Saturday,
December 31, 2011
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Rutherford's John Boyle gets in on the leg of Nick Maselli during his 8-5 win in the 138-pound final. |
RUTHERFORD -- If Rutherford’s John Boyle needed a wake-up call, he got one of the best in last night’s 138-pound final against highly-regarded Nick Maselli of Emerson/Park Ridge. Maselli hit him with a shot right off the opening whistle and had Boyle down by two points less than 10 seconds into the match. Boyle knew he still had plenty of time and knew he simply had to speed up his original gameplan.
Boyle scored a takedown late in the second period to grab the lead for good on his way to his first BCCA title with an 8-5 over Maselli.
"I know what he likes to do, but he knows me too. I tried to make him wrestle my match instead of wrestling his," said Boyle. "Even after he took me down right off the bat I tried to keep my composure and not get rattled at all."
Maselli came into the match on a high with a technical fall in the semis and it carried over as he took Boyle down within seconds to grab an early 2-0 lead. Boyle quickly bounces back though by escaping for one point and then hitting a shot for a single-leg takedown to grab the lead, 3-2, going into the second period.
Maselli escaped to tie the score, but Boyle was unrelenting in his attack and eventually scored another takedown with 38 seconds left in the second to take a 5-3 lead. Boyle, a senior, put it away in the third when he escaped from bottom almost immediately and took Maselli down again for a commanding 8-3 lead en route to title.
“This feels great. Last year I got here and I lost a 1-0 match to [Connor] Melde," said Boyle. "It feels good to finally take that step up the podium, but I have to keep working. The season is not over yet, it's only the beginning."
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