Match of the Week: Hughes (Milford) vs. Fernandez (Dean Tech)

MILFORD – Travis Hughes hadn’t done much wrestling through his first three matches of the season.

The Milford High School senior needed just 30 seconds to pin his opponent in last Wednesday’s season-opening dual meet with Merrimack, and at Saturday’s Milford/Souhegan Tournament, he recorded pins in his first two matches in a combined 4:26.

Entering the final at 285-pounds, Hughes was looking for a little revenge against Dean Tech’s Philip Fernandez.

“I knew I was going into a quality guy like Fernandez,” Hughes said. “I’ve wrestled him before and he beat me in the offseason, so it was a little bit of a redemption match for me.”

The pair wrestled through a scoreless first period, but Fernandez picked up a point early in the second and held a 1-0 lead going into the final two minutes. Even though he was down, Hughes didn’t panic.

“I was watching his matches before and I knew he likes the ankle ride,” he said. “I knew standing up, it was a fight, and I didn’t want to go through two minutes of fighting him. So if I stood up and got the spin, the ankle is gone. All I was thinking was I need to sit out and I can’t try to stand up against this guy. To get up that quickly was really a relief for me. I didn’t want to be down to 30 seconds and still have to get up.”

Hughes got up in under 10 seconds to tie the match 1-1, and that’s where it still stood after the third period and the first overtime.

After being unable to hold Fernandez down earlier in the match, Hughes knew it was important to keep him down in the second overtime.

“Holding him down, because he got up really fast on me the first time, so I had to just put my weight on him and I was holding on for dear life at the end of that,” Hughes said. “With the last stand up, with the fighting of the standup, it’s a huge relief. It was tough but it feels great.”

Milford coach Dana Bourassa was glad to see Hughes get a grueling match early in the season.

“Heavyweights often times don’t get six-minute bouts, never mind overtime bouts,” the coach said. “Huge advantage for Travis to have a match like that at this time of the season, and now he knows what he needs to work on. He doesn’t quit and he’s an athlete.”

Hughes sees it as a big change from a year ago.

“When I came into last year, and I would have those kind of matches, I would be not able to move after,” he said. “For that, just that long of a match and that hard of a match, shows how football and offseason conditioning really helped me. Don’t get me wrong, I was tired, but I wasn’t dead.  To get that and see where my conditioning is, this early in the season, all I can do is go up.”