LONDONDERRY – The Concord Crimson Tide may not have had any wrestlers in championship bouts, but the overall strength of its wrestlers across the board carried the team to fourth place at the Division I championship on Saturday at Londonderry High School.

Timberlane came out on top, with three wrestlers claiming their weight class title, and 237 points in total. Salem (211) and Keene (191) finished second and third, and Concord had nine wrestlers in the top six of their weight classes, placing fourth with 147 points.

Once again, the Tide proved that their depth was its biggest strength.

Three weeks ago, Concord hosted the Capital City Classic and was in a very similar situation as the state championship. They had no finalists then, or at the 38-team Keene Minickiello Holiday Tournament, and Saturday was no different. According to the assistant coach, Nick Zeras, this is the first time in a long time that so many of Concord’s wrestlers have advanced to the Meet of Champions.

Nine of the 14 Tide grapplers advanced.

Juniors Max Chung (157 pounds), Isaiah Puckett (215) and Wayne Gutierrez-Sakakeeny (285) all placed third with fantastic finishing performances to secure much-needed points. Chung won an 8-1 decision, Puckett won a 6-1 decision, and Gutierrez-Sakakeeny pinned Jayden Kuilan from Manchester Memorial in their third-place bouts.

“Those guys have put a lot of timeline effort in. They’re training year-round, and some of them, I think, were a little disappointed last year with their performance,” Zeras said. “Definitely put a lot of effort in and we were really trying to focus in this past week on making sure they were doing everything they could to be at their absolute best for today.”

Sophomore Biswas Darji (106) finished fourth and got knocked into the consolation bracket in the semifinal by eventual champion Reid Grandmason of Exeter. Salem’s John Blocksidge pinned him in the third-place match in the second period. Junior Owen Gregg (126) was also pinned in the third-place match by Keene’s Carter Trubiano to finish fourth.

Concord’s seniors, Sawyer McCready (150), Anthony Gualtieri (175) and Carl Sirrianna (190) all finished in fifth place. Last but not least, junior Jaxon Carter (144) fell to Bedford’s Jackson Bergeron in the fifth-place bout by decision, 6-2.

The MOC will be held on Saturday at Pinkerton Academy starting at 9 a.m. where the Division I’s best will grapple agains the best from D-II and D-III.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com