Wilkes-Barre, PA - The Falcons displayed dominant performances over Centenary College (N.J.) and Oneonta State at the John Reese Duals, hosted by Wilkes University. The scores were 39-10 over Centenary and 40-6 over Oneonta.
The Messiah wrestlers won 17 of 19 total bouts and collected seven total pins in the two duals, not including the exhibitions. Against Oneonta there were four major decisions, two pins, and one tech fall, meaning all of the Falcons' wins included extra points.
Standouts from the Oneonta match included a pin to start it off from
Kurt Rodriguez (125) at 2:02 over Dominic Degraba.
Larry Cannon (157) also secured a pin in the match, wrestling in his first year.
Josh Thomson (184) had the quickest pin though, at 1:25 over Anthony Marino.
Chris Williamson (149) scored the most points in the match with 19, giving him the lone tech fall for Messiah, winning over Nicholas Heck in seven minutes.
Ben Kramer (174) was close to achieving the tech fall with his 17-5 victory over Dan Graff.
Against the 20th ranked Centenary College later on, Messiah continued the dominating performance from the previous match, losing just one bout.
Lucas Malmberg (125) started things off with an 18-7 major decision over Erick Orellana. One more major decision would follow in the match from
Kaleb Loht (141).
The Falcons would also collect three pins in the match from
Kyle Coblentz (133),
Kalann Washington (157), and
Josh Thomson (184).
Ben Kramer collected one of the biggest wins of the night, defeating his opponent with a 16-0 tech fall at 6:08. This win was at 197 lbs.--23 lbs. higher than what he normally wrestles at.
"These were two great wins for us to get early on in the season," said head coach
Bryan Brunk after the matches. "The guys are looking really strong, it's exciting but I'm also trying not to get ahead of myself."
Messiah will hope to continue their success when they travel to the Roger Williams Invitational next Saturday, Nov. 16. The Falcons won the event last year by
just a half a point over the hosts.
Messiah 39 Oneonta 10
125-
Kurt Rodriguez (M) pin. Dominic Degraba (O) 2:02
133-
Kyle Coblentz (M) maj. dec John Hodes (O) 9-0
141-
Kaleb Loht (M) maj. dec Ben Mikac (O) 14-5
149-
Chris Williamson (M) tech fall Nicholas Heck (O) 19-4 (7:00)
157-
Larry Cannon (M) pin. Frankie Provenzano (O) 4:04
165- Shaun Gillen (O) maj. dec.
Kyle Dayhoff (M) 12-1
174-
Ben Kramer (M) maj. dec. Dan Graff (O) 17-5
184-
Josh Thomson (M) pin. Anthony Marino (O) 1:25
197- Chad Obzud (O) forfeit (M)
285-
Charles Jones (M) maj. dec Stephen Provenzano (O) 13-3
Centenary 6 Messiah 40
125-
Lucas Malmberg (M) maj. dec. Erick Orellana (C) 18-7
133-
Kyle Coblentz (M) pin. Alex Reeves (C) 3:52
141-
Kaleb Loht (M) maj. dec. Collin Farley (C) 10-2
149-
Chris Williamson (M) dec. Joe Bartolini (C)10-9
157-
Kalann Washington (M) pin. Donald Wagner (C) 2:26
165- Chris Burdge (C) pin.
Kyle Dayhoff (M) 1:15
174-
Ricardo Plummer (M) dec. Josh Siddlies (C) 7-4
184-
Josh Thomson (M) pin. Joey Ragsdale (C) 0:37
197-
Ben Kramer (M) tech fall Vin Cordasco (C) 16-0 (6:08)
285-
Charles Jones (M) dec. Brian Grice (C) 5-3
