UPDATE: No. 13 Rutgers edges No. 7 Lehigh 18-15 to win in NWCA Dual Series
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by Anthony Hernandez, Rutgers and Steve Lomangino, Lehigh
Smith Sends No. 13 WRES Home With 18-15 Win Over No. 7 Lehigh
Scarlet Knights take six of 10 bouts to end dual season 16-5
by Anthony Hernandez, Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Feb. 20, 2016) – It once again came down to the final match between No. 13 Rutgers wrestling and No. 7 Lehigh Saturday night at the RAC. The dual score was tied, and so too was No. 13 heavyweight Billy Smith (Wantage, N.J.) and No. 14 Max Wessell entering tiebreakers. But Smith had been there before.
The redshirt senior (23-6) reversed Wessell to begin tiebreakers, held the Mountain Hawk off in the next 30 second stanza, and sent Rutgers wrestling home with an 18-15 NWCA National Duals Championship Series win over the Mountain Hawks (13-3, 7-0).
“That’s as big a spot as you’re going to get, against a really good kid who’s having a great year,” said head coach Scott Goodale. “For both of these guys [Smith and Anthony Perrotti] there’s just a bunch of confidence we’re going to win those matches. Looking at the dual meet on paper, there’s eight toss-ups in that match. So every single point was contested all the way through.”
“He’s been in these spots before and he’s been solid there, and Anthony’s [Perrotti] been in those spots before and been solid there.”
RU (16-5, 5-4) closed the 2015-16 dual season with its seventh ranked win of the year and third against a top-10 opponent. To boot, the Scarlet Knights clinched their second consecutive RAC win over their former EIWA rival, doing it again courtesy of a winner-take-all decision from Smith at heavyweight.
“In the grand scheme of things, what does this win mean? It’s huge for our program,” Goodale said. “It’s Lehigh, tremendous tradition, a ton of respect for those guys. There’s chippness, [but] I have all the respect in the world for [head coach] Pat Santoro and that staff. We’re just fighting really, really hard for those guys just like they’re doing. Every point mattered, we knew that. It means a lot to beat Lehigh, there’s no question about it. Now let’s move onto the Big Ten Championships.”
No. 7-ranked redshirt senior Anthony Perrotti (Roseland, N.J.), who secured an 8-5 decision against No. 16 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) at 165 pounds, was overwhelmed after taking down Lehigh in the final dual of his college career.
“It’s indescribable,” Perrotti said. “It was crazy. Unlike Billy, I do the math. I’m a big student of the sport. I like our odds in some matches here and there. I thought [Nicholas] Gravina could have pulled that one out. [Hayden] Hrymack had beaten that guy before. So I didn’t think it was coming down the Billy … [but] I’ve got nothing but confidence in him. He’s been doing this for five years. He’s really been the backbone of this program at the upper weight.
“I remember my sophomore year he might have won seven matches in a row for us coming down the heavyweight. He’s just got a knack for it. I guess that comes with being a heavyweight and comes with being on a good team. I couldn’t be more proud of him. I couldn’t be more proud of the way we wrestled.”
Overall, Rutgers won six of 10 bouts against the Mountain Hawks, beginning with No. 5 Anthony Ashnault (South Plainfield, N.J.) at 141 pounds. Ashnault (24-2) defeated No. 17 Randy Cruz for the second consecutive meeting, this time by a 9-2 score to make the dual score 8-3.
Prior to the RU win, Lehigh’s No. 13 Darian Cruz (125 Pounds) and Mason Beckman (133 Pounds) each scored major decisions over Sean McCabe (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and Josh Patrick (Rector, Pa.), respectively.
But Rutgers rode the momentum of Ashnault’s win over the next four matches, earning victories from 149-174 pounds.
Tyson Dippery (Harrisburg, Pa.) kept it rolling with a 6-0 decision at 149 pounds, and No. 12 Richie Lewis (Toms River, N.J.) gutted out a 12-7 decision against Drew Longo to give Rutgers a 9-8 lead at intermission.
That lead ballooned to 15-8 following an 8-5 decision by Perrotti and 9-2 decision from Phillip Bakuckas (Hammonton, N.J.) at 174 pounds.
