NORTH READING — If you thought last year’s Lynnfield-North Reading wrestling team’s season was something, posting a winning 13-1-1 record after two years of winning just one match combined, then you have to believe that the 2024-2025 season is well on its way to being something special.
The Black and Gold’s magical ride continued Saturday at North Reading High with the team posting yet another perfect 3-0 performance at a super quad, taking on Bedford-Acton-Boxborough, Salem, and Belmont to bump its dual-meet record to 16-1-1.
“Our team has been showing great balance with all wrestlers stepping forward to get needed wins at different times,” said coach Craig Stone. “Today we had three quality wins over two Division 1 programs in Bedford-Acton-Boxborough and Belmont and a Division 2 team in Salem.”
The Black and Gold opened with a 50-30 win over Bedford, winning nine of 14 matches and leading from start to finish.
LNR followed with a 54-29 win over Salem, a team it had not beaten since 2020. Unlike the match against Bedford, the Black and Gold dug an early hole, trailing 29-18 after the first eight matches. LNR roared back in style, winning each of the final six matches by pins to seal the win.
In the final match of the quad, LNR again got off to a slow start, trailing Belmont 30-12 after eight matches, but rallied to win the next six matches to close out a perfect day.
Nathan Barstow (113 pounds), Jakob Hulett (126), and Cam Arya (165) led the Black and Gold with three pin-wins each. Barstow wasted no time in collecting his three wins, spending less than three minutes combined on the mat before finishing off his opponents. David Glynn (157), James Fodera (190), and Dylan Matthews (285) also finished 3-0.
Zach Inafuku (106) and Jack Cuddy (175) finished with two wins, while Isaac Medford (138), Sam Bird (126), and Zack Morse (215) also entered the win column.
While there are still a good two more weeks until the end of the dual-meet season, Stone said the team needs to keep its eyes on the prize going into the tournament in February.
“We will need to keep that concept of TEAM (Together Each Achieves More) to continually drive ourselves through the rest of the season,” he said.
Stone has high praise for his four-year seniors – Fodera, Arya and Medford – as well as four-year veteran Glynn (who wrestled as an eighth-grader), who struggled to go a combined 1-45 their first two years when the team was undermanned and could not fill most weight classes.
“The adversity and challenges those four have gone through says a lot about their character,” Stone said. “I am sure the lessons they have learned on the mat will carry them through as well in life.”
The Black and Gold are back on the mat Thursday against Cape Ann League rival Pentucket at Lynnfield High School (5:30 p.m.).
