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LAWRENCE — Central Catholic junior Matt Armano demonstrated perfectly last night why high school wrestling can be exciting as both an individual and team sport.

In front of about 600 noisy fans, with the Raiders leading Methuen 24-16 in a battle for the Merrimack Valley Conference title, and four matches remaining, Armano had two things on his mind as he took to the mat against Methuen's Jason Pendergast.

"This was a huge meet for us, and I knew every match was important, but I really wanted to beat him," said Armano, who improved to 33-9 on the year. "Earlier in the year, I was in front of him (Pendergast) in the (Kings of the Ring) rankings and then he bumped me off. I was thinking of getting my spot back."

With that in the back of his mind, Armano dominated the match from the start, leading 5-0 in the first period and then 12-2 after the second period before recording a pin at the 4:51 mark in the third period.

That put the Raiders up by a commanding 30-16, setting the stage for the final match, at 140, where Simon Dellea put an exclamation point on a 36-25 Central victory by recovering from an 8-4 deficit to pin Edwin Alfonso early in the third period.

The triumph improved the Raiders to 19-1 and gave them a share of the MVC title with Methuen (20-1) and Lawrence (19-6), all of whom won all but one league meet.

That marked Central's first title since 2004, while Methuen last won a share of the crown (with Lowell) in 2006. Lawrence's only MVC title of any kind was back in 1986.

"We had a lot of big wins, but Matt's was definitely won of the biggest," said Central coach Dennis King. "He's been wrestling really well lately. ... He finished third at the Mass.-Conn tournament and only lost to the champion by one point."

Another big win for the Raiders came at heavyweight. In a battle of equals, Central's Pat Driscoll got an escape and takedown in the third period to overcome Colin Bleem 3-2.

"That was one of a few we thought could go either way," said King. "Their kid beat Pat last year, so that was really important."

Also winning close decisions for the Raiders were 160-pounder Koya Sonugu and 171-pounder Tom Lacroix, the latter of whom outlasted stubborn Scott Delrossi, 5-3.

With Central's lead cut to 30-25 after a Methuen decision by Mike Mouawad at 130 and a pin by C.J. Doherty at 135, all Dellea needed to do to preserve the win was not get pinned. But he wasn't about to be satisfied with just that.

"I wasn't even thinking about that," said Dellea, who was mobbed by his teammates following his pin at the 4:30 mark. "I just wanted to go out there and wrestle as hard as I could. It was the most exciting win I've had for sure."

Also for the Raiders, Zack Lattrell (215) had a pin in 55 seconds, Bryan Lawrence (145) recorded a 44-second pin and Ryan O'Boyle (112) dominated Methuen freshman Paul Sughrue. 12-6.

Among the impressive wins for Methuen were decisions by Sarith Has and Nate Gioacchini at 103 and 119 respectively.

Central Catholic 36, Methuen 25

103: Sarith Has (M) dec. Pat Lacroix 8-3; 112: Ryan O'Boyle (CC) dec. Paul Sughrue 12-6; 119: Nate Gioacchini (M) dec. Chris Lacroix 6-2; 125: Matt Armano (CC) pin Jason Pendergast 4:51; 130: Mike Mouawad (M) dec. Mark Strassel 6-3; 135: C.J. Doherty (M) pin Joe Helfrich 1:22; 140: Simon Dellea (CC) pin Edwin Alfonso 4:30; 145: Bryan Lawrence (CC) pin Eddie Wallace :44; 152: Mike Eyssi (M) major dec. Kevin Abisalih 10-0; 160: Koya Sonugu (CC) dec. Jack Khoury 3-1; 171: Tom Lacroix (CC) dec. Scott Delrossi 5-3; 189: Chris Bouchard (M) pin 1:57; 215: Zack Lattrell (CC) pin Shaun McCarthy :55; HVY: Pat Driscoll (CC) dec. Colin Bleem 3-2

Records: Methuen 20-1, Central Catholic 19-1

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Six Years in making

It's been six years since Central Catholic won a share of the MVC title. Lowell has dominated in that stretch until this year. The MVC champions since 2004 are:

2004 — Central Catholic

2005 — Lowell

2006 — Lowell, Methuen

2007 — Lowell

2008 — Lowell

2009 — Lowell

2010 — Central Catholic, Methuen, Lawrence

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