Woodbridge Uses Bonus Points to Edge Montgomery in Immaculata Tri, 40–29

Nicholas Mistretta

MHS ’79 Cougar Sports Correspondent

SOMERVILLE — A late surge from the upper weights wasn’t quite enough for the Montgomery wrestling team on Saturday, as the Cougars fell to Woodbridge, 40–29, in a dual contested at the Immaculata tri-meet.

Woodbridge built its victory on bonus points, piling up pins, technical falls and a key forfeit to stay just out of Montgomery’s reach despite a strong run by the Cougars through the middle and upper part of the lineup.

The match opened at 120 pounds, where Gavin Fong set the tone for Montgomery with a disciplined 5–3 decision over Lucas Perez to stake the Cougars to a 3–0 lead. Woodbridge answered immediately at 126, with Michael Hernandez scoring a 16–1 technical fall over Rishi Bagchi to put the Barrons in front, 5–3.

Woodbridge then rattled off two more wins at 132 and 138 to widen the gap. Josiahs Cruz pinned Derek Bravo-Pelaez at 5:24 of the 132-pound bout, and Steven Meier followed with a tight 5–4 decision over Andrew Medina-Ortiz at 138, giving Woodbridge a 14–3 advantage.

Montgomery struck back at 144 when Johnathin Swank dominated Javian Cruz, earning a 19–3 technical fall and cutting the deficit to 14–8. But Woodbridge regained control at 150 with another lopsided technical fall from Lukas Valentin over Aidan Diggan, pushing the Barrons’ lead to 19–8.

The Cougars’ best stretch came in the next four bouts.

At 157, Anjin Tsuchihashi turned in a commanding major decision, 13–1, over Alexander Bravo to give Montgomery four much-needed team points. Islombek Azimov followed at 165 with a fall over Christian Ramos at 3:03, and suddenly the Cougars had closed the gap to 19–18.

Momentum continued at 175, where Aiden Shakirov was relentless in a 16–0 technical fall over Kenneth Mongelli, giving Montgomery its first lead since the opening bout, 23–19. The Cougars then extended that margin at 190, with Jahkee Carr awarded a forfeit to make it 29–19 and cap a 21–0 Montgomery run across four weights.

From there, however, Woodbridge’s upperweights and lightweights took over.

At 215, the Barrons got six points back via forfeit to pull within 29–25. At heavyweight, Jhonny Collado needed less than a minute to pin Jacob Huntoon in 0:53, flipping the team score in Woodbridge’s favor, 31–29, heading back down to 106.

Needing wins in the final two bouts, Montgomery instead saw Woodbridge close the door. At 106, Kymani Saez edged Benson Chen in sudden victory, 8–5, for a three-point decision. At 113, Noah Perez delivered the final blow, pinning Nicholas Vitiello in just 18 seconds to lock in the 40–29 Barrons win.

Despite the loss, Montgomery showcased several bright spots in the middle and upper weights, especially the bonus-point efforts from Swank, Tsuchihashi, Azimov, Shakirov and Carr.

Photo Credit: Nicholas Mistretta/headlinenewsmontgomery.com