The road to a repeat begins Sunday at noon for the reigning Division 3 State Champion Triton Vikings (20-4), but bracket earthquakes occurred as recently as yesterday.
A pair of top-seed Division 3 wrestling teams decided to pull out of contention at this weekend's Division 3 Dual Meet tournament at Lowell's Tsongas Arena.
Pembroke High School, the Division 3 South Sectional champion and No. 2 seed, withdrew due to several wrestlers contracting impetigo, a bacterial skin infection. Mount Greylock, the Division 3 West Sectional champion and No. 3 seed, opted to skip the tournament due to injuries in four weight classes, illnesses in two others and a lack of a heavyweight wrestler.
The Holliston Panthers, who lost to Triton by the slimmest of margins in last year's Div. 3 final, were originally slated as the Vikings' first opponent, but as news simmered up about Pembroke and Mount Greylock withdrawing, rumblings that the William Dean Technical High School Knighthawks, a cooperative team with Holyoke, began to brew as the first to get a shot at dethroning the Vikings.
Although their first-round opponent has already changed twice, Triton's third (and first) opponent appears to be set in stone. The Vikings are set to face off against the Scituate Sailors, winners of the Patriot League's Fisher Division title and a team that achieved an undefeated league dual meet record.
Whether it's the Panthers, the Knighthawks or the Sailors, head coach Shawn McElligott's strategy has never altered.
"We're looking at it like every other dual meet," said McElligott, whose team just missed out on becoming three-time Div. 3 North Sectional champs. "Every individual match has a different challenge to it, and it's all about matchups. We'll use our entire team. Whatever the matchup entails."
This outlook has been the key to the team's seasonal and tournament consistency; the Vikings have notched at least 20 wins for the past four years.
"It's a different year, and we have different wrestlers in different weight classes, but the philosophy doesn't change," McElligott said. "We expect to compete with everyone. Our team effort has never changed, and we'll be a handful if everyone is willing to do their assignments for the team."
Led by senior captain and Division 3 state champion Bryan Giblin (41-2 record, 182 lbs.), the Vikings are once again an auspiciously deep team that has accepted and thrived under the tradition-steeped tutelage of McElligott and assistant coach Ryan Archambault.
"Even with last year's seniors gone, this is still a very similar team," Giblin said. "Just a strong core of wrestlers and our underclassmen are one year older and more experienced."
Another Triton staple: progression.
"We keep it simple. We move forward. When a meet or a tournament ends, win or lose, we put it behind us but also do our best to learn from and correct our mistakes," Giblin said. "We bring that into practice, and we just keep whatever we have next as our main focus throughout the week until we're just as mentally prepared as we are physically prepared. "
Juniors Victor Ramirez (35-6 record, 106 lbs.) and Mark Rosmarinofski (33-8 record, 120 lbs.) have proven themselves as wintertime monsters, freshman Luke Boyle (40-6 record, 126 lbs.) has taken the Cape Ann League by storm with a devastatingly effective second season, and his sophomore brother Mark, at 145 pounds, has proven just as reliable with a 35-8 record.
Add a slew of other determined wrestlers like sophomore Cody Nixon (23-13, 132 lbs.), junior Clay Bruneau (25-15, 170 lbs.) and senior captain Ryan Clay (16-2, 195 lbs.), and the Vikings look poised to make another serious run at championship hardware.
"No matter who we face, there's going to be two really solid teams going at it, and whoever comes up with the best effort will come out on top," said Clay, who noted the difference between being an underdog last year and a target this year. "I think other teams will definitely look at it as a way to boost their own confidence. Beating the reigning champion is what every team wants to do, but we're champs for a reason. We know how they're feeling because we've already gone through that."
A Triton win against Scituate would have them facing the victor of Tyngsboro and Hampshire Regional at 3:30.
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