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Lancers charge back past St. John's

Thursday, December, 18 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — On a day when power was still out throughout much of the region, the Lawrence wrestling team opened its season with a jolt of momentum.

The Lancers, who had their best record (18-6) in history last year, swept Pentucket 54-26, Reading 43-27 and — in a dramatic comeback — perennial power St. John’s Prep 36-31 in a competitive quad-meet.

St. John’s only graduated two wrestlers from last year’s 28-6 squad and, with a formidable middle of its lineup, zoomed to a 31-12 lead over the Lancers.

But Lawrence stormed back, taking the last six weight classes, beating the Prep for the first time  in its history.
The victory should provide some momentum for Lawrence’s Wednesday matchup at home against defending Division 1 state champion Lowell.

“This is one of the best team wins we’ve had,” said Lawrence coach Rob Niceforo. “Maybe it’ll help us (Wednesday), but I just want to enjoy this win.”

St. John’s took its last lead, 31-12, when standout Ryan Harding of North Andover pinned Aaron Blanco at 145 in a battle of two of the best middleweights in the region. But then the tide turned.

Julio Valentin and Kevin Valerio narrowed the gap with pins at 152 and 160, respectively.
Then, in the match of the day, sophomore Juan Rodriguez — as his teammates yelled his nickname, “Poodle, Poodle” — overcame a 7-3 deficit to grab an exciting 13-9 victory to make it 31-27.

Richard Cruz cut the lead to 1 with a hard-fought 8-5 win at 189 and Jose Varela capped the comeback with a third-period pin.

Earlier, heavyweight Pedro Cruz started the meet with a 7-3 decision over returning sectional finalist Kevin Poplaski of North Reading, Jorge Aquino nailed a 1:06 pin at 103 and Hugo Dominguez grabbed an impressive 6-1 decision over Ryan Morello, a sectional champ at 103 last year.

St. John’s then clicked off six straight wins, including pins by North Andover’s T.J. Crabtree at 125 and Kelley Johnson at 140, before the Lancers staged their comeback.

“We’re really looking forward (to Lowell), and we’ve been training hard for it,” said Pedro Cruz. “But we had too many kids get pinned today and we can’t do that against Lowell.”

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Poodle is a Pit Bull
His coaches and teammates gave him the nickname Poodle, but Juan Rodriguez was a Pit Bull yesterday. Just like his older brother Pedro “Pit Bull“ Rodriguez. Yesterday in the biggest match of his life, the Lawrence High sophomore was Pit Bull II. Rodriguez, who usually wrestles at 160, was bumped up to 171. Nonetheless, he won a hard-fought decision at to spark an historic comeback win over powerhouse St. John’s Prep.

For St. John’s, Crabtree, Harding and West Newbury’s Joe Kelly were all 3-0 on the day.

“I tip my hat to them (Lawrence),” said St. John’s coach Manny Costa. “They came to wrestle and we didn’t.”

For Pentucket, which had to forfeit three weight classes but was still competitive, Austin Perreault (140) and Ben Stasiuk (215) were both 3-0 on the day and Brian Cormier (160) and Dan Dragon (135) were 2-1.