"The wins from Craig and Kennedy were huge," said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. "Hitschler has a history of frustrating people, but David did really well to keep his composure and just go out there and wrestle.
Santoro continued, "Joe's really starting to turn a corner. It's been a long freshman year but he's doing a nice job. He just goes out and wrestles hard every day."
John McDonald fell behind early to Rollie Peterkin at 125, giving up seven points in the first period to the Penn Grappler. McDonald made several attempts at takedowns, but Peterkin quickly turned them all around for points as he rolled to the tech fall, by going up 17-0 at the 6:45 mark.
No. 15 Matt Fisk jolted the Leeman-Turner Arena crowd to its feet with a sudden victory at 133. Fisk gave up his 1-0 lead in the third by allowing Bryan Ortenzio to earn a takedown with 1:30 left in the period, but the junior slipped away for the escape seconds later to knot the score at two. In overtime, Ortenzio came in for a shot attempt but Fisk began to slip behind him as the seconds ticked off the clock. The two wrestlers spun in a circle on the mat for nearly 20 seconds as Fisk fought for the points, eventually earning the takedown with just one second remaining in the overtime period.
No. 19 Seth Ciasulli put Lehigh back on top with a 2-0 victory over Rick Rappo from Penn. Ciasulli and Rappo were even throughout the match, with only a two-point near fall from Ciasulli in the second leading to points. Ciasulli was on top to begin the second and flipped Rappo over for just long enough to earn two back points, and that was all he needed to secure the victory.
Once again the Lehigh fans were on their feet after No. 15 Trevor Chinn earned a tight 3-1 victory over No. 11 Cesar Grajales at 149. Each wrestler earned an escape to start the second and third periods, and with less than one minute remaining the match appeared to be heading for overtime. With 40 seconds left, Chinn scored the only takedown of the bout, grabbing Grajales ankle at the edge of the mat and slipping around for the points as the grapplers went out of bounds. After Chinn held off a Grajales attempt at a reversal, the Leeman-Turner Arena crowd rose to give the senior a standing ovation as he walked off the mat for the final time in Grace Hall.
No. 18 Matt Dragon was too much for Sean Bilodeau at 157, taking the freshman down three times and earning a two-point near fall. After riding time and a penalty point against Bilodeau, Dragon walked away with an 11-2 major decision to knot the team score at 9-9 heading into the intermission.
At 165, No. 14 Mike Galante put Lehigh back on top with an 8-3 decision over Andrew Coles. Galante came out of the gate with a quick takedown as both wrestlers shot in at the same time, but Galante drove Coles into the matt, leading to an injury timeout. Galante would score two more takedowns in the match to earn the decision in convincing fashion.
Penn evened the score again at 174 when Scott Giffin earned a close decision over No. 17 Alex Caruso. Trailing 3-0 in the third, Caruso turned the tide with a big reversal to cut the deficit to one. Giffin extended his lead with a big takedown late in the period, but a Caruso reversal brought him back within two points. But Caruso simply ran out of time to score one last takedown and suffered the 7-5 defeat.
Craig had his hands full against Colin Hitschler at 184, but he pulled out the 7-2 decision to give Lehigh a lead which it would not relinquish. Hitschler had two illegal hold calls against him, resulting in two points for Craig. The Lehigh junior held a 2-1 lead in the third when Hitschler went in for a takedown, but Craig drove his body over his opponent and recorded a takedown of his own. After the second illegal hold call on Hitschler, Craig threw in one more takedown for good measure to pull out the 7-2 win.
Kennedy gave Lehigh breathing room with a huge victory at 197 over Thomas Shovlin. Kennedy was leading 1-0 when Shovlin grabbed a single leg to try to score a takedown. He held Kennedy's leg in the air for several seconds as he tried to trip his other leg, but Kennedy slipped away and ended up on top for his own takedown. One more takedown in the third from Kennedy led to back points and the necessary insurance in an 8-2 decision, making the team score 18-12 heading into the final bout.
All Rey had to do in the final bout was avoid being pinned for Lehigh to earn the win, but the freshman heavyweight was not ready to settle for that. Rey wasted no time scoring a single-leg takedown in the first and flipped Trey McLean over for the fall in just 2:50.
"This was one of those duals where every match could have gone either way," said Santoro. "When two good teams go at it, every point counts."
With the loss, Penn wraps up its dual season at 11-7.
Next up for the Mountain Hawks is the EIWA Championships, which Penn will host at the Palestra beginning Saturday, March 7.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now