In the final seconds of his match, Adam Cohen ’18 blasted in on a takedown to lead eight points and secure a bonus point for Andover. Cohen went on to defeat his opponent, and his efforts propelled Andover to a 43-36 victory over Choate at home on Saturday. On Wednesday, Andover lost a close match to St. Paul’s 36-39 at home. The team’s record now stands at 1-1.
Eamon Garrity-Rokous ’20 said, “Adam Cohen had a fantastic performance when it came to getting takedown and performing well on his feet, as well as consistently going after his opponent, even when he was still up by a significant margin near the end of the match.”
Cohen’s takedown was crucial to Andover’s success on Saturday and served as a lesson for the rest of the team, according to Co-Captain Pierce Bausano ’18.
“It was an important teaching moment for a lot of new wrestlers who got to see the situational awareness of a wrestler knowing that, even though he already had a comfortable lead, scoring that extra takedown would give the team a better chance of winning the meet,” said Bausano.
Garrity-Rokous wrestled a strong match on Saturday, defeating his opponent in the last few seconds to win 7-5 and helping to secure the win for the team, according to Marisol Nugent ’20.
“Eamon was also able to win his match by two points in the last seven seconds after bumping up a weight class. He wrestled really solid and showed a lot of heart. The overall score reflected that we had some tough matches but we also had some kids who stepped up to the plate and pulled through with some big wins when the team needed it,” said Nugent.
In addition, Jack O’Neil ’19 and Nick Masri ’19 contributed to the win on Saturday with crucial pins on the mat. Cole DeMuelemeester ’18 also wrestled a strong exhibition match and was able to secure a pin in under a minute. Collectively, the team fought hard, adjusting to its opponents in order to come away on top in crucial matches, according to O’Neil.
“One thing the team really excelled at during this meet was wrestling hard. Everyone who stepped out on the mat stayed focused and tough during their match, and it really paid off for the team as a whole. Adjusting during the matches was actually one of the team’s strong suits during this meet. Everyone was able to change up their style a bit and hit moves that they usually don’t in order to score points for the team,” said O’Neil.
Despite falling to St. Paul’s on Wednesday, Andover still saw strong performances from several members of the team. Co-Captain Pablo Sanchez ’19 secured a 12-2 victory against his opponent, and Bausano was able to secure a quick pin in order to keep the team in the meet.
Moving forward, Andover hopes to improve offensively as well as technically, according to Bausano.
“I think we needed to be more more confident in our offense, take more shots — something I struggle with myself — and improve on a whole list of other technical things, but coming off less than four days of practice as a full team, I am proud of how we wrestled,” said Bausano.
Andover will face off in the Andover Duals at home on Saturday.
Editor’s Note: Pierce Bausano is a Business Manager for The Phillipian.
