I left early…. I admit it. I was going to stay to get all of the final results, but I was hungry and tired and just wanted to go home. I know how Central ended up and I figured I could get the rest of the results from the Springfield Paper in the morning. Big mistake. I know we are going through a recession, but when did it become a great business idea to give less, and charge more for it to try to overcome a decrease in sales? I have had it with the newspaper. They have had shoddy coverage at best when it comes to our sport. There are spotty results and when there are results, most times they are wrong. I complained about this a few years back and was told the problem was that the coaches were not calling the results in. I know this year that the results are getting called in, they simply aren't being reported. The Republican and their staff have pretty much stated by their actions that the only High School winter sport worth reporting is basketball. So be it. I promise I will do my best to report as much as possible about our sport. I will not leave early again without results. I will try to give you a better product and I won't even charge for it. By the way, I am canceling my subscription to the Springfield Republican. If you are reading the paper for your sports news, you should probably cancel also. Perhaps someone will start a daily paper that actually cares about what is going on locally. The guys in our sport train harder than any other sport. They deserve the recognition for achievements that they make on the mat.

Sorry about the rant. It's been bugging me ever since I got my first Monday newspaper that didn't have enough newsprint to line the bottom of the birdcage. The only thing worth reading in the paper anymore is the obits. I will find those elsewhere.

Central came in third. The Golden Eagles got an easy draw for the first two rounds. Amherst was Central's first opponent. They won one match. There were four uncontested weight classes and Central beat up the Hurricanes 46 – 3. Next up was Agawam. Central had faced Agawam less than two weeks before and there were no surprises here. Coach McLaughlin had the opportunity to insert a few of the JV werstlers in the lineup to get them some varsity experience. There were three uncontested weight classes and the final score was a respectable 36 – 24 win for the Golden Eagles.

Duannesburg. This is why the Golden Eagles go to the Northeast Duals. To wrestle good teams from out of the area. Duannesburg is one of those good teams. They are from upstate NY and have become a great rival for the Golden Eagles. Duannesburg and Central have been passing the Northeast Duals trophy back and forth for four years now. I look forward to this match every year. This year was better than most.

Wrestling is in and of itself an individual sport. One wrestler from each team, on the mat, facing each other and going at it for six minutes or until one is pinned. The hardest thing to do with wrestlers is to get them to function as a team. If they win their match, they are happy. If they lose, they are sad. When it comes to wrestling as a team, sometimes winning isn't as good as winning right and losing isn't as bad if you lose right. It's all about the team points. Individual results count, but if you are going to be successful as a dual meet team, you have to get the wrestlers to buy in to the team concept. When two good teams face off against each other, single points from single matches can mean the difference between winning and losing. Duannesburg and Central wrestled to a 31 – 31 tie. In regular dual meets, there are no tie breakers. In a dual meet tournament, there cannot be a tie. Someone has to move on. Duannesburg won the tie breaker by winning more matches than Central. There were so many places in the match where one point could have been obtained. Peter Hager lost a tough match at 119. He lost 8-6. Manny Ocasio lost a heart breaker to Ryan Brown 9-8. Jeff Barcher lost his heavyweight match by one point, 4-3. It was a great match to be a part of. I saw John Lebron come off the mat after losing his match by a score of 16 – 5. He was jumping up and down and pumping his fist in excitement. Not because he won, but because he lost right. He wrestled a superior opponent and managed to stay off his back to keep the opposing team from scoring those 2 extra points. That's what I mean by buying into the team concept. John was excited, because he helped the team. He did his best with everything he had to get one job done for the team. He lost right. Bemnet Banks wrestled at 140 and had a major decision pulled from his grasp with seconds to go in the match. He won, but he wasn't happy. He knew he had let the team down by not getting that extra team point for the major decision. The result was a tie. Duannesburg had the criteria. Duannesburg went to the finals and Central dropped down to the third place match. Central wrestled Pomperaug for third place. It wasn't much of a match. There was no contest at 189 and the Golden Eagles coasted to a 46 – 18 victory. It wasn't first, but it may have had a more valuable result. Perhaps it will help the guys realize that wrestling for Central is a team sport. It's good to win your match, but better to win right or lose right for the team. Perhaps they can now understand and buy into that concept. It won't take long to find out. When Central meets West Springfield this Wednesday it may just come down to a point or two. It may come down to which team buys into the team concept more. It might come down to a guy like John Lebron, running off the mat with a big smile on his face and pumping his fist in the air because he lost. Well, not because he lost, but because he lost right. That might just be the difference between league champs and league runners-up.