But Lehigh punched back, with No. 3 Nate Brown fighting off No. 20 Nicholas Gravina (Allednale, N.J.), 3-2, at 184 pounds. The Mountain Hawks took another swing at 197 with a major decision from No. 17 John Bolich over Hayden Hrymack (Point Pleasant, N.J.), setting up a heavyweight showdown with a 15-15 score.
But Smith knew what to expect. He had been there before.
“Whenever you beat a team like Lehigh, it’s more than them being ranked No. 6. Honestly that doesn’t really mean much. But it’s more to the fact that they’re a winning tradition,” said Smith, whose 6-0 decision against Lehigh at the RAC in 2013 sealed Rutgers’ first win over the Mountain Hawks since 1950. “You have teams like that, and they almost look down upon Rutgers … I’m proud to be the foundation and see this program grow in a bigger direction. There’s so much more that needs to be done. This is just the beginning and you’ll see that in two weeks or so.”
The Scarlet Knights now turn their focus to postseason wrestling, beginning with the 2016 Big Ten Conference Championships from March 5-6 in Iowa City, Iowa. Ten RU grapplers will compete for automatic qualifying bids to the 2016 NCAA Championships from March 17-19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.x
No. 13 Rutgers edges No. 7 Lehigh 18-15 to win in NWCA Dual Series
by Steve Lomangino, Lehigh Univ.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In a tightly contested dual that came down to overtime in the final bout, a 3-2 tiebreaker win from Rutgers heavyweight Billy Smith over Lehigh senior Max Wessell gave the Scarlet Knights an 18-15 win over the Mountain Hawks Saturday in the NWCA National Championship Dual Series at the RAC. Senior John Bolich’s major decision at 197, Lehigh’s third of the match, tied the dual at 15-15 but Rutgers won six bouts to offset Lehigh’s three bonus wins.
With the loss, Lehigh wraps up the dual meet season at 13-3.
“We got beat in one of our strengths this year, which is on the mat,” Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. “We gave up reversals. We gave up riding time. When you give up riding time it’s really hard to win a match. I was disappointed with that. We were looking for reversals too much and on top we were hanging on instead of going after the turns.”
Lehigh’s lightweights sparked the Mountain Hawks to an early 8-0 lead before Rutgers responded with five straight victories to take a 15-8 lead.
Sophomore Darian Cruz opened the dual with a 15-7 major decision over Sean McCabe at 125, scoring a third period reversal and three takedowns to get to that eight point margin. Senior Mason Beckman took advantage of Rutgers starter Anthony Giraldo being out of action as he picked up his 98th career win, besting Josh Patrick by major decision 9-2.
The Scarlet Knights (16-5) started their run when All-American Anthony Ashnault beat junior Randy Cruz 9-2 in a matchup of ranked wrestlers at 141.
Rutgers picked up a key win in a swing bout as Tyson Dippery blanked freshman Ian Brown 6-0 at 149. Brown was subbing for the injured Laike Gardner and gave up an early takedown off a failed throw attempt. Dippery was strong on top, riding out the rest of the first period while adding a two point near fall. A second period escape plus riding time gave Dippery the 6-0.
At 157, 12th-ranked Richie Lewis gave Rutgers a 9-8 lead at intermission with a 12-7 decision over sophomore Drew Longo.
Freshman Ryan Preisch made his return to the lineup at 165 but ran into seventh-ranked Anthony Perrotti, who extended the Scarlet Knights’ lead with an 8-5 decision. The Rutgers run was capped by a 9-2 decision by Phil Bakuckas over freshman Gordon Wolf at 174.
“It’s tough when you lose five in a row in a hostile environment,” Santoro said. “This crowd was awesome. We didn’t respond the way we needed to. Maybe it’s a good environment to be in before EIWAs and NCAAs. We’ll learn from it. We’ll improve in a couple positions and make sure we don’t make those same mistakes again.”
Lehigh answered with two straight wins to even the dual at 15-15. At 184 senior Nathaniel Brown made a first period takedown stand up in a 3-2 win over Nicholas Gravina. Bolich then met Hayden Hrymack at 197. After a scoreless first period, Bolich turned Hrymack for a pair of four point near falls in the second and nearly pinned the Scarlet Knight before settling for a ride out and an 8-0 lead. He added a third period takedown and riding time to win 11-0.
