For Andover Wrestling, the hard work that they have put in all season paid off this past week. Phillips Academy’s Wrestling team has been on a roll, going 8-1 since losing to NMH, and beating Class A rivals such as Loomis Chaffee (41-30) and the hosts of this year’s Class A championships Tabor Academy (60-13). This past Sunday, Andover’s tough schedule continued when they hosted a quad meet against Governors Academy, Hyde-Woodstock and the Tilton School. Andover recorded eight total pins and dominated Governors en route to a 48-30 win. Andover then moved on to face Hyde-Woodstock, where Andover improved its bout total, gaining 10 pins from a wide variety of wrestlers, some of whom either wrestled in their first match of the season or recorded their first pin of the year. Will Park ’11 made his varsity debut against Governors, recording a pin after escaping with time running out on a nine-nine deadlock, while Faiyad Ahmad ’10 recorded his first pin of the year. Andover crushed Hyde 67-6, and then proceeded to cruise by Tilton with a perfect score of 75-0. Multiple Andover wrestlers won by forfeit against Tilton. The remaining wrestlers recorded two pins and one regular decision. The pins of Co-Captain Shaun Stuer ’09 were a highlight of the quad meet. Andover’s leadership this year has helped pushed the dynamic team thus far. Coach Gorham said, “This team has great senior leadership. Sam Dodge, Chris Latham, Alex Gottfried, Ben Elder and Scott Sanderson, as well as Co-Captains Shaun Stuer and Reid Mosquera, have been the core of the team for three years. When they were Lowers, the team was just 9-10 in dual meets, but they came together at the league tournament and over-achieved with a second place finish.” He continued, “Over the last two years, they worked very hard in the off-season and blossomed as a group, and have gone 30-6 in duals. This is their time to shine. They have earned it.” A sweep of the quad match-up was exactly what Andover needed going into the Northern New England Tournament this weekend. The confidence level of the team is high. After Northern New Englands, Andover will travel to two end of the season tournaments. These two tournaments, Class A’s and New Englands, are where Andover plans to culminate a season of hard work and determination with a series of great performances from each member. of the team.
