Grantham, PA — About the only thing that went right for Messiah's senior wrestlers on senior night?
None of them got hurt.
That wasn't the case throughout the lineup, however, as sophomore Ty Kanouff suffered what looked to be a nasty lower leg injury in the 133-pound bout — putting an extra negative spin on a 19-24 loss to Johns Hopkins University at Brubaker Auditorium.
Kanouff's loss by injury default all but sealed the Falcons' fate, as Hopkins claimed wins in four of the first five matches, taking a 21-3 lead and hanging on down the stretch.
With everyone's thoughts centering on Kanouff, Messiah head coach Bryan Brunk did his best to avert them, citing several other missed opportunities that could have changed the result of the dual.
“I didn't want our guys coming off and saying, 'If Ty didn't get hurt, we would have won,” Brunk said. “The fact of the matter is, if we don't get pinned like we did, or if we wrestle just a little bit better in some other matches, we easily get a six-point swing. And that's the difference.”
Following a 125-pound win from junior Danny Lethbridge, sophomore Kyle Coblentz was pinned at 133, turning what was only a 6-4 deficit into bonus points for the Blue Jays. The same could be said of Kanouff, who was winning at the time of his injury.
Even with that default win for JHU, Brunk was adamant that his team could overcome. That was until sophomore Chris Hardenberg suffered a loss by pin at 149 to JHU's Rocky Barilla — an opponent he had defeated by a 3-2 score in quadruple overtime at the Petrofes Invitational Dec. 4.
When senior Mike Bressler couldn't come back from a 4-2 deficit against Hopkins' Matt Fusaro, the Falcons trailed 21-3 and were looking at a major hole. Decisions from senior Dave Jones and freshman Ricardo Plummer — and a major decision from junior Tim Stewart — weren't enough to turn the tide, as senior Tim Hopkins suffered a narrow, 6-4 loss at 197. Mathematically secure, the Blue Jays forfeited the heavyweight bout, keeping senior Pat Hogan from wrestling. Plummer's 7-4 win was especially satisfying, coming against Hopkins' Patrick Stanley, a former national qualifier.
“We made some mistakes tonight that cost us the dual,” Brunk said. “JHU took advantage of those mistakes. It's not okay for us to say, 'Ty got hurt and we were just unlucky.' We had our opportunities tonight. We just didn't make use of them.”
Perhaps the bigger concern was how Kanouff's injury will affect the squad moving forward, as Brunk now finds himself minus five starters from the team's initial roster.
“We're filling the gaps as best we can,” Brunk said. “At this point, we really don't know what Ty's injury is, but even if it's a mid-level injury, the timing isn't good. There's not enough time left in the season to nurse him back to health and have him ready to go by conference (championships).”
However Brunk and company move forward, the schedule will not be waiting: Messiah will host a quad tomorrow in Hitchcock Arena, facing Morrisville State College, King's College and Gettysburg College. Wrestling is slated to begin at 12 p.m.
“We've got to come back ready to go,” Brunk said. “We'd like to get some people some opportunities tomorrow, but we want to wrestle well in those matches, too. We'll come back and try to put our best foot forward, no question.”
Johns Hopkins University 24 over Messiah 19
125: Danny Lethbridge (MC) dec. Ray Yagioski (JHU) 9-7 3-0
133: Paul Marcello (JHU) pin Kyle Coblentz (MC) 6:15 3-6
141: Henry Stauber (JHU) injury default Ty Kanouff (MC) 3-12
149: Rocky Barilla (JHU) pin Chris Hardenberg (MC) 5:46 3-18
157: Matt Fusaro (JHU) dec Mike Bressler (MC) 4-2 3-21
165: Dave Jones (MC) dec. Eric Levenseller (JHU) 4-3 6-21
174: Ricardo Plummer (MC) dec. Patrick Stanley (JHU) 7-4 9-21
184: Tim Stewart (MC) maj. Dec. Ben Finelli (JHU)10-4 13-21
197: Reid Mosquera (JHU) dec. Tim Hopkins (MC) 6-4 13-24
285: Pat Hogan forfeit 19-24
