Norton High's Hudson Joins Century Club

The Norton High varsity wrestlers traveled to Northbridge Wednesday and came away with a 52-27 win, but it was costly as their starting 152 pounder Branden Pike sprained his knee and will likely be out of the lineup for a while.  

The highlight of the meet was captain Jack Cuneo's win by major decision over Northbridge's top wrestler. Ryan Gill and Aidan Kahn both won matches while Ahrayah Saintius, Brett Pike, JT Taylor, Russell Hansen, co-captain Mike Travers and captain Steven Hudson all pinned their men.    

On Saturday Norton took on Newton North, a strong Division 1 team, in the first round of a quad meet and managed to pull off one of the greatest comeback victories in the history of the program. Down 29-6 after the first seven matches, the Lancers refused to lose and ran off seven straight victories to win 42-29.  Winners by decision included Saintius, Cuneo, Brett Pike and Elliott Johnson.  Hudson won by forfeit and Travers, Kahn, co-captain Myles McAlpine and Tim Casagni all won by pins.   

The Lancers hoped to avenge their only loss of the 2011-12 season against N. Attleboro in the second round, but the Rocketeers would have nothing to do with that plan as they won seven of the 12 matches wrestled to again defeat Norton 42-24. Brett Pike, Travers and Hudson all pinned their men while McAlpine and Cuneo won hard-fought decisions.

Disappointed, but not discouraged, the team showed its grit by bouncing back in the third round against Plymouth North winning a lopsided victory of 66-18. They recorded two forfeit wins by Taylor Lucero and Sean Murrin, an injury default victory by Casagni and pins by Kahn, Taylor, McAlpine, Cuneo, Johnson, Travers, Hudson and Brett Pike.  

The Lancers are now 6-1, and this Wednesday the team will compete in their first Tri-Valley League meet at Bellingham. Next Saturday they will travel to Wakefield for a quad meet with Triton and Georgetown.       

One hundred career wins is a milestone in wrestling, which has only been reached in the past by four Norton wrestlers; Scott Coleman (148 wins), Brett Gallagher (124 wins), Erik Lane (110 wins) and Zack MacTavish (103 wins). With a high amplitude takedown and right into a pinning combination against his Plymouth North opponent, captain Stephen Hudson recorded his 100th win (80 by pin) to become the most recent member of Norton wrestling's Century Club. The best news is that he still has much of the season ahead to record many more wins (and pins).  

After two straight undefeated seasons the JV Lancers were defeated in their meet at N. Attleboro on Saturday, winning 11 matches but losing 18. Victories were recorded by Ryan Gill, Taylor Lucero, Jacob Burgess, Grant Monast, Connor Merriott, Adam Marcon, Lucas Lavallee Nick Cardone and Alek Donovan. They will be back in action on Wednesday at Bellingham.