Last night, Central traveled to Longmeadow to face the Lancers in a league match. Every season there seems to be at least one match where a lot of guys are either hurt, banged up or sick. Last night was the match this season. The list of starters that were not wrestling was too long for comfort. Out was Danny Salgado (112), Anthony Brooks (152), Estavon Gonzalez (171) and Shaun Lockett (285). Last night saw the return of Manny Ocasio (145) and Nate Shea (189, 215)  who came into the match to raise their arm and take a forfeit. The match was tense at moments and the competition was high quality, but in the end Longmeadow had too many holes and Central won 33 – 23. Of actual matches wrestled, Longmeadow won 6 and Central won 5. Two of Central's wins (Peter Hager – 119 and Nate Collins – 215) came by pin. Longmeadow scored one pin at 135 when Gary Shea stuck John Lebron. The most exciting matches came at 140 lbs and 160 lbs, both of which Central lost. At 140 lbs, Bemnet Banks seemed to have the match in control up 4 – 2 with seconds to go when Matt shapiro scored to tie the match. In overtime, Shapiro got the quick takedown to shock the Central crowd and come away with the win. At 160 lbs, Anthony Williams was trailing Ian Altman 2-1 in the third period when he took a shot and seemingly took Ian Altman down with his feet in bounds. The ref called the take-down out of bounds in probably one of the worst calls I have seen all season. That certainly changed the tenor of the match and Anthony had to try a desperation take-down attempt late in the period and ended up on the bottom losing 4 – 1.

Central squeaked the win out and now has a week to get healthy to face off against West Springfield in the final league match of the season. Both teams are undefeated in league action and West Springfield is stronger this year than I have ever seen them. West Side has a legitimate opportunity to knock Central off this year and walk away with the Western Mass crown. If both teams are healthy, I would have to give the nod to Central. Thats a big IF and a small nod. It's gonna be a barn-burner and West Springfield will be hosting in their home gym. I expect this one to be packed to the rafters with fans as this is going to be the most competitive D1 league match in the valley since the days of the Agawam – Central rivalry. With the title up for grabs, I expect both teams will be flying high and pumped for the match. Make your plans early kids. You won't want to miss this one……..

The team traveled to Boston yesterday (Saturday) to participate in a quad meet with BC High, Scituate and New Bedford. When they arrived they found out that one of the teams (Scituate) would not be attending due to a scheduling error. The Golden Eagles were set up to wrestle BC High first and then finish the day with New Bedford. This day was set up when Central was excluded from the East West duals this year. Coach McLaughlin was looking for another match to fill in for this Saturday and the opportunity to participate in this quad came about. The draw to the quad was New Bedford. BC High and Scituate did not seem strong enough to provide the level of competition that the guys needed to get better, but New Bedford is a big school with a great program. In 2006 when the Golden Eagles won the state dual meet title, it was New Bedford that they faced in the finals. Coach figured that a match against New Bedford would be a competitive match against a good team.

BC High is in a down year and it showed. They became only the second team in the last nine years that failed to score a single point against the Golden Eagles. The final score was 68 – 0.

