Sports January 6, 2012 - 11 Pelham~Windham Sports PHS Wrestlers Compete in Lowell Holiday Invitational


by Marc Ayotte The Pelham Wrestling team traveled to


Lowell, MA, during the school holiday vacation to compete in the 44th Annual George Bossi Holiday Wrestling Tournament. Noted as one of the premiere wrestling events in the area, the Tournament featured 64 teams from schools scattered across New England. Pelham was one of 17 schools from New Hampshire competing in the two day event held at the Tsongas Arena. Among the teams that competed in the invitational were Vermont powerhouse, Mt. Anthony along with local wrestling machine, the Owls of Timberlane, who finished in first and second place, respectively for the tournament Reflective of a very talented field of over 650 individual wrestlers who hit the mats, the event was repeatedly referred to as “the big pond” by the event’s emcee. For the Pythons, Matt Blanchard (170), Kevin DeAngelo (138), and Jared Boyden (106) each picked up victories. However their two defeats in the preliminary bouts brought their appearances at the tournament to a premature end, as they did not advance to the second day of competition. Josh Medeiros, in the 120 weight class, was the only Python to muster up enough wins on day one to make the trip back across the border to wrestle on the following day. Jared Boyden got off to a tremendous start,


when after his first round bye, he defeated Ben Cronin of Merrimack (NH) with a pin, just 13


seconds into the match. Unfortunately, things changed in a hurry for Boyden as he suffered consecutive losses, bringing his day to a conclusion. Kevin DeAngelo, like Boyden, picked up a win by pin in his first preliminary match after a first round bye. DeAngelo was enjoying a convincing 8-3 lead in his match when he pinned Manchester West’s Adam Briggs 2:39 into the match. After losing his next match, DeAngelo’s day also came to a disappointing end when Billerica’s (MA) Tom Cormier escaped with a hard earned 2-0 decision over the Python combatant. Matt Blanchard actually picked up Pelham’s first win of the day as he did not receive a first round bye and then parlayed that match into a 13-7 win over Derek Greenwood of Manchester Memorial. However, Blanchard incurred back to back losses in the second round of the prelims, thereby cutting his day short.


Once again it was Medeiros who shined for the Python squad, but the three time New Hampshire state champ did not display the dominance we’ve been accustomed to seeing. The Pelham standout picked up four wins over the two day event. On day one, Medeiros picked up a 7-2 decision over Sean Ahern from host Lowell as well as a 5-3 win over Kyle Peterson of Manchester Central. The win over Peterson qualified Medeiros for the championship bracket quarter finals on the following day. Medeiros ran into a human buzz saw in the form of King Phillip’s David Logan, who walked off with a pin win, 4:10 into


Pelham’s Josh Medeiros (left) has his way with Salem’s Jon Rheaume during a consolation quarter finals match at the Lowell Holiday Tournament


the match. Medeiros rebounded remarkably with impressive victories over standout Salem (NH) wrestler Jon Rheaume (7-3 decision) and Tyrique Dowdell (12-0 major decision) in the consolation quarter finals and semis, respectively. However, subsequent losses in the next two matches ended his tournament, but not before a respectable sixth place finish. The snap-back victory over Rheaume, who is considered to be pound for pound, one of the best wrestlers in New


The Snake Pit Goes Wild in Python Win


Derek DeFranzo’s aggressive play which resulted in him going eight for eight from the charity stripe. It was the third quarter that brought on the ‘uglies’ as the two teams barely combined to score double digits, with Windham squeaking out a 7-6 advantage to pull within two heading into the final stanza. “We couldn’t get out in transition and do what we do well” was Regan’s game assessment. But what they did do well was capitalize on what would be costly Jaguar mental miscues that marred the final minutes of the game. Two Windham technical fouls and an intentional


foul, which gave the Pythons two free throws and possession of the ball, allowed the home team to take the lead in what was a very close game at the time. The key blow to the Jags was the intentional foul call that sparked the Pythons fourth quarter surge; “offensively we came alive basically after the technical(s) in the fourth” observed Regan. But it was ultimately Vaiknoras’s jumper from the


left side that proved to be venomous to the Jaguar efforts. For the game, Derek DeFranzo led all Pelham scorers with 18; with an impressive 14 for 16 from the free throw line. Jake Vaiknoras added seven points to go with his ‘shot heard round the Pit’ to finish with 10. However, it was Erik Nystrom’s play that caught the attention of Coach Regan and earned him player of the game recognition. Nystrom dumped in a dozen points and was impressive on the glass, pulling down 10 boards, with six of them coming in the game’s final four minutes.


After a season opening loss, the Pythons have rebounded nicely by winning three straight. Pelham’s next game is Friday, January 6, when they travel to Milford and attempt to avenge last season’s loss to the Spartans in the semi-finals of the state championship tournament.


Python Matt Blanchard takes down Derek Greenwood of Manchester Memorial during 13-7 preliminary bout win at the Lowell Invitational


Hampshire drew the praises of Python assistant coach Chris Thomas; “that’s probably the best match I’ve seen him (Medeiros) wrestle in the two years I’ve been here,” adding, “he started with a plan and stuck to it”.


Your doctor is:


by Marc Ayotte “You couldn’t even hear yourself think after he made that three” were the words of Pelham boys’ head coach Matt Regan after his team came away with a hard-nosed and blue collar-like 50-44 victory over cross-town rival Windham. The ‘he’ in Regan’s observation was Jake


Vaiknoras, the standout sophomore who drained his long range jumper in ‘tres’mendous fashion from just in front of the Snake Pit Crazies. Trailing by a single point with less than two minutes remaining in the game, Vaiknoras’s trifecta morphed Pelham’s one point deficit into a two point advantage. With the Python partisans exploding with excitement after the triple snapped the bottom of the twine, Regan later noted that was the loudest decibel volume he can remember in the Pit in a long time; “Jake hit a monstrous, monstrous three” exclaimed Regan. The Python coach gave credit also to Erik Nystrom whose offensive rebound set the stage for the Vaiknoras led fan-tastic finish. Saying that the Pythons had a horrendous shooting night from the floor would be an understatement, but Regan did acknowledge that Windham’s defense had a lot to do with it. The Pythons struggled for their points whereas the Jag’s points came with relative ease, when they did score. Concerned with the way in which Windham scored their points, Regan noted, “they scored thirty points, literally on lay-ups,” while making only one three pointer. The head Python attributed the Windham lay-up parade to an ‘over- playing’ by his defense, allowing the Jags to sneak back door for the easy buckets. After a nice job offensively in the first quarter,


Pelham saw their efforts pay off with a 16-12 lead. The two teams pretty much traded points in the second quarter with the Pythons taking a 29-26 lead into the locker room, thanks in large part to


Foundation Medical Partners welcomes Anitha Kuchipudi, MD.


Anitha Kuchipudi, MD, is board certified in Internal Medicine. She earned her medical degree from University of Health Sciences, Siddhartha Medical College, Andhra Pradesh, India, and completed her residency at Rush-Westlake Community Hospital, Melrose Park, IL.


Dr. Kuchipudi has practiced in the area since 2001.


We welcome you as a patient. For more information or to make an appointment,


please call 603-890-4652. Anitha Kuchipudi, MD | 23 Stiles Road, Suite 216, Salem, NH 03079 | P: 603.890.4652


A member of Foundation Medical Partners and proudly affiliated with


A H I G H E R L E V E L O F C A R E . www.snhmc.org


Staff photos by Len Lathrop


Staff photos by Marc Ayotte


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