Petrofes Team Scores  |  Petrofes Brackets

GRANTHAM, Pa. – Messiah wrestling defended its home mats on Saturday, fending off Mount Union to snare the Petrofes Invitational team title. The Falcons nabbed four individual championships and placed 16 wrestlers on their way to 202.0 team points, enough to edge out Mount Union's 193.0 total.
 
Hunter Harris (133), Stephen Maloney (149), Ben Swarr (174) and Kyle Koser (197) topped their respective brackets, contributing a combined 107.0 points to Messiah's final tally. The Falcons also had a pair of second place finishers in seniors Derek Beitz (184) and Jeff Hojnacki (165).
 
The team title comes with a dose of revenge for Messiah, which fell 27-20 to Mount Union in a Nov. 18 dual meet.
 
Superior Seniors
 
Messiah's performance was highlighted by the efforts of six seniors. The group was headlined by Harris, whose punctuated his run to the top with four falls. Harris, who stands as Messiah's all-time falls leader, dropped Curtis Cox of Alderson Broaddus in 38 seconds in his finals match.
 
Winning their brackets was nothing new for Swarr or Koser. The duo, both returning national qualifiers, were tested but not trumped in their two Saturday matches. Swarr earned a 5-0 semifinal win before majoring Gino Sita of Alderson Broaddus 14-3 in the championship. Koser's 16-0 semifinal victory pushed him into the 197-final opposite Waynesburg's Ken Burrs, who Koser bested 9-5.
 
Beitz and Hojnacki were agonizingly close to joining their classmates at the top. Hojnacki won his semifinal via pin in 2:06 but could not get past Gettysburg's Colin Kowalski in a 5-4 championship loss. Beitz needed just 27 seconds to dismiss his semifinal victim, before tumbling 3-1 in overtime to final's opponent Isaiah Watson-Kirksey of Mount Union.
 
Adam Peris (149) rounded out a big weekend for the senior class with his third-place finish. Peris won the consolation final 6-3 after claiming his consolation semifinal in overtime.
 
Looking Fine at 149
 
The Falcons placed wrestlers at nine of ten weight classes, but no group was more key for Messiah's winning effort then Bryan Brunk's trio at 149.
 
Three Falcons, including champ Stephen Maloney, combined to total 55.50 points in the 149-pound bracket. The efforts of Peris and Lee Cassel, who finished fifth, provided the perfect complement to Maloney's title run. Maloney polished off his strong weekend with a fall over Mount Union's Luke Hernandez in the final. The sophomore, who pinned Hernandez in 1:24, netted two falls and two techs during his 5-0 two-day performance.
 
Cassel wrestled the most matches (seven) of any Falcon this weekend, going 3-1 in day two after a quarterfinal loss on Saturday.   
 
Team Effort
 
The Falcons needed all hands on deck this weekend to hold off Mount Union, and they got it in the form of 16 place-winners.
 
Peris, Kevin Edwards (157) and Victor DeFrance (184) took third for Messiah, while Nick Nunez (141) and Dan Swarr (157) added fourth-place finishes to their resumes.
 
Cassel and fellow junior Karrington Washington (197) nabbed fifth, Matt Darok (141) and Sean Redington (125) took sixth, and Seth Patterson (184) finished eighth to round out Messiah's place-winners.
 
Time to Dual
 
A pair of dual meets are up next on the Falcons' to-do list. Brunk and company head to Gettysburg on Dec. 8 before welcoming King's College to Grantham on Dec. 9.
 
The match against King's will be the first home dual meet of the season for the Falcons, whose team record stands at 2-2 after splitting four matches at the Mount Union Duals Nov. 18. 

 

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