The Madison High School wrestling team (1-2) got itself into the win column Friday night with a 67-12 win over rival Chatham High School in Madison.
 
While the Dodgers have struggled early on this season, losing their first two dual meets of the season, they showed no ill effects in taking home victories in each of their first eight matches of the night.

Chatham offered up three consecutive forfeits, at 145, 152 and 160 pounds, to begin the match—and five forfeits overall—putting the Dodgers in good position to capture their first win of the season.

“I pretty much expected the score to be similar to what it was and it’s good to see that the guys did what they were supposed to do,” Madison head coach Steve Healey said after the win.

But regardless of how it was done, Madison was more than happy to score a lopsided win against its border rival.

“We had a good feeling coming in,” said senior captain and heavyweight Mike Boardman, who recorded an 11-1 win in his match. “We lost to our next-door neighbor rival Hanover Park two nights ago and we wanted to come out and stick it to another rival. We wanted to show no mercy and I think we did that today.”

After the five forfeits gave Madison a 30-0 lead, the actual wrestling began. At 215 pounds, senior Tom Tracy recorded a first-period pin and Chatham found itself down, 46-0.

After Chatham’s only two wins of the night, at 112 and 119 pounds, Madison junior Patsy Davis, wrestling at 125 pounds instead of his customary 119, got the Dodgers back on track with a first-period pin to widen the lead to 52-12.

Sophomore John Costa followed with the night's most exciting match as he won a double-overtime thriller, 7-6, against Chatham's David Lappin at 130 pounds.

“They had forfeits tonight, but our guys who stepped on the mat got it done,” Healey said. “Costa had a huge match, a district match, and he was able to gut it out and win it in overtime, which is going to help him down the road.”

Madison would take the final two matches as Conner Stark (135) and Max Gotsch (140) each recorded first-period pins, to cap the victory.

“The team attitude is getting better, we’re working a lot harder in the room and conditioning harder,” Boardman said. “We’re just trying to stay mentally tough.”