Results
Williamsport, PA — A pair of losses — coming by just four and five points — kept Messiah from having a chance at placing at the annual Budd Whitehill Duals at Lycoming College this weekend, as the Falcons posted an overall record of 2-2 at the tournament.
Messiah (7-6) dropped a 22-18 decision to Williams College to open the event and followed with a 23-18 defeat to Heidelberg University, putting the squad in the consolation bracket for the remainder of action. The Falcons had no problems putting away Case Western Reserve University (47-4) and Rochester Institute of Technology (29-18), but Messiah head coach Bryan Brunk said he was focused on what might have been.
“Overall, we wrestled well, but we just didn't get the breaks we needed to win one of our first two matches,” Brunk said. “It's disappointing that we don't have our full lineup intact, but we still had our chances.”
Facing a talented Williams side to open Friday's action, Brunk's squad rebounded from an early 15-0 deficit to come back and capture an 18-15 lead. After falling in each of the first four weight classes, senior Mike Bressler and junior Davin Okerblom got the Falcons back in it quickly, pinning their respective opponents at 157 and 165.
When freshman Ricardo Plummer earned a 9-4 decision over the Ephs' Mir Henglin and junior Tim Stewart carded an 8-2 decision against Mike Lomio, Messiah led by an 18-15 score.
Unfortunately, senior Tim Hopkins dropped a 7-1 card to two-time national champion 197-pounder Ryan Malo in the ensuing match, tying the team score at 18-18. Senior Zane Bachert then suffered a major decision defeat to Williams' Tom Foote, concluding Messiah's opening tilt on a down note.
“I knew we had to win one of the first four matches against Williams,” Brunk said. “I thought 133, 141 and 149 were all possible. Mike Bressler and Davin Okerblom got us back, and Tim Stewart, in normal Tim Stewart fashion, got a win after giving up the first takedown. Timmy Hopkins gave us a chance. (Malo) is a pinner, and Timmy did a great job of keeping his back off the mat. I thought we really wrestled well, but we just didn't get it done.”
A similar story unfolded against Heidelberg, as an early Messiah deficit was turned around to a Falcons' lead — only to falter again late in the match. Junior Andrew Rentzel wrestled “the match of his life” according to Brunk in the 125-pound bout, pinning the Fighting Student Princes' Devin Mazik in 4:48. The eventual difference in the match may have came in the 149-pound bout, however, as sophomore Chris Hardenberg suffered a loss by fall against Heidelberg's Andrew Johnson — a defeat that came after Heidelberg was ahead 3-0 in the match.
“Chris was ahead, he was on top and had a leg in,” Brunk said. “But he got high and out of position, and (Malo) made a swim move and got his head. It was clear from the start that Chris was the better wrestler, but he made a mistake and it cost him.”
Messiah still captured an 18-14 lead through the 184-pound class, as Bressler, Plummer and Stewart all recorded decisions. After Hopkins suffered a narrow, 9-4 loss to Heidelberg's Andy Lovins, Bachert was pinned in 1:03 at the heavyweight slot, concluding the Falcons' second straight loss by five points or less.
“Against Williams, we knew we would need an upset somewhere in the lineup to win,” Brunk said. “Against Heidelberg, though, we thought we should have won. They are a tough team, but they're at the level where we want to be, where we think we should be, where we think we should win.”
Hurting Messiah's chances in both losses was the absence of senior Pat Hogan, who was forced to sit out over the weekend with a skin infection. Hogan had been 12-9 on the season at the heavyweight position and, needing wins late in both tilts, could have made the difference.
“We're not blaming (the losses) on heavyweight,” Brunk said. “We needed to get the job done in other places.”
Messiah — ranked 29th in the latest Brute/Adidas Top 30 Poll — had no problems getting the job done against either Case Western or RIT, as the team rolled through the former and led by as much as a 21-6 difference against the latter. Kanouff's 10-6 decision over the Tigers' Brandon Thoutte capped off a 3-1 weekend, while Hardenberg finished his two days of competition with a pin over RIT's Adam Huginine.
“I thought we wrestled better than we did last week (at the North-South Duals),” Brunk said. “We went 3-4 in 50/50 matches, and that's closer to .500, but if we won one more of those matches (against Williams and Heidelberg), we win. We have some obstacles to overcome that are out of our control. The big thing that we are focused on now is the end of the year. We want to be wrestling our best at the end of the season. From an individual standpoint, I think we are on track. From a team standpoint, we can get better.”
Messiah will have a huge team test looming next, as the squad will host arch rival Lycoming College to Brubaker Auditorium Friday. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