The dual came down to the match between No. 14 Wessell and No. 13 Smith. Through seven minutes, the score was tied 1-1 with Wessell failing to score on two quality single leg shots and Smith unable to finish his best shot in the third period. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Smith was down in the first half of the tiebreaker and hit an early standing reversal before riding out the first half of the tiebreaker. Wessell escaped in his half of the tiebreaker but couldn’t score a takedown or pick up a tying point as Smith prevailed 3-2.
“You can’t give up a reversal there, but otherwise (Max) did a really good job the whole match,” Santoro said. “He controlled the match. I thought he out hand-fought (Smith). Both heavyweights fought hard. It was good to see some athletic heavyweights going out there and trying to score points with a lot on the line. Max is going to learn from that. He gets better every week.”
Rutgers picked up just its third ever win against Lehigh, which now leads the all-time series 42-3.
“It’s a tough one to swallow because it’s the last match and you want to go out with a win,: Santoro. “This was a good wakeup call for our guys. This is what we have to do when we get to the postseason, dominate on top and bottom.”
The Mountain Hawks will now shift focus to the 112th EIWA Championships, March 5-6 at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.
No. 13 Rutgers 18, No. 7 Lehigh 15
125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) major dec. Sean McCabe (Rutgers) 15-7
133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) major dec. Josh Patrick (Rutgers) 19-7
141 – Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) dec. Randy Cruz (Lehigh) 9-2
149 – Tyson Dippery (Rutgers) dec. Ian Brown (Lehigh) 6-0
157 – Richie Lewis (Rutgers) dec. Drew Longo (Lehigh) 12-7
165 – Anthony Perrotti (Rutgers) dec. Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) 8-5
174 – Phil Bakuckas (Rutgers) dec. Gordon Wolf (Lehigh) 9-2
184 – Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) dec. Nicholas Gravina (Rutgers) 3-2
197 – John Bolich (Lehigh) major dec. Hayden Hrymack (Rutgers) 11-0
285 – Billy Smith (Rutgers) dec. Max Wessell (Lehigh) 3-2, tb
Attendance – 1,855
Officials – Mike Millward and Nathan Chatman
Scarlet Knights take six of 10 bouts to end dual season 16-5
by Anthony Hernandez, Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Feb. 20, 2016) – It once again came down to the final match between No. 13 Rutgers wrestling and No. 7 Lehigh Saturday night at the RAC. The dual score was tied, and so too was No. 13 heavyweight Billy Smith (Wantage, N.J.) and No. 14 Max Wessell entering tiebreakers. But Smith had been there before.
The redshirt senior (23-6) reversed Wessell to begin tiebreakers, held the Mountain Hawk off in the next 30 second stanza, and sent Rutgers wrestling home with an 18-15 NWCA National Duals Championship Series win over the Mountain Hawks (13-3, 7-0).
“That’s as big a spot as you’re going to get, against a really good kid who’s having a great year,” said head coach Scott Goodale. “For both of these guys [Smith and Anthony Perrotti] there’s just a bunch of confidence we’re going to win those matches. Looking at the dual meet on paper, there’s eight toss-ups in that match. So every single point was contested all the way through.”
“He’s been in these spots before and he’s been solid there, and Anthony’s [Perrotti] been in those spots before and been solid there.”
RU (16-5, 5-4) closed the 2015-16 dual season with its seventh ranked win of the year and third against a top-10 opponent. To boot, the Scarlet Knights clinched their second consecutive RAC win over their former EIWA rival, doing it again courtesy of a winner-take-all decision from Smith at heavyweight.
“In the grand scheme of things, what does this win mean? It’s huge for our program,” Goodale said. “It’s Lehigh, tremendous tradition, a ton of respect for those guys. There’s chippness, [but] I have all the respect in the world for [head coach] Pat Santoro and that staff. We’re just fighting really, really hard for those guys just like they’re doing. Every point mattered, we knew that. It means a lot to beat Lehigh, there’s no question about it. Now let’s move onto the Big Ten Championships.”