New Bedford was next up. This was the match that the guys came for and Coach gathered the guys around to get them mentally ready for a tough match. The match started at 103 with Tyrique Dowdell taking a forfeit. New Bedford's 103 had come in heavy and couldn't make weight. Dowdell would later get a chance to wrestle him in an exhibition match and was pinned in the first period. All the New Bedford wrestlers were tough. They wrestled hard and stayed off their back when they lost. They looked a lot like Central. Tough kids with a lot of pride. They came at us hard and won where they were suppossed to, but just weren't able to win the close ones. There was only one pin in the entire match for both teams. That was at 160 lbs where Anthony Williams pinned Savon Soares at 5:34. Getting wins for the Golden Eagles were Daniel Salgado, Mark Correa, Bemnet Banks, KaShaun Ruiz, Anthony Brooks, Anthony Williams and Estavon Gonzalez. Nate Collins was given a forfeit when New Bedford's 189 bumped to 215 to wrestle Central's Noel Milan. Noel Lost 10 – 2, in a match that saw multiple stoppages for blood time after Noel took an elbow to the face. The final score was Central 37, New Bedord 17.

The wrestling was over around one o'clock and we were in Boston. Most of the guys had never been in Boston, so we decided to treat the team with a trip to Quincy Market for lunch. It was a great time. The guys were turned loose at Fanueil Hall and they all went browsing among the great variety of foods. We all had a great lunch and piled back into the vans for the ride home. It was nice to have a little fun with the guys and even nicer to be home before the sun went down on a Saturday.

The guys hit the gym on Monday to get ready for a match against Longmeadow, and then the always tough Northeast Duals at Cathedral High on Saturday. This is all leading up to the "Big Showdown" between Central and West Springfield the following week. The season is quickly coming to an end and the post season is looming. The guys seem to be peaking at the right time and barring any injury, are in great shape for the tournament season.

I know. I have been remiss. It's been a week since my last blog and I am hearing about it. My only defense is, I am tired. Clerking the Natick tournament on Saturday was a great experience. I really love doing the job of the clerk. It's exciting and keeps you right in the middle of the action. Unfortunately, it also tires you out. It seems every year, it takes a little longer to recuperate from clerking a tournament and this year is no exception. I went non stop all day Saturday. We left the high school at 6:30 AM and didn't get back to the high school until about 11:00 PM. When I got home I realized that the only thing I hade eaten all day was an egg sandwich at 5:30 AM and 2 bags of Skittles during the tournament. Without the fuel that I needed during the day, it took a couple days to finally start feeling like myself again. When I finally realized I hadn't written anything about Natick, it was Tuesday. I have a few things to catch up on, so I will start here.

NATICK

This was the first year that Central participated in the Natick Invitational with a full lineup. Up until now there was always at least one weight class where a wrestler didn't show up or make weight. It has made for some very frustrating tournaments in Natick. This year, the guys showed some discipline and everyone was present and on weight. When a day starts out right, it usually ends well. This one was no exception. Eleven wrestlers stayed in the tournament right through the placement rounds. The team scored four champions (Daniel Salgado, Peter Hager, Bemnet Banks and Nate Collins), one second place finish (Kadar St. Phard) , three third place (KaShaun Ruiz, Anthony Brooks, and Anthony Williams) , two fourths (Tyrique Dowdell and Estavon Gonzalez), and one fifth (Shaun Lockett). That was enough for the Golden Eagles to win the tournament. It was by far the best finish at this tournament since the team has been making the trip. The guys performed well and looked as if they may have turned the  corner and started peaking toward the post season. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the guys, but it is impossible to do everything and had to sacrifice recording the matches and taking pictures to clerk. If anyone has any photos that they would like to send to me I will gladly post them on the site.

