Ashland High wrestling team earns seven pins for wins in a victory over Wayland

ASHLAND — Win by pin.

With a chance to secure a victory for his wrestling team on Wednesday night, Kevin Botsis accomplished a career first.

Botsis locked up a pin with a “bulldog” move at 195 pounds as the Ashland High sophomore put the match out of reach for the Clockers in a 45-30 win over Wayland at Ashland Middle School.

“Kevin, he works the hardest in the room probably every day,” Ashland junior Patrick DesLauriers said.

“He’s one of the toughest kids we have,” Ashland senior captain Matt Gillis said.

“He works his tail off and he’s a coach’s kid, pretty much,” Ashland coach Pete Zacchilli said. “He does everything that we ask him to do.”

Wins by pins for Clockers

Botsis was one of seven Clockers to secure a win via pin against the Warriors.

Here’s a breakdown of each Ashland High wrestler who grabbed a pin on Wednesday:

Lucas Ribera, sophomore

Weight: 120 pounds

Move: Stack

Quote: “I wanted to go for the cross-face cradle. I couldn’t, he built back up. I chopped and bumped his arms and I went for the stack. I got him right to his back.”

Nora Quitt, sophomore

Weight: 126 pounds

Move: Boots

Quote: “I threw in legs and I pushed his hips down and I threw in the half and I cranked his neck and I was able to pin him from there.”

Lucas Silva, sophomore

Weight: 138 pounds

Move: Stack

Quote: “Went from high crotch – kept it and got a bar and I stacked it.”

Liam Fleming, sophomore

Weight: 160 pounds

Move: Half nelson

Quote: “Hit a low single and dropped him right to his butt and the half was there so I hit it with everything I had.” (It was also his birthday).

Anton Puhach, freshman

Weight: 170 pounds

Move: Turk

Quote: “I had a cross-face; I go to his leg and lift it up. Hook the other leg and then lay on the flat of his back.”

Kevin Botsis, sophomore

Weight: 195 pounds

Move: Bulldog

Quote: “I snapped the kid down and threw my arm underneath his and flipped him over on his back and held him there until the ref called a pin.”

Patrick DesLauriers, junior

Weight: 220 pounds

Move: Power half nelson

Quote: “You put your arm underneath his and on his head and you use your forearm into the back of his head to pry it down and over.”

Please don’t stop the music

To open up Wednesday’s non-league match, Ashland wrestlers warmed up to the 1980 song “Hells Bells” by AC/DC.

Ever since Zacchilli arrived at Ashland High as a wrestling coach in 2013, the Clockers have cranked the hard-rock hit during warm-ups.

“If I listen to it outside of the wrestling season I can’t, I have to turn it off. It’ a ritual,” DesLauriers said. “I hear the bells play when we’re in the locker room coming out and it’s a great feeling. … ‘Hells Bells’ is a big song for us here in Ashland, especially the wrestling program.

“It carries a lot of weight because all of our older brothers, siblings (and) friends who wrestled before us (listened to it) and it’s just not the same unless it’s the wrestling season.”

Zacchilli instills the motif off “I’m a rolling thunder” – which is the first line of the popular AC/DC song – into his wrestlers.

The Clockers wear white T-shirts with “ROLLING THUNDER” etched in blue ink on them with a clock and a lightning bolt (which is part of the AC/DC logo) located in between the two words. Their blue wrestling singlets also have a white bell with two skeletons imprinted on the left leg of the grappling gear.

“It’s our team song,” Gillis said.

“It’s more than just a song,” Zacchilli said. “It’s an attitude.”

Ashland’s opponent on Wednesday night also has its own musical tradition.

Dating back to 1970, the Wayland High wrestling team has listened to the song “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix before each home match.

For 52 years now, the popular tune has been a staple in the Warriors’ wrestling room. When former state champion Chris Newton got married in 2006, his groomsmen (all Wayland High wrestling alums) ran out to “Fire” and did laps around the ballroom at his wedding ceremony.

Ironically enough, Newton married the daughter of former Wayland High wrestling coach Gary Chase.

“He cried for that but he didn’t cry when my sister got married,” said Sean Chase, Gary’s son and the current head coach of Wayland wrestling.

Gary was so moved by the gesture, he couldn’t perform his father-of-the-bride speech.

“My mom was furious,” Sean said. “She made him get up and do the speech again later. I’ve never seen the father of the bride have to redo his speech at a wedding.”

But that proves the power that songs like “Fire” and “Hells Bells” lend to wrestling programs like Wayland and Ashland. It’s given them a greater sense of purpose – and connection – through the years.

“It’s stuff like that that sticks with people,” Sean said.

“It brings me back,” Zacchilli said. “A lot of tradition.”

Tommy Cassell is a senior multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tcassell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Daily News Ashland wrestler gets monumental pin in win over Wayland