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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The Needham High School varsity wrestling team began its season on Saturday with two victories in their annual season-kickoff jamboree-style match against Rockland, Norwood, and Boston Latin.
Led by senior captains Brady Liss (120 weight class), David Kurker (142 weight class), and Dan Aksman (182 weight class), the Rockets were able to grind out two hard fought victories against Norwood and Rockland, before falling in a tight 39-37 contest to Boston Latin to close out the day at 2-1.
The day began with Brady Liss taking down his opponent from Norwood in the 120-pound weight class match, earning a pin in the first round that set the tempo for what was to be a dominant performance by the Rockets throughout the day. Aksman and Kurker also took care of business in their respective matches, and the Rockets were all fueled up and rolling heading into phase two of their three-match slate with a 60-15 win over the Mustangs under their belt.
The Rockets put together another complete effort against Rockland following their victory over Norwood to start the day, as Liss and company pinned their way to another victory to improve to 2-0 on the afternoon and headed into their final match against Boston Latin looking for the clean sweep.
Unfortunately, a hard fought effort by the Rockets that included multiple pins by Liss and Aksman were not enough in their third match against BL, as the Rockets fell 39-37 in a valiant effort. Even with the close loss in the third contest, Saturday’s showing was about as solid of a start to the season as the Rockets could have asked for. Each wrestler in each weight class had multiple positive takeaways from Saturday, and the Rockets now know their strengths and aspects they need to improve upon in order to keep up their strong play within the Bay State Conference.