Agawam

Agawam made the trip to the nest tonight for the final home meet of the season. I remember when the Agawam match would be a big night. Agawam and Central were rivals for many years. Now it seems that the wrestling program in Agawam is in a severe slump. Agawam was short three weight classes and really never had a chance. Agawam got a win at heavyweight and a pin at 103. Central scored 8 pins leading up to a 51 – 9 drubbing of the Brownies. The match was over in about an hour and Agawam went on their way. I can't help but wonder how a program as great as Agawam's was could have fallen to the depths that it has. It was almost sad to see the once great program go down so hard and fast. Central's only win that did not come by pinfall was a 6-3 victory for John Lebron over Agawam's Mike Vilkovoy. The first match of the night between Tyrique Dowdell and Connor Liebel actually turned out to be a pretty good match. Dowdell ended up getting stuck in a match that I personally thought would end a little differently. That match will help to give Liebel a good seed at the Western Mass Tournament. Central's only other loss was at heavyweight, where senior Jeff Barcher was wrestling up from 215 to get a match on senior night. He was just plain out weighed. Agawam's Pat Hope pretty much had his way, using the weight difference to his advantage and scored the 9 – 4 win.

Next up for the Golden Eagles is a quad meet at BC High on Saturday. The Golden Eagles will be wrestling against BC High, Scituate and New Bedford. It should be a pretty good day with some good wrestling. Next Wednesday the boys will be traveling to Longmeadow High to face the Lancers in what might prove to be a match with seeding implications for Western Mass. Might be a good one to see if you get the chance.

Central defeated Ludlow at The Nest last night by a score of 47 – 14.  However, this meeting was more exciting than the score would show. Ludlow came in as BIG underdogs, but refused to lie down for the Golden Eagles. Both coaches were trying to get the best matchups for their wrestlers and the meet turned into more of a chess match than a wrestling match. Ludlow was without a 103 pounder and so Central waved off the 103 weight class. Tyrique Dowdell bumped to 112 in place of the flu-stricken Danny Salgado and had a pretty exciting match against Ludlow's Davis Horgan. Dowdell held on for a 9 – 8 victroy to get the ball rolling for the Golden Eagles. The match that before the meet seemed to show the most promise was next with "Pistol" Pete Hager facing Ludlow's Andrew Horgan. The match did not disappoint, and Andrew Horgan squeeked out a 5 – 4 victory to get Ludlow on the board. Kadar St. Phard defeated Chris Scagliarini and Mark Correa pinned Kyle Tomas to make the score 12 – 3 in favor of the Golden Eagles. Ludlow's Chris Fanning then pinned freshman Marquis Caulton (Wrestling for the injured John Lebron) to inch Ludlow closer at 12 – 9. Bemnet Banks wrestled Steve Fleming at 140 and the ludlow wrestler managed to hold Bemnet to a 5 point victory to make the score 15 – 9. K'Shawn Ruiz at 145 was winning by score against Ludlow's Niko Gasparini when he was put to his back and pinned. K'Shawn was over emotional on his way off the mat and cost the Golden Eagles a team point. That put Ludlow ahead 15 – 14 and things started getting a little uncomfortable for the Central Faithful. Fortunately, that would be last points that Ludlow would score. Anthony Brooks scored a 43 second pin at 152 against Jimmy Provost, Williams got a forfeit at 160 and Sheldon Rhoden (filling in for injured Estavon Gonzalez) trailing 12 – 2 in the match, upset Gary Ramos with a surprise pin. Ramos was over emotional coming off the mat and Ludlow was penalized a team point. Nate Shea wrestled Mike Kennedy at 189 and won the decision 3-2. Nate collins wrestled up at 215 and scored the quick pin against Goncalo Costa and Jeff Barcher finished the night with a pin at heavyweight against Ludlow's Andrew Burgess. This wasn't the prettiest of wins for the Golden Eagles, but considering the injury and sickness this week, it was a good win.

Central next heads out to Natick on Saturday for the Natick invitational tournament. Central has done well at this tournament and there is no reason to think that they won't do well this year. If you are up to the trip, it's a pretty good tournament to watch. The Natick boosters are a great bunch of folks and always put out their best for the tournament. Come on out and cheer your Golden Eagles to victory. The bus will be leaving Central at 6 AM. Wrestling starts at 9 ish. See you there!!

