RallyNorth.net

Unbeaten Lowell crushes Methuen

Thursday, January, 10 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

Lowell coach Tim O'Keefe believes that his defending Division 1 state champion Red Raiders still have a lot of work to do to approach last year's squad.

"We're still a work in progress," claims O'Keefe.

But you'd hardly know it based on last night's 52-19 rout of Methuen. Lowell (9-0) had four pins and a major decision while winning 10 of 14 weight classes.

The major decision came at 140 and gave Methuen junior Kevin Sughrue his first loss of the season, 13-1. However, the setback wasn't totally unexpected since he lost to standout Evan Connors, who finished third in New England last year.

The Rangers (10-2) started the evening at 215 and took a brief lead on a 9-1 major decision by Steve Saba, but they didn't win again until six matches later when unbeaten 130-pounder John Sughrue delivered a third-period pin.

Also winning for Methuen, which had to forfeit two weight classes, were Andrik Cruz, a 7-0 decision at 145, and 189-pounder Matt Murray, who ended the meet with a second-period pin.

"They're obviously a very good team," said Methuen coach Bill James. "We knew it'd be tough to win tonight, but more disappointing was that we didn't come ready to wrestle. There were some matches that should have been a lot closer or we could have won."