmi the same at 165. Amaing

Kaler, meanwhile, was overwhelmed by his own accomplishment.

“When I won my first, I didn’t believe it at first,” Kaler said. “But then all the hard work over the years really started to pay off … putting in so much effort, all 24-7, what a I eat, when I sleep, when I do and don’t go out, that was the key to my success. It feels great, it’s unreal.”

Wrestling Steinruck, he said, “felt like just in the practice room. We’ve change a little bit, but it was a great match.”

“This is a kid who works year round at the sport,” Sabers coach Garrett Trombi said. “He’s a super competitor, always one of the hardest workers going. He’s earned it over the number of years here, for sure.”

This year, the Sabers were more of a tourney than a dual meet team, and they were strong on Sunday. “Our tournament team is a little stronger,” he said. “When we go to MOCs we’ll have a number of kids who will place there, and have a strong showing.”

Besides Kaler, Souhegan got a champion at 144 from Chase Knuckles, who beat Goffstown’s Ian Campbell by a 10-4 decision, and Gabe Holt, who beat the Grizzlies’ Antonio Hebert 7-0 in the 215 finals.

Saber Alex Sarfde was second, falling to Goffstown’s Ben Walton at 150.

Saber Landon Carson was fourth at 138 as was Marcus Stout at 157, Patrick Casey at 165 and Nathan Sout at 120.

Heavyweight Harrison Towne was sixth, as was Kyle Sukcharoenphon at 106. Although they scored points, only a weight class’ top five in Division II make the MOC’s

BG struggled in dual meets this year but as a tourney team also was strong; all eight of the Cards wrestlers scored points and six will go to the Meet of Champions next Saturday. BG’s Division champions were Bishop Kearns at heavyweight by injury default over Goffstown’s Chris Finnigan with Kearns up 13-2 in the first round; and Jack Foster at 175 as he beat fellow local Alvirne’s Joey Lydon by fall.

Bishop Guertin’s Jack Foster, right, tries to get control of Alvirne’s Joey Lydon during Sunday’s Division II championships in Goffstown. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

James Algeo took third at 138, Wesley Steinruck the same at 106, Dom Stamp was fourth at 150, Lucas Wilson (120) and Peter Cerrato (157) with sixths.

“Jack was great, Austin had a tough one in the finals, but every person we brought here today is on the podium,” BG first-year coach Dan Warshafsky said, “and that’s just awesome. As good as you can hope for.”

Hollis Brookline was led by Jack Critchfield’s title at 165 as he decisioned Portsmouth’s Stephen Whisler in the finals 11-4.

“It feels really good to end the way I wanted,” Critchfield said. “Last two years I got pins in the finals. I still won though, so there’s that.”

Victor Lomme fell to Portsmouth’s Carter Kuhn in the finals at 120 by a tech fall of 19-3, but got the 22 second place points. The Cavs’ Scout Crea was third at 126.

HB’s Michael Marsolini took fourth at 113, Kyle Leclair was fifth at 106 and Will Crawford the same at 150; HB’s Hunter Knight (132) and Nathan Fauteux (144) were sixth.

Alvirne, under first year head coach and former Bronco standout Kyle Gora, produced two Division champs: freshman Mason Verrocchio at 106 with a pin of Manchester West’s Angel Diaz, and senior Quintin Tetreault at 190, as he decisioned Goffstown’s Tyler Osorio 4-2.

“Super proud of the guys, they worked hard all year,” Gora said. “To say it pay out for them in the end is awesome, we got a couple of qualifiers for MOCs, that’s great, and bunch of other placers, very proud of all the guys.”

Besides Lydon’s second, the Broncos also got a fourth from Timmy Malley at 132, and Dominic Deoliveira (126), Marcus Bain (215), and Noah Gendreau (165) had sixths.

Merrimack got a championship from Cash Torres, as he bested Goffstown’s Stevie Damboise in an 8-0 major decision at 157.

Carter Anderson took third at 190, plus fifths by Nicolin Stevens (175) and Owen Sayball (138).

In the end, the Spartans with their depth were the top local. “Great year, tons of fun, best group of kids,” Faucher said. “I had almost perfect attendance almost every practice all season. Can’t ask for more than that.”

Milford’s Max Hammerstrom battles Goffstown’s Willem Pierce in the title bout at 126 in Sunday’s Division II wrestling championships at Goffstown.HS. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)