The West Side Duals on Saturday were, in my opinion, a huge success, again. I still think that this is the premiere dual meet tournament in Western Mass. The competition is high level and it seems that every wrestler gets at least one high quality match that really stretches their potential as wrestlers. It's also a day for the coaches to try out their savvy as they go up against teams that many have not seen before. The machinations they go through with the lineups trying to get the best matchup is amazing and really gets them ready to compete at a high level in the post season. The tournament is also one of the best run around. The matches move quickly, the rounds move along nicely and everyone is on their way home at a decent hour.  I don't want to forget to mention the food either. The concession is great, but the coaches luncheon puts the icing on the cake. I look forward to this tournament every year. Coach Svec from West Side made a comment to me during the middle of the North Andover match, and I agree whole heartedly. His statement was, "This is where the season really begins".

The wrestling was CRAZY!!! Central was in a pool with Southington and North Andover. Central wrestled Southington first, and then North Andover wrestled Southington. Southington wasn't strong enough for either match, but served as a great warmup for what was to follow. North Andover and Central have been battling at the duals every year and it has turned into a real rivalry. The first few years North Andover was the victor, but last year Central finally got their first win against them. This year was an all out barn-burner. North Andover streaked out to a 17 – 0 lead with a boatload of momentum. It took Bemnet Banks to finally stem the tide and grab a win for Central with a pin over Frank McCarthy. K'shawn Ruiz then lost a major and North Andover was up 21 – 6. Anthony Brooks grabbed a quick pin and Anthony Williams won a decision to narrow the score to 21 – 15.  Estavon Gonzalez lost a heart breaker in the final seconds to Ryan Neals and the score was 24 – 15. "Nasty" Nate Collins then did what he does best and pinned North Andover's Jake Nehlam in just over a minute to close the gap to 24 – 21. We were still three points down with 215 and 285 coming up. We were hoping for Nate Shea and Jeff Barcher to stay off their backs to give Tyrique Dowdell and Daniel Salgado the opportunity to secure the win. That's when everything changed. Nate Shea manned up and wrestled to a 1 – 1 tie after regulation. In overtime he managed to get a takedown to tie the score and the gym was going nuts. The North Andover crowd was screaming, the Central crowd was screaming, it was bedlam! The match was going on in the upper gym and people were running up from the lower gym to see what the commotion was.  Central had the momentum and North Andover was trying to hold on. The heavyweights came out and my heart sank. North Andover sent out this giant of a heavyweight against Jeff Barcher!! It didn't look good for Jeff. Jeff is really a 215 pounder that wrestles up at heavyweight when Nate Shea wrestles. He was easily outweighed by 60 pounds and he looked short next to this giant. Jeff got hit with a takedown early but held his own and got out. It was one of those heavyweight matches where both wrestlers were pushing hard and scoring little. In the end, conditioning paid off as the bigger man gassed in the third period and Jeff, amazingly, got the take down and then rolled him over for the pin. That was the back breaker for North Andover, and Central cruised to a 41 – 24 win in a match that was much closer than the score would lead you to believe.

Central advanced out of the pool to the semifinal match and was facing a tough team from Bacon Academy.  It was another exciting match that could have gone either way, but ended up going Bacon Academy's way. Central lost by 2 points, 36 – 34. Nate Collins had a great match against Erin Norman. Norman had taken Alex Najjar to triple overtime already this season and defeated him. Nate wrestled a great match and looked like he was going to get the 2 – 1 victory, when Norman scored an escape with no time left on the clock to force overtime. Norman got the takedown in OT to win and that was probably the difference in the match.

It was a great day. The team wrestled well, for the most part. The coach knows what he has to work on and it was a successful day, even with the close loss.

Now it's time to get ready for Ludlow! PLEASE NOTE!!!! The match is Tuesday night this week. I had it on the schedule as Wednesday in error. I have changed it to Tuesday, but please pass the word. It's always a good match when Ludlow comes into our gym. You may remember two years ago when they came and nearly defeated us but for the now legendary Nate Lewis 12 point swing. C'mon down and see some great wrestling. If you are a booster, get there early and see Kim Barcher about how you can help. This is the second of 3 home meets that are our only opportunity to raise funds for the team this season.

