Holy Cross junior Gunner Guidry and sophomore Rylee Reeves won their wrestling bouts after each trailed with less than a minute remaining in the final period, helping the Tigers defeat perennial state power Brother Martin 43-16 in a dual Wednesday at Brother Martin.
Guidry took a lead from Brother Martin senior Jacob Elsenshon with a takedown and then kept a 5-4 lead for the final 30 seconds of the 144-pound bout. Reeves (150 pounds) won the next bout with a two-point reversal for a one-point lead then then pinned his opponent with just 2 seconds remaining — essentially taking three points from Brother Martin and giving his team six points for a 30-13 lead with four bouts remaining.
Holy Cross won 10 of the 13 contested bouts in the dual between schools that finished third (Brother Martin) and fourth (Holy Cross) in the Division I state championships last season.
Holy Cross will take on reigning state champion Jesuit next Wednesday at home.
“We just kept the pedal to the metal the whole way through,” said Guidry, a state runner-up at 152 pounds last season.
Needing a comeback was “not exactly how I wanted to win the match,” Guidry said. “You do what you got to do. I came out on top and didn’t stop wrestling.”
The Holy Cross lineup included seven returning state place winners.
Four Holy Cross wrestlers won by pin. Joining Reeves were Albert Sherman (285 pounds, 21 seconds), Landon Smith (126, 3:44) and Ethan Regis (190, :26).
Other Holy Cross winners included returning state champion Nick DiGerolamo, a junior at 157 pounds, and sophomore transfer Anthony Oubre, who placed third at 106 while at Brother Martin last season and wrestled at 113 Wednesday for Holy Cross.
“It felt great,” Holy Cross head assistant coach Ben Heyolb said. “On our team, we’re always looking to grow and to improve. That’s kind of our team motto: fixing those fundamentals and making sure everything you do is spot on and having faith that being in the right position and doing the right thing always is going to get us the victory.”
Heyolb recalled how Holy Cross “dropped a couple really good duals to Brother Martin” last season.
“It’s nice to see us this move in that direction (this season)," said Heyolb, iwho arrived before last season with head coach George Benoit.
For Brother Martin, two-time reigning state champion Richie Clementi won by an 11-6 decision against Matthew Krail at 138 pounds. Other Brother Martin winners were senior Hunter Chabert (132) and Rory Horvath (165).
“Those guys came and punched us in the mouth,” Brother Martin coach Andrew Nicola said. “They owned our gym today. Hopefully in one way, shape or form, we can get one back and return the favor. If nothing else, we gave (Holy Cross) a whole lot of hope. When you big-man somebody, it makes it that much easier going into the next match, ‘Oh ho, remember what I did last time. This time it’s going to be worse.’”