ANDOVER — On Monday, Alexander (Sandro) Luck was told that he wasn’t going to be in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s huge Merrimack Valley Conference wrestling showdown with undefeated Methuen.
He wasn’t happy about that decision.
Later that night, he sent a text to coach Michael Bolduc asking why he was being left out. Bolduc and his coaches had good reason for that decision – Luck had no luck staying healthy over the last year: concussion, broken collarbone, broken vertebrae and dislocated kneecap. He hadn’t competed in a varsity match in almost a year.
The thought of putting Luck into the lineup seemed a bit too risky.
But then Bolduc reconsidered, knowing that Luck — along with his twin brother Adrien — are simply too talented and too savvy when they get on the mat.
Trailing 5-2 in the second period of his 144-pound match, Sandro got out of a near pin, flipped his opponent Javi Sanchez over and eventually pinned him.
Adrien followed with his own pin, and the rest was history.
Andover (8-2) pulled out the big upset, winning 48-31 over the Rangers.
“Both of them are very dangerous wrestlers. There are times when they make mistakes, but they are like a boxer, who is getting beaten up for seven or eight rounds but then will knock you out. They are those types of wrestlers,” said Bolduc.
Last season got cut short at the end of January for Sandro after he suffered the concussion. He came back during the summer and broke his collarbone. While at the doctor’s, he mentioned that has back had been bothering him. Tests revealed that he fractured vertebrae. After healing up, he got cleared for this season, but in the first week of practice, he dislocated his kneecap. He worked his way back to health and convinced his coach to give him a shot.
And it certainly worked out.
“(Sanchez) was a little bit stronger than me and it was tough with his takedowns. I was expecting to lose (down 5-2) and I just gave it one last shot,” explained Sandro. “He had my arm there and I thought he had the win. I just thought to myself that I’ve got to do something. I just shot up and (flipped him over).”
That followed with Adrien pinning Matt Bolduc at the 1:03 mark, giving Andover a 30-9 lead and Methuen could never recover.
“I was also expecting to lose, but then I saw (Bolduc) gassed so I just knew that I had to go the extra mile and (get the win),” said Adrien. “I don’t over or under estimate my opponents, but I have to feel things out at the start of a match and appearances can be deceiving. I just felt like I had to win because everyone was so excited and yelling (after Sandro’s win).”
Besides those two wins, Jason Ballou (120), Yandel Morales (126), Nicholas Archambault (132), Anthony Archambault (175), Lucas Souza (190) and Jacob Medeiros (285) all won their matches by pin for Andover. For Ballou, a sophomore, it was his 91st, needing nine more to 100.
Methuen’s wins came from Dominic Gangi (113), Vinny DeMaio (159), Joe Bolduc (165) and Michael McCormick (106) all by pin and then Anthony DeMaio (138) and Gabe Fonseca (215) by decisions.
“Some nights the guys wrestle great and some nights they don’t have it,” said Methuen head coach John Sughrue. “Andover wrestled very well and they just wrestled better than us tonight. That’s how it goes sometimes. I knew it was going to be a tough battle and there were some matches that I assumed that we were favored in that we ended up losing. Some Wednesday nights I’m right with that stuff but tonight I wasn’t. A lot of times you can learn a lot more from a loss than a win, and this team is strong and we’ll bounce back. We’ll see what we have next week.”
Twitter: @JamiePote
ANDOVER 48, METHUEN 31113 (start): Dominic Gangi (M) pinned Maddy Li (A), 1:16; 120: Jason Ballou (A) pinned Antonio Rios (M) 2:13; 126: Yandel Morales (A) pinned Joe Tavares (M) 3:52; 132: Nicholas Archambault (A) pinned Isaiah Moses (M), 1:08; 138: Anthony DeMaio (M) major decision over Chase Tedeschi (A), 8-0; 144: Alexander Luck (A) pinned Javi Sanchez (M), 3:25; 150: Adrien Luck (A) pinned Matt Bolduc (M) 4:57; 159: Vinny DeMaio (M) pinned Gavin Oliveira (A), 1:53; 165: Joe Bolduc (M) pinned Gavin Cooper (A) 0:40; 175: Anthony Archambault (A) pinned Corey Kalivos (M) 0:57; 190: Lucas Souza (A) pinned Jayzen Castillo (M), 2:56; 215: Gabe Fonseca (M) won by decision over Thomas Osborne (A), 7-1; 285: Jacob Medeiros (A) pinned Peter Simone (M), 0:50; 106: Michael McCormick (M) pinned Riley McLeon (A), 3:34.
Records: Methuen 10-1; Andover 8-2.