No. 2 Gilman rallies past No. 14 Spalding
Senior Allan Gushue knew he and his Gilman wrestling teammates did something special Wednesday night.
“I’ve watched Gilman wrestling going on 12 years now, and we usually get beat pretty bad by Spalding,” he said. “For us to put in the work in practice and to come out and beat a good team means a lot to us.”
The second-ranked Greyhounds got key wins in the middleweights to rally from a five-point deficit and defeat No. 14 Archbishop Spalding, 49-26, in a key MIAA A Conference tussle.
Gushue did his part, pinning Spalding’s Zane Korman just 54 seconds into their match at 157 pounds.
Trailing 26-21 after a forfeit at 132 pounds, Gilman (5-0) got wins from Tyson Sherlock (138), Emmitt Sherlock (144), Gushue and Nick Haughey (165) wrapped around a Spalding forfeit at 150 to vanquish the visiting Cavaliers (7-4).
“We started at 175 and went through a key part of their lineup and went down, and
I thought our guys fought back,” Gilman coach Bryn Holmes said. “I told our kids that every point matters. That’s kind of the shift that we’ve made the last five years. The boys are starting to understand the mentality and what matters.”
“It was pretty quick. I didn’t know much about him, but I got the job done,” said Tyson Sherlock, who pinned Nico Stellar in 54 seconds to give the Greyhounds the lead for good at 27-26. “I got a quick takedown and then a pin. I did what I needed to do for our team. They barely beat us last year. We’re becoming known as a wrestling school, and it’s great to see us get the credit we deserve.”
Other winners for Gilman on the night were Marcus Walker at 175 and Carson Mingo at 190. Heavyweight Bryce Wilson and 126-pounder John Juckovic won by forfeit. Spalding’s winners were Eli Chesla at 106, Henry Gessford at 113, Sean Garretson at 120 and Peter Jerdal at 215. Zane Leitzel at 132 also won by forfeit.
The most exciting match of the night was Garretson’s win. Although he was unable to pin Gilman’s Zach Glory, he dominated in the third period to turn a close match into a 10-3 win.
The Greyhounds face top-ranked Mount Saint Joseph next Wednesday.
“We’ll get right back at it against Mount Saint Joe,” Holmes said. “For us to have a chance we have to have everybody healthy and be on our A-game. We’re really looking forward to that.”
Spalding coach Michael Laidley said his team did the best it could being shorthanded.
“We had two of our starters out. We knew they had a good team, so we didn’t really expect to come here and win,” Laidley said. “Our heavyweight got sick, and our 126-pounder, who’s the real deal, was also out. The end result could have been very different if they were here. We’re ready for the end of the year. We’ll be there in the end.”