Christmas has been over for a while, but that didn’t stop North Andover High wrestling coach Larry Coughlin from receiving a few presents on Friday. Earlier in the day, he and his wife welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Bridget, into the world.
“It’s been a busy few days, but my family and I are so excited to welcome our daughter Bridget to the world today,” said Coughlin. “This is going to be a challenging year for me as a coach, but I have incredible support from the team, coaches, administration, and most importantly, my family.”
Then a few hours later from his hospital room, he watched his Scarlet Knights come through with their first team win of the season, a huge 45-34 win over the defending Division 3 state champions of Tewksbury.
“I was able to sneakily watch most of the match on our livestream. I’m just happy to see that we competed tough tonight and with some attitude against a good team,” he said.
Picking up wins for North Andover were Trayven Chen (215), Frank Gouveia (285), Alexia Henriquez Silva (106), Jacob McCormick (138), Declan Noonan (144), Mauricio Colon-Perez (165), Lucio Colon-Perez (175) and Aiden Aquilina (190).
Chen, Gouveia, Noonan and Mauricio and Lucio Colon-Perez won their matches by pin.
Boys Basketball
Malden Catholic 65, Haverhill 41
The Hillies trailed by five points in the third quarter before the Lancers dominated the rest of the way to come away with the non-league win. Saul Cruz finished with a double-double for Haverhill with ten points and 13 rebounds.
Xaverian 68, Methuen 52
The Rangers fell to 3-3 on the season with the non-league loss. Lennon De La Cruz was the team’s top scorer and Ezekiel Andino was strong coming off the bench.
Central Catholic 47, St. John’s Prep 40
The Raiders improved to 6-1 with a big non-league victory. Antonio Lopez was the top scorer with 12.
Central will host BC High on Sunday.
Greater Lowell 78, Whittier Tech 47
The Wildcats (2-5) fell to a strong CAC opponent despite strong performances from Jayvian Rosario (15 points) and Rich Tayag and Trever Mullarkey, who both had nine points.
Notre Dame Cristo Rey 68, Pioneer Charter Saugus 52
Sophomore Derian Osuna led the way with 22 points as the Panthers remain perfect on the season at 7-0. Freshman Ysael Garcia chipped in 14 points and pulled down six rebounds. Senior co-captain Isaias Feliciano added ten points.
Pelham 68, Sanborn 67
A Brady Hegan put back with 3.2 seconds lifted the Pythons to the hard earned road victory. Pelham (2-2) got out to a 14-2 lead before Sanborn responded with a 13-3 run. From there on out the teams traded punches, the lead changing multiple times.
Hegan finished with 27 points, Brady O’Connor added 18 points and Justin Bowlan tossed in nine.
Windham 63, S paulding 56
Jack Koutrobis had another big night scoring 17 points, while teammates Tyler Jordan and Sam Roidoulis had 13 each to lead the Jaguars.
Timberlane 90, Goffstown 57
The Owls had it going offensively all game, led by 23 points from Jeremy Mlocek.
Alvirne 52, Pinkerton 37
Brady Sullivan finished with 14 points and Adam Ajouz chipped in with six points and added eight boards for the Astros.
Lowell 71, Lawrence 63
The Lancers fall to 0-6, 0-2 in MVC play.
Girls Basketball
Pelham 48, Sanborn 18
The Pythons led by 13 at the break before breaking it wide open in the second half. Grace Riley led all scorers with 17 points, Jessie Phillips added 12 points, and Sophia Guinazzo and Hannah Kelly chipped in nine and eight respectively.
Pinkerton 58, Alvirne 39
The Astros had three players end in double figures including junior guard Brooke Benz with 21, senior guard Sydney Gerossie with 15 and sophomore forward Mia Marshall finished with 13.
Windham 67, Spaulding 17
A spread out scoring attack allowed the Jaguars to easily improve to 7-0 on the season. Sarah Guarnaccia and Lilah Boucher had ten points each, while Megan Husson (9), Avery Steffanides (8) and Grace Mondello (8) chipped in as well.
Salem 72, Memorial 21
Lily George scored a career-high 32 points to help Salem cruise to the lopsided victory. Lindsay Goetz and Ella Mosto had eight each.
Goffstown 49, Timberlane 40
Despite a 21-point effort from Rylee Donahue, the Owls fell short. Ella Lampron chipped in with nine points.
Central 54, North Andover 22
Junior Lilly Phillips had a game-high 18 points to keep the Raiders perfect at 5-0. She was helped by Aniela Kwo, who added a dozen. For North Andover, Sydney Rogers finished with seven points and six rebounds and Natalie Gonzalez had four points and eight boards.
Lowell 58, Lawrence 29
The Lancers were defeated by a much improved Lowell team. Playing well in the loss were Yeira Davilla with 11 points and Altagracia Maria Nunez with nine.
Dracut 52, Haverhill 19
The Hillies couldn’t get much going offensively in the MVC matchup.
Billerica 45, Methuen 32
The Rangers were defeated by their MVC rivals. Nour Aganan led the Rangers with 10 points, and Ainsley Low had nine.
Girls Hockey
Andover 4, Leominster 2
In a non-league game played late Thursday night, the Golden Warriors (4-1-1) had four different scorers to lead the team to victory. Lucy MacLean, Brooke Howard, Nora Hurley (GWG) and Abby Walles found the back of the net, while Nora Hurley and Grace Johnson had two assists each, and Walles, Abby Srivastava and Bella DiFiore had one each.
Goalie Catie Edwards earned the win in net.