No. 7-ranked redshirt senior Anthony Perrotti (Roseland, N.J.), who secured an 8-5 decision against No. 16 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) at 165 pounds, was overwhelmed after taking down Lehigh in the final dual of his college career.
“It’s indescribable,” Perrotti said. “It was crazy. Unlike Billy, I do the math. I’m a big student of the sport. I like our odds in some matches here and there. I thought [Nicholas] Gravina could have pulled that one out. [Hayden] Hrymack had beaten that guy before. So I didn’t think it was coming down the Billy … [but] I’ve got nothing but confidence in him. He’s been doing this for five years. He’s really been the backbone of this program at the upper weight.
“I remember my sophomore year he might have won seven matches in a row for us coming down the heavyweight. He’s just got a knack for it. I guess that comes with being a heavyweight and comes with being on a good team. I couldn’t be more proud of him. I couldn’t be more proud of the way we wrestled.”
Overall, Rutgers won six of 10 bouts against the Mountain Hawks, beginning with No. 5 Anthony Ashnault (South Plainfield, N.J.) at 141 pounds. Ashnault (24-2) defeated No. 17 Randy Cruz for the second consecutive meeting, this time by a 9-2 score to make the dual score 8-3.
Prior to the RU win, Lehigh’s No. 13 Darian Cruz (125 Pounds) and Mason Beckman (133 Pounds) each scored major decisions over Sean McCabe (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and Josh Patrick (Rector, Pa.), respectively.
But Rutgers rode the momentum of Ashnault’s win over the next four matches, earning victories from 149-174 pounds.
Tyson Dippery (Harrisburg, Pa.) kept it rolling with a 6-0 decision at 149 pounds, and No. 12 Richie Lewis (Toms River, N.J.) gutted out a 12-7 decision against Drew Longo to give Rutgers a 9-8 lead at intermission.
That lead ballooned to 15-8 following an 8-5 decision by Perrotti and 9-2 decision from Phillip Bakuckas (Hammonton, N.J.) at 174 pounds.
But Lehigh punched back, with No. 3 Nate Brown fighting off No. 20 Nicholas Gravina (Allednale, N.J.), 3-2, at 184 pounds. The Mountain Hawks took another swing at 197 with a major decision from No. 17 John Bolich over Hayden Hrymack (Point Pleasant, N.J.), setting up a heavyweight showdown with a 15-15 score.
But Smith knew what to expect. He had been there before.
“Whenever you beat a team like Lehigh, it’s more than them being ranked No. 6. Honestly that doesn’t really mean much. But it’s more to the fact that they’re a winning tradition,” said Smith, whose 6-0 decision against Lehigh at the RAC in 2013 sealed Rutgers’ first win over the Mountain Hawks since 1950. “You have teams like that, and they almost look down upon Rutgers … I’m proud to be the foundation and see this program grow in a bigger direction. There’s so much more that needs to be done. This is just the beginning and you’ll see that in two weeks or so.”
The Scarlet Knights now turn their focus to postseason wrestling, beginning with the 2016 Big Ten Conference Championships from March 5-6 in Iowa City, Iowa. Ten RU grapplers will compete for automatic qualifying bids to the 2016 NCAA Championships from March 17-19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.x
No. 13 Rutgers edges No. 7 Lehigh 18-15 to win in NWCA Dual Series
by Steve Lomangino, Lehigh Univ.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In a tightly contested dual that came down to overtime in the final bout, a 3-2 tiebreaker win from Rutgers heavyweight Billy Smith over Lehigh senior Max Wessell gave the Scarlet Knights an 18-15 win over the Mountain Hawks Saturday in the NWCA National Championship Dual Series at the RAC. Senior John Bolich’s major decision at 197, Lehigh’s third of the match, tied the dual at 15-15 but Rutgers won six bouts to offset Lehigh’s three bonus wins.
With the loss, Lehigh wraps up the dual meet season at 13-3.
“We got beat in one of our strengths this year, which is on the mat,” Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. “We gave up reversals. We gave up riding time. When you give up riding time it’s really hard to win a match. I was disappointed with that. We were looking for reversals too much and on top we were hanging on instead of going after the turns.”
Lehigh’s lightweights sparked the Mountain Hawks to an early 8-0 lead before Rutgers responded with five straight victories to take a 15-8 lead.
