The team celebrates their victory over Westerly
 

Wood River Junction - Chariho High took care of business when it needed to and benifitted from five forfits to take a 46-25 wrestling victory over a rival Westerly High thursday night.

The victory at the Chariho Middle school gives the Chargers a 4-3 lead in the brief, but ever-growing rivalry between the two schools.

"It was fantastic," Chariho coach Scott Merritt said of the match witnessed by about 300 fans. "My middle guys really came through and the seniors really wanted this bad.

Chariho is now 9-3-1 overall and 6-3-1 in Class B2. The Bulldogs dropped to 6-5 overall and in the league.

When the match started the Chargers were at a distinct advantage with 30 team points already on the books via five forfits.

The Chargers sealed the victory at 140 pounds when Chris Hagan pinned Doug Menard 37 seconds into the second period. The six points gave Chariho a 25-10 lead. Chariho still had 18 more points coming on forfits so the lead was actually 33 points. Since Westerly had only four more wrestlers remaining the most points it could obtain would be 24.

"Coach said I had to watch his legs and I could stick him," Hagan said. "I was very nervous becaused I had never faced him before."

One of the best matches of the night came at 135 pounds where Chariho's Eric Ahern defeated Adam Waters 15-6. Both wrestlers had their moments and Ahern said it was a bit nerve-wracking to find himself on his back in the second period.

"He put me in a headlock and rolled me and I got a little scared," Ahern said. "But I was really proud of the team tonight.  We've been preparing for this match for three weeks getting our weights situated."

Westerly coach Vince Cardoza gave the credit to the Chargers.

"We knew we had to win eight out of the nine we wrestled," Cardoza said. "You have to hand it to them, they won the matches the needed to win. The forfits  hurt us, but they wrestled better against us than I thought they would. You can't take anything away from them."

Forfit winners for the Chargers were Craig Falcone (103), Dave Bussiere (112), Brendan Smith (160), Adam Pepler (171) and Joe Bettencourt (189).

Dan Fogg also beat Taylor Wildes at 119, 5-0, and Chris Ripstein earned a 7-0 decision against Kyle Graichen at 215.

Westerly's Tyler Mason (145), Zach Waters (125), Nathan Socha (130), Adam Hanna (152), and Matt Champagne (heavyweight) were winners.

Mason pinned Graham MacCoy in 2:28, Waters won by a 15-0 decision against Terry Thomas, while Socha won by the same margin against A.J. Normandin. Hanna got an injury default against Peter Pepler.

Champagne, the defending state heavyweight champion, defeated Dewey Gunther, 4-0, earning all his points in the final period.

Chariho earned the right to retain the Chariho-Westerly Challenge Cup for a year. Chariho wrestlers hoisted teammates onto their shoulders with the cup held high at the conclusion of the match.

"This is what it's all about. Look at Vinnie, he's out there talking to Brendan (Chariho's Brendan Smith) right now and I spoke to a lot of the Westerly kids and wished them good luck in the states," Merrit said. "It's a rivalry and a friendship. The matches were entertaining and we really had a good crowd. This has turned into an event."