WILLIAMSTOWN -- Size matters in wrestling. Not just height and weight, but the size of the team.
The more wrestlers a team has the better its chances will be.
That was evident Thursday night when Taconic won three of the five contested matches against Mount Greylock, but still lost 51-28. The Mounties won seven matches by way of forfeit.
"With seven kids, every kid has to pin in order for you to even tie," Taconic coach Matt Chamberlain said. "So we knew coming into [Thursday] that we weren't going to win, but I thought we wrestled very well."
Taconic got pins from Travis Kuni and Austin Houghtaling, as well as a forfeit win for Tajaye Davis, but it wasn't enough.
Greylock's Devin Pelletier won the night's first contested match with a 6-4 decision over Nick Bailey at 120 pounds.
Cayman Mead picked up the final contested victory for Greylock by pinning Josh Tassone in the second period. It was the final victory the Mounties would need as it put them ahead 27-0.
"There is no better feeling than pinning somebody," Mead said. "I think I fought off my back pretty well. It was a pretty bad match on my part, but I was able to get the pin, which is all that really matters."
Taconic's Dylan Sickell responded with a 15-7 major decision over CJ Lillie to give the Braves their first points of the match.
Greylock's Mitch Graves was supposed to have the day off. With Taconic not having a wrestler
Instead, the senior missed weight by one-tenth of a pound and was forced to wrestle at 152 pounds against Kuni. Kuni won the match with a third-period pin.
"Basically, I wasn't expecting to wrestle and I don't think I warmed up well enough," Graves said. "I was more worried about the fact that I didn't make weight, I just wasn't focused."
Both teams can feel the effects of one team not having enough wrestlers to fill all the weight classes. A guaranteed win is never the best thing to help a team prepare.
With so many forfeits a match can come up much faster than expected. For Graves, what may have normally been a 25- to 40-minute wait to start his match, was just a 15-minute delay from the start of the match.
"When there is a tough meet everyone gets more pumped up," Graves said. "Everyone wants to win their individual matches, more people show up and it's just more exciting. So yea, when we're wrestling a small team, like, it's hard to get as fired up."
With just one day separating this dual meet from the individual tournament, the Mountie Invite, this Saturday, it can be hard for wrestlers to maintain their routines.
Mead's key to victory was staying focused. For the sophomore it was a matter of going through the same routine he and his team go through before every meet. The 132-pounder says the team attempts to treat every meet the same, be it a dual or an individual.
But staying motivated can always be tricky.
"It's though always for kids to get motivated," Greylock assistant coach John Carvalho said, who was filling in for head coach Ray Miro. "There is a lot of sickness and stuff going around, with makes it tough. It's late in the season and they're getting prepared for a big meet this weekend, but I mean they just want to get on the mat and wrestle. That's usually the main concern.
"They shouldn't be looking forward. They should think positive for all the meets."
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