Sophomore Darian Cruz opened the dual with a 15-7 major decision over Sean McCabe at 125, scoring a third period reversal and three takedowns to get to that eight point margin. Senior Mason Beckman took advantage of Rutgers starter Anthony Giraldo being out of action as he picked up his 98th career win, besting Josh Patrick by major decision 9-2.
The Scarlet Knights (16-5) started their run when All-American Anthony Ashnault beat junior Randy Cruz 9-2 in a matchup of ranked wrestlers at 141.
Rutgers picked up a key win in a swing bout as Tyson Dippery blanked freshman Ian Brown 6-0 at 149. Brown was subbing for the injured Laike Gardner and gave up an early takedown off a failed throw attempt. Dippery was strong on top, riding out the rest of the first period while adding a two point near fall. A second period escape plus riding time gave Dippery the 6-0.
At 157, 12th-ranked Richie Lewis gave Rutgers a 9-8 lead at intermission with a 12-7 decision over sophomore Drew Longo.
Freshman Ryan Preisch made his return to the lineup at 165 but ran into seventh-ranked Anthony Perrotti, who extended the Scarlet Knights’ lead with an 8-5 decision. The Rutgers run was capped by a 9-2 decision by Phil Bakuckas over freshman Gordon Wolf at 174.
“It’s tough when you lose five in a row in a hostile environment,” Santoro said. “This crowd was awesome. We didn’t respond the way we needed to. Maybe it’s a good environment to be in before EIWAs and NCAAs. We’ll learn from it. We’ll improve in a couple positions and make sure we don’t make those same mistakes again.”
Lehigh answered with two straight wins to even the dual at 15-15. At 184 senior Nathaniel Brown made a first period takedown stand up in a 3-2 win over Nicholas Gravina. Bolich then met Hayden Hrymack at 197. After a scoreless first period, Bolich turned Hrymack for a pair of four point near falls in the second and nearly pinned the Scarlet Knight before settling for a ride out and an 8-0 lead. He added a third period takedown and riding time to win 11-0.
The dual came down to the match between No. 14 Wessell and No. 13 Smith. Through seven minutes, the score was tied 1-1 with Wessell failing to score on two quality single leg shots and Smith unable to finish his best shot in the third period. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Smith was down in the first half of the tiebreaker and hit an early standing reversal before riding out the first half of the tiebreaker. Wessell escaped in his half of the tiebreaker but couldn’t score a takedown or pick up a tying point as Smith prevailed 3-2.
“You can’t give up a reversal there, but otherwise (Max) did a really good job the whole match,” Santoro said. “He controlled the match. I thought he out hand-fought (Smith). Both heavyweights fought hard. It was good to see some athletic heavyweights going out there and trying to score points with a lot on the line. Max is going to learn from that. He gets better every week.”
Rutgers picked up just its third ever win against Lehigh, which now leads the all-time series 42-3.
“It’s a tough one to swallow because it’s the last match and you want to go out with a win,: Santoro. “This was a good wakeup call for our guys. This is what we have to do when we get to the postseason, dominate on top and bottom.”
The Mountain Hawks will now shift focus to the 112th EIWA Championships, March 5-6 at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.
No. 13 Rutgers 18, No. 7 Lehigh 15
125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) major dec. Sean McCabe (Rutgers) 15-7
133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) major dec. Josh Patrick (Rutgers) 19-7
141 – Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) dec. Randy Cruz (Lehigh) 9-2
149 – Tyson Dippery (Rutgers) dec. Ian Brown (Lehigh) 6-0
157 – Richie Lewis (Rutgers) dec. Drew Longo (Lehigh) 12-7
165 – Anthony Perrotti (Rutgers) dec. Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) 8-5
174 – Phil Bakuckas (Rutgers) dec. Gordon Wolf (Lehigh) 9-2
184 – Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) dec. Nicholas Gravina (Rutgers) 3-2
197 – John Bolich (Lehigh) major dec. Hayden Hrymack (Rutgers) 11-0
285 – Billy Smith (Rutgers) dec. Max Wessell (Lehigh) 3-2, tb
Attendance – 1,855
Officials – Mike Millward and Nathan Chatman
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