RallyNorth.net

It's Miller time for Knights

Thursday, February, 07 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

With senior standouts Kyle Dolan and Andrew Bogosian immediately preceding him in the lineup, North Andover heavyweight Mike Miller hasn't gotten much notice this season.

But yesterday, in the Knights' 37-22 victory over Phillips Academy, Miller was the hero as veteran head coach Dave Castricone picked up his 599th career win.

With the meet starting at 135 pounds, North Andover got a second-period pin from Jake Munroe to get things rolling and then built an early 17-3 lead.

But Lawrence's Hector Cintron, improving to 18-1 on the season, recorded a pin in 47 seconds at 171 for the 16-3 Big Blue (16-3). And in the best matches of the day, Shaun Stuer clipped Dolan 5-2 at 189 and Andover resident Reid Mosquera, a junior who sports a 16-1 record, had a strong third period to overcome Bogosian, 8-5.

That cut the North Andover lead to 17-15 with Miller up next against vastly improved Big Blue heavyweight Alex Gottfried, who also happens to be a North Andover resident.

After a scoreless first period, Miller took a 1-0 lead with an escape in the second period and had a takedown and back points in the third to record a 5-2 victory, improving his record to 13-3.

"I was pretty confident," said Miller, a junior who owns a 30-13 record. "I've wrestled him (Gottfried) in practice so I knew what to expect. He's good with a roll, so I tried to prevent that. It worked out pretty good."

That win kept the Knights in control, 20-15, and set up six points from 119-pounder Frank McCarthy and five points from Jimmy Connelly at 125 to put it beyond reach. McCarthy had the fastest pin of the day at 30 seconds and Connelly, who was named Cape Ann League Wrestler of the Year over the weekend, had a dominating technical fall.

"The heavyweight match was probably the key match at the time, so that was big," said Castricone. "They (Phillips) definitely have a good dual-meet team."

Jared Hood (145) and Derek Timpe (152) won by major decision and Alex Smirnov (160) won by decision for the 19-7 Scarlet Knights.

For Phillips, in addition to Cintron, Stuer and Mosquera, Robert Palmer (112), North Andover's Ryan Gaiss (130) and Ben Elder (140) all were winners. Gaiss, a freshman, improved his record to 14-3 with an impressive major decision over Sal Scali.

"We wrestled OK, but I thought it might be a little closer," said Phillips coach Rich Gorham. "The heavyweight match got away from us. That was one I was hoping for, but you never know.