If the Golden Eagles thought that this meet was going to be a cakewalk, they were sadly mistaken. The Spartans of East Longmeadow brought their A-game with them to The Nest and surprised the Golden Eagles with a strong performance. The fact that Central was going to win the match was never in doubt, but there were a few surprises on the way to victory. Most notable was the 8-6 overtime win by Marco Basile over Anthony Brooks. Brooks was behind 6-4 with mere seconds to go in the match and scored a reversal to tie the score at the buzzer. Unfortunately, Basile shot first and scored the overtime victory. Kadar St. Phard at 125 lbs, never really seemed to get settled in the match and was at the losing end of a 7 – 2 score at the hands of Nowlan Fonda. Jeff Barcher started at 215 lbs and surprised everyone by beating Dan Salo (the heavyweight champ at the early bird) 8-4. This was a quality win for Jeff and should get him noticed. Central won a total of 9 matches and East Longmeadow won 5. Scoring pis for the Golden Eagles were Tyrique Dowdell (103), Peter Hager (119), Bemnet Banks (140), K'Shawn Ruiz (145) and Anthony Williams (160). Scoring Pins for East Longmeadow were Shamir Maradi (130) and Justin Howe (285).

Next up for the Golden Eagles is the West Side Duals this Saturday in West Springfield.

It's opening night at the nest. FINALLY!!!!! The guys are anxious to get out in front of a friendly crowd as the Spartans of East Longmeadow come to Central to hit the mats against the Golden Eagles. It has been a while since Central has faced East Longmeadow in a dual meet. It was three years ago at the Northeast Duals. That contest is remarkable in that it is the only time that Central has swept all 14 matches and shut out it's opponent. This year, the Spartans have a much better team than that team three years ago. East Longmeadow is just coming off a first place finish at the Tomkeil tournament where they edged out Minnechaug. The Spartans will be flying high as they march into the nest, but I have a feeling that the Golden Eagles will bring them back down to earth.  There should be a couple good matchups. One will be at 125 lbs. where Kadar St. Phard is looking for some payback. Kadar will go against Nolan Fonda whom he wrestled at the early bird tournament. Kadar was way up on points when he made a mistake and was surprised by a defensive pin. Kadar is hoping to reverse that tonight. Another one to watch will be the Heavyweight match where Noel (Tasmanian Devil) Milan will make his first varsity start against the Spartans only Early Bird Champion Dan Salo. The 135 lb match could be a good match as both John Lebron and Westin Fazzino are both looking to establish themselves in the league. If Nate Shea is cleared to wrestle tonight, 215 could also be a brawl.

Even with East Longmeadow's impressive improvements, at the end of the evening when the dust settles, Central should be the victor by a wide margin. My prediction is 44-15. Come on out and root the guys to victory. Show East Longmeadow what it is like to wrestle in front of The Flock at The Nest!!!! JV matches start at 6PM and The lights go out and the strobes come on at 7:00PM for this year's introduction of your varsity Central Golden Eagles Wrestlers!! DON'T MISS IT!!!!!!

This past week was one of the toughest, grueling weeks that the guys will experience this year. For most high school students, the past 2 weeks have been a time of vacation and fun, but for the Golden Eagles grapplers, the last two weeks have been a time for hard work and improvement. The wrestlers have been practicing and competing the entire vacation with only a couple days off at Christmastime. The guys had Christmas day off but had to hit the mats again the next day to prepare for the Lowell Holiday Tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday. The hoiday is one of the biggest tournaments on the east coast and boasted 56 teams this year. Some of the best teams around compete in this tournament and it was the Golden Eagles first time attending. The guys had a great showing with many getting deep into the competition with three wrestlers placing. Danny Salgado placed third at 112 lbs and Nate Collins placed third at 189 lbs. Manny Ocasio was the only other place winner with a fifth place finish. The team scored enough points to finish 6th with only 12.5 points separating them from third place. It was a great finish for the team and a great experience.

