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Sophomore Ray Devita jumped up to the varsity and had two pins in the first minute as Salem won a tri-meet to finish its best dual-meet season in years with a 21-11 record. Tristen Cabinta had two pins to improve to 48-2 and now stands third all-time in Salem wins with 178.

Trailing 24-0, the Salem wrestling team won nine of the next 10 matches to whip Windham 47-30. Tristen Cabinta and Beau Dillon both had pins in the first minute for the Blue Devils, who improved to 19-11.

Haverhill remained unbeaten (20-0), winning  four meets in a home super quad-meet, setting the stage for a huge showdown at Shawsheen Wednesday to close out the dual-meet season. Four Hillies went unbeaten on the day, the most impressive being Kevin Fuller (113), while sophomore Jackson DiFloures (145) had a terrific 3-1 day and recorded a pivotal decision in a 42-27 win over Brookline.

PLAISTOW — Heavyweights can often get the crowd going and that was certainly the case Wednesday night at Timberlane.

After Salem's Beau Dillon pinned Chris Lund at 220 pounds to pull the Devils closer at 24-13, it looked like the visitors might have gained some momentum on their way to a possible upset since it had highly regarded heavyweight Josh Ozoria on tap next.

Salem's Matt Adams rolled to his 100th career win on the mat, beating Londonderry's Aiden O'Loughlin by a major decision, 13-0. His efforts helped the Blue Devils cruise to a 58-24 win over the Lancers.

Brandon Santell remained unbeaten and his pin in 48 seconds virtually clinched a 40-30 victory over Salem in the finals of the Merrimack Dual Meet Tournament.

Santell and Jon Velilla alternated between 220 and heavyweight as Lawrence won five meets, clipping Melrose 38-33 in the semifinals, to win the tournament and improve to 19-7 on the year.

Salem made it close but just fell short of Essex, Vt. in the 17-team Nashua South Invitational, scoring 159 points, just 4 1/2 points behind the winners.

The Blue Devils had three champions in 160-pounder Tristen Cabinta, 195-pounder Beau Dillon and heavyweight Josh Ozoria while Ryan O'Rourke (106) and George Boudreau (126) were both runner-up.

Missing six starters due to injuries, North Andover struggled at the rugged Sprimgfield duals, going 1-3, but the Knights did edge Salem, N.H. 37-36. Unbeaten Joey Valentino got a major decision in the final match for the one-point win and also bumped up a weight to 132 to beat West Springfield standout Calvin Curtis, 12-5. 

DERRY — Within a week, Pinkerton's wrestling team showed its strength on two fronts.

Last week, the Astros showed its prowess as a tournament team by placing five wrestlers at the rugged Lowell Holiday Tournament and Wednesday night it disposed of a good Salem team, 51-25.

LOWELL — Timberlane's wrestling team stood in third place Thursday after the first day of the George Bossi Lowell Holiday Tournament.

Surprising Springfield Central stands in first with 105 points followed by Concord (95), Timberlane (93.5) and Mount Anthony (90). Windham is in seventh and Pinkerton is eighth. The Astros, however, have the most quarterfinalists of any team with six.