The family plan is alive and well in Haverhill.

Led in large part by the three Morris boys in the lineup, the Hillies have gone 14-1 in dual meets and are ranked in the top 10 in New England in both dual meet and tournament formats, according to the latest Schwartz Report.

Freshman Aiden Morris is ranked among the top five wrestlers in the state at 106 pounds, while his brother Shea is the third-ranked Bay State wrestler in a loaded 138-pound weight class. If that wasn’t enough to drive opposing coaches crazy, their cousin, Michael Morris, is ranked second in the state at 113 pounds.

“It’s really great having the three of them on the team,” said Haverhill coach Tim Lawlor. “We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a lot of family members on the team before, so this is like having an extended family on the roster. Having the three of them does add an element to the wrestling room because they work very hard every day.

“They are all awesome boys, great kids who make it easier for me. The three of them are very similar as wrestlers in the sense that they have a little funk in their style, they’re not always the traditional type of wrestler.”

Despite their current successes, the Morris brothers didn’t exactly take to the sport as love at first hold. Both credited their father Matthew (a former standout wrestler at Pentucket) with helping them get over the hump.

“I started wrestling when I was five and actually I didn’t like it,” Shea Morris said. “I would get mad after losing and I think I was too young to understand how much work I needed to do. I learned once I started putting in the hard work, I started winning and realized that it was something I had to do.”

Added Aiden Morris: “I think I started wrestling at birth and I didn’t like it all. Once I got to middle school and started to see people I knew wrestling, I started to realize that this is something I wanted to do.”

Michael Morris was molded by his father (Joel) and uncle (Matthew) and he’s clearly reaped the benefits. The junior recently cracked the 100-win mark and has no intentions of slowing up.

“To get the 100th win was awesome, it was nice getting a lot of praise after the match,” Morris said. “There were a lot of family and friends there along with my teammates, so it was a great feeling.”

Talk to the three Morrises, one underlying theme is the love they have for the team. Aiden Morris sums things up perfectly.

“There’s nothing better than being in the wrestling room here at Haverhill, it’s the best around,” Aiden Morris said. “You have so many people pushing each other to get better. It really is like a family,”

Holding pattern

Every winter day for the past 27 seasons, Newton North coach John Staulo eagerly waited for the end of the day to get down to his beloved wrestling room.

The recent Newton teachers strike put an end to that routine.

Like every other teacher and coach in the Newton school system, Staulo has been in a holding pattern, waiting to see when the strike would end and he can resume coaching. Making the situation tougher for Staulo is the fact that the sectional tournament is a week away and not being able to properly prepare his team is frustrating.

“We’ve had to cancel some dual meets and a quad meet,” Staulo said just before the strike ended Friday night. “We don’t have much time left in the season because the cutoff date is next week, so it’s become very tough for guys like myself and (Newton South wrestling coach) Alan Rotatori.”

It isn’t necessarily missing meets as much as the practices leading up to the events. Staulo is well known as one of those guys who wears his emotions on his sleeves, which explains why he has a large roster.

“That’s the part I really miss,” Staulo said. “We got about 45 kids on the team, they show up to practice every single day because they like being a part of the team. Not having that continuity is really frustrating because they really look forward to this.”