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Having James Herlihy, one of the top wrestlers in the state, out with an injury was what ultimately beat Pinkerton last night.

Concord tore through the heavier weight classes and opened the meet with a huge lead, and the hole was too deep for the Astros to climb out of. In a matchup between arguably the second- and third-best teams in New Hampshire, Pinkerton ultimately fell to Concord, 41-30. Despite the loss, Astros coach Ken Najem was encouraged.

Salem coach Mark McGinn quickly picked out his team's weakness on the day.

"The penalty kill," he said. "We are usually pretty good. But we didn't do it today. They were pushing us pretty hard and we didn't handle their pressure very well on the power play."

Heavyweight Brian Nicoll put an exclamation point on an impressive statement made by the Timberlane wrestling team yesterday at the 54-team Lowell Holiday Tournament.

The Owls, who finished second last year by a point and a half, came back with a vengence to claim their third team crown in four years with 241 points, comfortably ahead of runners-up Concord, N.H., and Winchester, who tied with 210. Pinkerton (120) was sixth, Central Catholic (111) came in eighth and Salem, N.H. (102<1/2>) tied for 10th.

The names change, but the script remains the same at the Blue Devil Classic, the traditional season-opening local wrestling tournament.

Once again, Concord, N.H., rolled to the team title yesterday, its sixth straight, while local teams Pinkerton, Central Catholic and Salem showed some superb individual talent and projected promise of better days ahead.

Peter Drivas took a pass from Jordan Ward and scored with less than a minute remaining to give Pinkerton a 3-2 victory over Concord in the Class L quarterfinals.

The No. 1 Astros trailed by a goal at the half, but rallied back with three goals in the second frame. Ward added a goal while and Omar Khartabil also had a goal and an assist.

CONCORD, N.H. | Concord hung around much longer than it probably should have, but once Pinkerton shook off the rust of a bye week, the Astros were too much for the Crimson Tide to handle.

Concord (2-6, 1-6 Division 1) drew first blood seven seconds into the second quarter, but the Astros (7-1, 7-0 Division 1) scored four touchdowns before halftime | three in the final 2:05! | and ran away with a 41-14 win.

BEDFORD | The Bedford FieldTurf hadn't cooled off from Salem's onslaught when Timberlane came out in the nightcap smoking hot right from the opening whistle.

By the time the game was six minutes old, the Owls held a 2-0 advantage against the tourney's Cinderella team, Concord. With 13:26 left in the opening half, Timberlane led 4-0 and the sixth-seeded Crimson Tide were finished, not getting their first shot on junior Brittany McFarland-Bateman until 47 minutes were played.

LONDONDERRY, N.H. | Alex Theodhosi is having some kind of season.

The senior running back racked up 340 yards on 33 carries and scored five touchdowns last night for Londonderry, which pounded Concord 47-13.

Whenever a play truly counted, Salem made it.

The Blue Devils stuffed Concord three times on fourth down and forced three turnovers, one crushing a last-second scoring drive at the Salem 12. And all the while the defense, nicknamed the "Wolfpack," was pounding away on every play.

Alex Germaine and Jordan Ward found the back of the net during Pinkerton's 2-1 win over Concord. Cory Woods played well for the Astros, who remain perfect at 14-0.