Alliance, OH – After two season-opening weeks that delivered mixed results, No. 13 Messiah College made a statement this weekend at the Mount Union Duals. The Falcons won all five match-ups, including a 20-15 win over No. 19 Baldwin Wallace.
The Falcons also won duals over Thiel (36-19), Waynesburg (25-16), Heidelberg (23-22), and also Mount Union's purple group (30-18).
"Our guys were really committed all week to our process, and to working on a few different things from the first two weeks," Messiah head coach
Bryan Brunk said. "I think the results today showed that progress, and I'm impressed that we had so many different guys contribute in big ways today."
Messiah's first match of the day, against Baldwin Wallace, was of high intrigue considering each program's national standing.
Lucas Malmberg—the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 125—highlighted the Falcons' five-point win with a tech fall, while
Lee Cassel (141),
Jeff Hojnacki (157),
Ben Swarr (184),
Kyle Koser (197), and
Derek Beitz (285) each earned decisions to support the win.
Messiah's match with Heidelberg was their closest of the day, though Messiah mixed up their lineup to balance efforts of a long day. Nevertheless, Heidelberg pushed the Falcons to the limit behind a pin from Noah Messerall's pin at 157, Dillen Decker's major decision at 184, and Nino Majoy's pin at 285. Deckert and Majoy entered the weekend as the nation's No. 5- and No. 6-ranked wrestler in their class, respectively.
"We're still shuffling our lineup a bit, trying to figure out who is going to be where," Brunk said of the day's match-ups. "I thought we did well, and that guys did well when challenged. We weren't without mistakes, but we're cleaning things up."
Brunk went on to highlight a number of performances from throughout the day, including
Kyle Koser who went 5-0 including a 6-1 decision over No. 8-ranked
Tyler Maclellan of Baldwin Wallance, and Hunter Harris who collected four pins; Harris now has 12 falls in the first three weeks of the season.
"It was fun to see those guys have a great weekend," Brunk said as he went on to compliment Tyler Hershey for coming up with a big tech fall over Heidelberg. "We had different guys step up throughout the day, and that's a great sign for our team."
Messiah College defeated Baldwin Wallace 20-15
125 - Lucas Malmberg (Messiah College) over Chris Doyle (Baldwin Wallace) TF 20-5
133 - Charlie Nash (Baldwin Wallace) over Hunter Harris (Messiah College) Fall 0:00
141 - Lee Cassel (Messiah College) over Aaron Kelly (Baldwin Wallace) Dec 7-4
149 - Joshua Decatur (Baldwin Wallace) over Stephen Maloney (Messiah College) Dec 11-10
157 - Jeff Hojnacki (Messiah College) over Benjamin Hooff (Baldwin Wallace) Dec 4-2
165 - Anthony Arroyo (Baldwin Wallace) over Larry Cannon (Messiah College) SV-1 13-11
174 - Graham Montague (Baldwin Wallace) over Tyler Hershey (Messiah College) Dec 6-3
184 - Ben Swarr (Messiah College) over Zeckary Lehman (Baldwin Wallace) Dec 4-1
197 - Kyle Koser (Messiah College) over Tyler Maclellan (Baldwin Wallace) Dec 6-1
285 - Derek Beitz (Messiah College) over Gabriel Mahaney (Baldwin Wallace) Dec 4-0
Messiah College defeated Waynesburg 25-18
125 - Tristan Buxton (Waynesburg) over Sean Reddington (Messiah College) Dec 14-9
133 - Hunter Harris (Messiah College) over Brooks Robinson (Waynesburg) Fall 2:22
141 - Filippo Crivelli (Waynesburg) over Austin Fisher (Messiah College) Dec 5-4
149 - Trent Johnson (Messiah College) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
157 - Josh Toal (Messiah College) over Matthew Claxton (Waynesburg) Fall 4:01
165 - Tag Wilber (Messiah College) over Landon Lohr (Waynesburg) Maj 16-8
174 - Derek Hull (Waynesburg) over Tyler Hershey (Messiah College) Dec 10-4
184 - Ryan Shank (Waynesburg) over Derek Beitz (Messiah College) Dec 6-4
197 - Kyle Koser (Messiah College) over Adam Rigney (Waynesburg) Dec 5-0
285 - Jake Evans (Waynesburg) over Thomas Shifflett (Messiah College) Fall 0:50
Messiah College defeated Thiel 36-19
125 - Sean Reddington (Messiah College) over Matthew O`Connor (Thiel) Fall 3:17
133 - Hunter Harris (Messiah College) over Vincent Mion (Thiel) Fall 0:35
141 - Austin Fisher (Messiah College) over Nick Burkett (Thiel) Fall 4:52
149 - Jason Miller (Thiel) over Will Korzeniewski (Messiah College) Fall 0:40
157 - Austin Bonacci (Thiel) over Josh Toal (Messiah College) Dec 10-3
165 - Chris Nuss (Thiel) over Kevin Diehl (Messiah College) Maj 11-2
174 - Tyler Hershey (Messiah College) over Cam Cianci (Thiel) Fall 1:33
184 - Victor DeFrance (Messiah College) over Nick Guzma (Thiel) Fall 2:24
197 - Kyle Koser (Messiah College) over Cody Ellis (Thiel) Fall 4:08
285 - Alex Streich (Thiel) over Dan Kiser (Messiah College) Fall 2:27
Messiah College defeated Heidelberg 23-22
125 - Lucas Malmberg (Messiah College) over Brendan Williamson (Heidelberg) TF 25-9
133 - Hunter Harris (Messiah College) over Ryan Hornack (Heidelberg) Fall 5:54
141 - Hayden Bates (Heidelberg) over Lee Cassel (Messiah College) Dec 9-3
149 - Dallas O`Green (Heidelberg) over Stephen Maloney (Messiah College) SV-1 7-5
157 - Noah Messerall (Heidelberg) over Josh Grossnickle (Messiah College) Fall 3:43
165 - Jeff Hojnacki (Messiah College) over Chris White (Heidelberg) Maj 14-1
174 - Tyler Hershey (Messiah College) over Spencer Geil (Heidelberg) TF 16-1
184 - Dillen Decker (Heidelberg) over Derek Beitz (Messiah College) Maj 14-2
197 - Kyle Koser (Messiah College) over Patrick Brown (Heidelberg) Dec 9-4
285 - Nino Majoy (Heidelberg) over Thomas Shifflett (Messiah College) Fall 1:31
Messiah College defeated Mount Union Purple 30-18
125 - Lucas Malmberg (Messiah College) over Seth Hayes (Mount Union Purple) TF 18-2
133 - Hunter Harris (Messiah College) over Tanner Perry (Mount Union Purple) Fall 0:11
141 - Alec Cotton (Mount Union Purple) over Lee Cassel (Messiah College) Dec 3-0
149 - Kyle Ferguson (Mount Union Purple) over Adam Peris (Messiah College) Fall 4:42
157 - Jeff Hojnacki (Messiah College) over Jesse Gross (Mount Union Purple) TF 18-2
165 - Tag Wilber (Messiah College) over Branden Parker (Mount Union Purple) Maj 16-6
174 - Nick Miller (Mount Union Purple) over Tyler Hershey (Messiah College) Dec 5-2
184 - Ben Swarr (Messiah College) over Isaiah Watson-Kirksey (Mount Union Purple) Fall 0:56
197 - Kyle Koser (Messiah College) over Brian Olson (Mount Union Purple) Maj 13-2
285 - Mike Sinclair (Mount Union Purple) over Dan Kiser (Messiah College) Fall 4:08
