Prior to the Bedford wrestling team’s inaugural season, coach Darren Root had a decision to make.

Should he take a conservative approach and try to build confidence among his seven freshmen and one sophomore, or should he aggressively seek established competition to better his grapplers in the long run?

He chose the latter.

Only on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Division II state wrestling championships, was he truly convinced he made the right decision.

“In a tournament like this, where you’re going up against seasoned seniors, they weren’t afraid, they were confident in themselves, and they pushed the pace. They got better every match, all season long, and that’s what I wanted to see, and to top it off with the way we wrestled today, I couldn’t be happier with our performance,” said Root.

Four wrestlers earned points for the Bulldogs, including sophomore 112-pound captain Caleb Earnshaw, who advanced to the consolation final after losing a late 2-1 decision to rival Niko Nachef of St. Thomas.

Though the two were set for a rematch, with third place on the line, the NHIAA ruled Earnshaw couldn’t wrestle again because he had already competed in five matches, the state one-day limit, even though one victory was an injury forfeit.

“He had short-term memory, he wrestled back through (the bracket), and he did a fantastic job to get there,” said Root. “It’s too bad it had to end on a technicality … but our goal for Caleb from day one was to get to MOCs. He did that.”

Freshman 145-pounder Frankie Connery pinned St. Thomas Aquinas’ Chris Kaieleiry in the first round, then fell to Con-Val’s Justin Mitchell in the second and lost to Souhegan’s Misha Greene in the consolation bracket.

Jeremy Nault drew a firstround bye in the 215-pound weight class, then lost to No. 1 Ian Wedemeyer of Bow in the second round and Pelham’s Rob LaRose in the consolation bracket.

Justin Blakeley lost to Souhegan senior Ben Glassman in the first round of the 119-pound weight class before winning two matches in the consolation bracket, including a pin of Franklin’s Dan Bartenstein.

Likewise, Troy Stafford lost to John Stark’s Keith Morrill in the 135-pound opening frame and then won two matches, including a 16-2 major decision against Winnisquam’s Katie Chapman.

Also competing for Bedford were 189-pounder Hunter Trottier and 285-pounder Craig Tyre.

“Of all the teams I’ve been a part of, I’ve never seen a team come so far, so fast,” said Root, who previously spent five years at Merrimack. “In two or three years, when these kids are juniors and seniors, that’s when you’re really going to see all that expertise and experience come back … Then we’ll see if this little gamble we took pays off.

“But we’re well on our way. Hopefully we can get a middle school program up and running next year and get that pipeline going.”