Boys’ wrestling defeated Watertown 50-27 Thursday, Feb. 3, away, in a comeback win fueled by key plays from individual players.

“There were matches that could have gone either way,” said campus aide John Staulo, the head coach. “A score like that can be very misleading, because most of the matches were fifty-fifty. It was good that we had resiliency, because it wasn’t clearly in our favor.”

In the 106 weight class, Watertown executed a pin in the first eight seconds of the match.

According to Staulo, the players need to hone their positioning techniques. “Kids are always working on repetition practice,” said Staulo. “When it comes down to it, they’re going to go off their instincts, so we need to work on common trouble positions.”

In the 113 weight class, junior Isaac Choi successfully pinned down his opponent with four seconds left of the first round. However, this remained Newton’s only win for some time with Watertown winning the 120 and 126 weight classes. 

Despite the rough start, North gained momentum after junior Benji Brenner achieved a technical fall, when one wrestler wins automatically by scoring fifteen or more points, in the third round of the 145 weight class. 

Brenner said that he aims to polish his pinning skills even though he secured the victory. “I realized I was really close to a tech near the end, so I let him up and took him down a couple times so I could get there, but that’s definitely something to work on for me.”

North surged into the lead with pins by seniors Bryce Busa and Jason McNew in the second rounds of the 152 and 160 weight classes. 

Senior Ian Cotter, a captain along with senior Billy Blumenthal, said that strong performances from individual athletes allowed the Tigers to come back. “We were down by a pretty large margin after the first few matches, but some of our upperclassmen and heavyweights stepped up with key pins that fueled our comeback,” said Cotter.

In the 195 weight class, Watertown won by a decision, but North secured the win with quick pins by senior Marshall Griggs in the 220 weight-class and senior Marcus Davis in the heavyweight. 

“It was a good team effort,” said Staulo. “Watertown is well-behaved sportsmanship wise—that’s not true of all opponents.”

North, 4-5-1, finished 8th at sectionals Saturday, Feb. 12, at Newton South High School. They will compete in Fitchburg for the MIAA State Tournament Friday, Feb. 19.