The Falcons wrestling team beat the Pilgrim Patriots 69-12, before falling 54-13 to the Cumberland Clippers during a Tri Meet on Tuesday evening hosted by Cranston High School West.

Falcons freshman Domenic Schiavulli pinned Pilgrim’s Kiara Scanlon 21 seconds into the 106-pound bout.

One minute and 11 seconds into the 120-pound match, West freshman Luke Montefucsco pinned Aaron Gluchacki.

Next, Falcons freshman Baker Kattan earned a pin in the third round on Jaydyn Moniz, a sophomore, at 128 pounds.

At 145 pounds, West freshman Matt DeFusco defeated sophomore Brady Burke by a 7-5 decision.

Pilgrim secured its only two wins when Hunter Nemirow, a junior, pinned Jacob Robert in the second round of the 195-pound contest, and then Dikran Krikorian, Pilgrim’s lone senior, pinned sophomore Rory Perrino during the second round of the 220-pound match.

The Falcons got a big 48-point boost during the competition because the Pats were forced to forfeit eight of the matches, which gave Anthony DeCotis, Chris Gomez, Tyler Stephenson, Landon Giampietro, Noah Robert, Dylan Walters, David Vieira, and Jose Diaz all wins.

Then, West faced the Clippers, which proved to be a much tougher task.

“Cumberland’s a tough team all the way through,” Falcons head coach Tom Lynch said. “Those guys wrestle year-round and it shows.”

In the biggest duel of the night, West’s Gomez, a junior stud, secured the Falcons three points when he edged senior Colby Reilly 7-5 in a decision during the 132 lbs. bout.

“The key match was obviously that first one with Gomez and Reilly,” Lynch explained. “Basically, Gomez took third in the state last year at 126, and Reilly took second. So, that was a big deal that Gomez just eclipsed the second-place state finisher at 126 last year. It’s absolutely huge. It puts him at first seed right now for the state. He’s top dog.”

Next, during the 160-pound match, Robert, a senior, notched a 14-3 major decision over Cumberland senior Antonio Gianfrancesco, which was good for four more Falcons points.

“He wrestled really well,” Lynch said. “He really came through for us tonight at 160. And in my opinion, he had him pinned, so it could have been six points for us. But he went out there, he did his job and fought really hard.”

West finished out the night with a victory in the last match at 285 pounds when Diaz, a heavyweight, pinned Cumberland senior Zack Refino 35 seconds in and got West six more points.

“He’s a junior and he did a real good job,” Lynch said. “It’s always good to finish with a win regardless of the score. And the score was 54-13, better than what I thought it was going to be. You never know with a team like Cumberland. They can come in and just shut you out. But these guys fought. They fought hard. They didn’t just roll over and get pinned. And these are top-notch guys. Some state champions, a lot of All-Staters there - All-New England guys.”

“This was a big win for us emotionally because we were able to go the distance with a lot of these guys that should have outright really just flattened some of our guys,” Lynch continued. “And you’ve got to remember too, I’ve got a team of 18 freshmen. So, a lot of the guys out there tonight were freshmen against seniors going the distance. So, for a Cranston West freshman to go against a Cumberland senior and go the distance is saying a lot for the heart of this team and for the future of this team.”

And Lynch hopes his team can build on its success from last Tuesday and finish the season strong.

“I think we’re going to have a great season,” Lynch concluded. “Cumberland’s right up there, top 3. I think they’re ranked No. 1 right now and we’re ranked No. 2. And we plan to be top 5, for sure. And we also plan to go into the freshmen states with 18 freshmen. We won the Freshmen State Championship last year, and I think we’ve got a good shot to do it again this year with 18 freshmen.”

The Falcons traveled to Cranston East for a showdown on Wednesday, but the results weren’t available at press time.