The team rolled in late Wednesday night after the tournament and had just enough time to sleep fast and get back to the gym for practice on Thursday. The guys had the Chad Antoch Tournament coming up Saturday and needed to stay frosty to defend their title. Practice Thursday morning, practice Friday morning and then into the vans Friday afternoon to head down to Westerly, Rhode Island. The team arrived that evening, checked into the hotel and the guys hit the fitness room to get ready. Saturday brought a 7:00 AM weigh in call and the tournament was on. Some of the guys were banged up from the Lowell tournament. Bemnet Banks had a sprained ankle and was out of the lineup. Nate Shea also was out of the lineup along with John Lebron, and Mark Correa. This meant that four spots were being filled with JV wrestlers. The guys stepped it up and put 7 wrestlers in the semifinals and 6 in the finals. Danny Salgado (112), Manny Ocasio (145), Estavon Gonzalez (171) and Nate Collins (189) ended up with the gold medals while Peter Hager (119) and Anthony Brooks (152) finished in second. By the end of the tournament the guys looked pretty beat up. There was a rash of bumps, bruises and cuts. Manny Ocasio finished his finals match with a hurt shoulder and still came away with the win. Anthony Brooks had an all out war in the semifinals and ended up with a cut above his eye and his finals match was voted the most exciting. Despite the bumps and bruises, the guys finished the night upbeat. Nothing cures the hurt like hoisting the first place trophy over your head and posing for the camera.

The guys were granted the day off today (Sunday) and will be heading back to school tomorrow after "vacation".  After school they will hit the books and the mats once again to get ready for East Longmeadow on Wednesday night. East Longmeadow is riding high after winning the Phil Tomkeil tournament and will be coming to the nest to face the Golden Eagles in their home gym. The Golden Eagles have not lost a home match since 2004 when they lost to the Ludlow team that won the 2004 State championship. This is a streak that the Golden Eagles will not relinquish easily.  Come on out and cheer your Golden Eagles to victory in the first home match of the season.

Central traveled to Wilbraham tonight for a match against Minnechaug and came away the run away winner. Central won 10 matches, 7 by fall, 1 by technical fall and 2 by decision. The 140 lb class was uncontested by both teams. Registering pins for the Golden Eagles were Daniel Salgado (112), Peter Hager (119), Mark Correa (130), Brian Rivas (135), Bemnet Banks (145), Nate Collins (189), and Jeff Barcher (285). Anthony Brooks registered a technical fall at 152 lbs and Tyrique Dowdell (103) and Estavon Gonzalez (171) both won decisions.

The evening was never really in doubt but there were a couple of exciting matches. At 103 the match between Tyrique Dowdell and PJ Baker was a real barn burner. Tyrique cama away with the 8-3 victory, but the match was much closer than the score showed. The 171 lb match between Estavon Gonzalez and Matt House was another great match. House gave Estavon all he could handle and he barely held on for the 5-4 decision.

The wrestlers were cheered on by a large contingent of loyal Central fans and boosters that gave the Falcons gym a real "Home meet" feel.

The team will be practicing throughout the Christmas break and the next challenge for the wrestlers will be the Lowell Holiday tournament. This is a two day tournament that is a grueling test of strength and stamina. This is the first year that Central has been invited to the tournament and the guys are looking forward to seeing how they handle the challenge. Only the varsity wrestlers will be traveling to Lowell while the JV team stays behind to compete in the "Season's Beatings" JV team tournament in West Springfield. This is a great opportunity for the younger wrestlers to see how they stack up against some of the other teams' JV. It's a local tournament and a great opportunity for the JV parents to see their wrestlers in action. If you have the time onWednesday the 30th of December, make sure to check out the action in West Springfield.

I am away now for a few days as I travel with my family to Southern Georgia to visit my son, his wife and my granddaughter for the Christmas holiday. I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to a great year of wrestling and friendship in 2010 and I wish you and yours a prosperous New Year.