NHSCA Festival Re-cap

Over this past weekend, Blair attended the first of two weekends in a row hosted by the NHSCA.   The NHSCA festival paired up teams in pools before deciding which teams would compete in the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brackets.  Blair faced Tunkhannock in their first pool match and won 60-6.  Second, Blair wrestled Stroudsburg, besting them 59-16. 

As the winner of their pool, Blair advanced to the Semi-Finals of the Gold Bracket, where they met up with perennial NH powerhouse, Timberlane.  Senior Mike Evans summed up the day, especially the Timberlane match, pretty well when he said, “we started off a little slow, mainly because we haven't been in a dual meet situation, but we ended well and looked like a totally different dual team than how we started.”  After the first nine matches, Blair held a tenuous 22-16 lead on Timberlane, but Evans stepped on the mat and pinned his Timberlane opponent in twenty seconds, which, besides a forfeit at 215, started off a string of five straight Blair wins to close out the match.  One of the other high points of the match was the 103lb contest, where Max Hvolbek beat Zach Bridson and avenged his Beast of the East finals loss.

In the finals of the Festival, after coming together as a team throughout the day, Blair faced Northampton and beat them 61-14.   Highlights of the match include Brad Bishop winning his match in overtime and Jesse Shanaman beating his opponent 3-2 in a very hard-fought match.  

Also of note, Mark Grey had three first period pins and a tech fall on the day; Brooks Black also had three first period pins and a regular decision; Jack Wedholm recorded a first period pin in his only match; Mike Evans pinned all three of his opponents; Chris Villalonga won by a pin, a tech fall and a major decision; and Austin Ormsbee pinned all four of his opponents.

During the day, there was also a JV tournament, where five Blair Wrestlers got some much-needed mat time.  Eugene Park and Ian Mindham, both first year wrestlers, lost their matches but gained some valuable experience.

Two Juniors, and second-year Blair wrestlers, Holt Johnson and James Park, went 1-1.  Holt’s only loss came in a 0-2 defeat, and he continued the work of improving from the bottom position.  James Park gained some valuable confidence on his feet in his victory.

The highlight of the JV matches was Harrison Gardner, who went 2-0.

For full results of the Festival, click here - http://www.nhscaevents.com/_projects/nhsca/index.cfm?go=news&id=31.

For results of all Blair Dual meets, click here: http://www.blairwrestling.com/page/NHSCA-Festival-Schedule

Next the Bucs are excited for some good matches at the Final Four this weekend.  For more information, check out http://www.nhscaevents.com/event.cfm?id=29.