TILTON – The wrestler and his coach practiced the move for months, nearly a year.

It’s a maneuver that can change the course of a match in one tick of the clock.

It’s the move that made Mark Borak a division champion.

The Bow High senior was wrestling from behind against Newport senior Dylan Palmer in the final round at 152 pounds. Palmer was in control; he led by six on the scoreboard in the third period with about 40 seconds left.

Time wasn’t on Borak’s side. He had one shot at pinning Palmer. It was the only way he could win.

They moved across the mat on their feet, sizing each other up. When they engaged, Borak wrapped his left arm over Palmer’s right shoulder and snuck his right arm underneath the other shoulder.

“I kept thinking, ‘I’m not letting this go,’ ” Borak said. “I worked too hard for this. I’m not going to let him turn around. I knew I was still down 8-2 and if he got turned around I probably wouldn’t have been able to turn him again.”

Palmer was trying to make the right decision, and he had choices to weigh with the lead on his side.

“I looked up at the clock and I saw 43 (seconds), and so I was debating whether I should go defensive or I should go offensive and try to work something,” said Palmer, who entered the tournament as a fourth seed. “I was afraid of getting a stalling call, giving him a point. ... I don’t think it was a mistake, I think it was just poor choice. It sucks.”

The move is a lateral drop, and Borak didn’t know how to do it last year. He placed third at 138 pounds in the 2017 tournament and decided he would spend his summer training on the mat. Hoffman helped Borak learn the move in the offseason.

The work paid off. Borak used the same move to defeat Kobe Briand of Winnisquam in the semifinals.

“Training in the offseason was the best decision I ever made,” Borak said. “I’ve been so committed to this sport over these past four years. I wanted this very bad.”

The Falcons placed second overall with 156 points, 17.5 behind the champions from Plymouth, which won its third title in four years. White Mountains placed third with 116.5 points. Winnisquam (61 points) placed seventh, Kearsarge (54) was eighth, John Stark (33) was 10th, and Coe-Brown (16) placed 13th.

It’s the first time Bow has finished as the runner-up in Division III in at least eight years. The program has grown over the last few years since Hoffman, along with assistant coaches Steve Krause and Charlie Roberts, pushed for more middle school kids to get involved and begin to learn the sport.

Borak was a freshman when Hoffman took over the program. They embraced after Borak pinned Palmer, the culmination of four years of an education in wrestling. Borak had never wrestled before high school, though he wishes now that he had.

The same can be said for Mason Benedict, a Kearsarge senior who was crowned Division III champion at 132 pounds. His win came with a similar flair of drama as Borak’s. 

Benedict, too, was behind on the scoreboard in his final-round bout with JC Gaumer of Plymouth, but points didn’t matter in the end as Benedict won by pin.

Benedict placed second at 126 pounds last year.

“I saw an opening and just took it and kept my mind in the game,” he said. “That’s always been my enemy – mentally just not being able to get through these tough matches, but I was able to do it this time. I couldn’t be more happy.”

“JC is a good, strong, tough wrestler, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” he added.

Borak is one of eight Bow wrestlers who qualified for the Meet of Champions, while Benedict and Reilly Mosklaenko will represent Kearsarge.

Mosklaenko pinned Tracey Cristiano of Plymouth for third place at 220 pounds.

Bow freshman Colby Rousseau qualified for MOC as he defeated Jason MacAllister of Plymouth by decision for third place at 113 pounds. 

Other Bow wrestlers to qualify for MOC include Matthew Pingree (third place, 120 pounds), Zackary Anderson (second, 126), Andrew Bliss (third, 138), Alex Boufford (second, 170), Jonathan Sutera (second, 195) and William Zachistal (second, heavyweight). 

Coe-Brown’s Tucker Goodwin (second, 113) qualified for MOC, as well as Winnisquam’s Hunter Finemore (second, 120) and Kenzie Bourgeois (third, 126). John Stark’s Jeffrey Johnston (second, 220) also qualified.

The Meet of Champions will be held Saturday at Nashua High School South.