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GRANTHAM, Pa. - In their first home dual of the 2018-19 season the Messiah wrestling team earned a 33-6 victory over the visiting Gettysburg Bullets on Friday night. Messiah claimed eight of the 10 matches contested in the dual, with falls by David Stevens at 165 lbs. and Joe Embleton and 197 lbs. highlighting the evening.
 
Messiah built their lead off strong efforts in the lower weights. After winning by a forfeit at 125 lbs. to start the dual, Messiah claimed four-straight decisions to take an 18-0 lead into the break. The Flacons came out firing after the breather with a fall by David Stevens at 165 lbs.
 
After a close decision at 174 lbs. got Gettysburg on the board, Messiah earned a decision at 184 lbs. and a fall at 197 lbs. to take a 33-3 lead heading into the final bout of the night. Despite a Gettysburg decision in the heavyweight bout, Messiah claimed a 33-6 victory to improve to 4-3 in duals this season.
 
The Falcons will travel to the Waynesburg Duals tomorrow morning for duals against Thomas More, Waynesburg, Baldwin Wallace, and Defiance beginning at 11:00 a.m.
 
Stellar Start
With Gettysburg lacking a 125-pounder on their roster, Jordan Howard earned six team points for the Falcons with a forfeit. The Falcons went on to claim the next five bouts, including four-straight decisions and a fall. Friday evening's action got started at 133 lbs. with Messiah sophomore Dalton Dougherty taking the mat for the Falcons. Gettysburg's Jordan Pinette scored an early takedown, but Dougherty quickly wiggled free and earned a takedown midway through the opening period.

With a 2-1 lead early in the second period, Dougherty scored a takedown on the edge of the mat for a 4-1 lead. After riding out Pinette for the remainder of the period, Dougherty had another takedown with 45 seconds left in the third period and quickly allowed Pinette to escape to go for a major decision. While Dougherty was unable to score the late takedown for the major, he did lock up three team points with a 10-3 decision.

Next on the mat was Nick Nunez at 141 lbs. for the Falcons. Nunez claimed a tight, 6-5 victory over the Bullets' Sean Thompson. Nunez was first on the board with a takedown, getting in on a single before covering for two just 30 seconds into the opening period. After Thompson earned a pair of escapes to tie the score at 2-2, Nunez and Thompson traded takedowns and escapes to move the bout to 5-5 heading to the third period. Nunez chose the down position to start the final period and escaped 45 seconds later to take a 6-5 advantage. With 12 seconds remaining in the match, Thompson got in on a single, but Nunez stayed on his feet and held off the late attempt for the 6-5 decision.

Stephen Maloney claimed a 7-4 decision over Gettysburg's Colin Devlin at 149 lbs. thanks to a big first period where he snagged a takedown less than 30 seconds in and held on for the remainder of the period. During the two-plus minute ride, Maloney earned four back points to take a 6-0 lead at the end of the first period. Devlin chose down to open the second period and earned a reversal to get on the board. After a late scramble, Devlin earned a takedown in the final seconds of the period, but it was not enough as Maloney's riding time earned him the final score of 7-4 and pushed the Falcons' lead to 15-0 through four bouts.

In the 157 lbs. match it was the Bullets' Ray Martin that got on the board first with a takedown midway through the period against Messiah senior Lee Cassel. That takedown would be all Martin would earn in the match as Cassel slipped out for a two-point reversal just 30 seconds later before picking up another reversal early in the second period. Cassel completed the match with a takedown in the final 40 seconds and along with his riding time point, completed the 7-2 victory.

Locking It Up With Falls
Messiah headed to the second-half of the dual with a comfortable 18-0 lead through five matches. At 165 lbs. David Stevens squared off with Gettysburg's Tristan Chen and the two wrestled a very even, patient match through the first three and a half minutes. Stevens earned a takedown 30 seconds into the second period and looked to have earned back points, but was instead hit with a stall warning after some confusion. Forty-five seconds later, Stevens would earn four back points with a tilt on the edge of the mat. Another takedown early in the third period and four more back points followed for Stevens before the Messiah sophomore got Chen in a reverse bar and earned the fall with just over 30 seconds remaining in the match. Stevens had built a 13-1 lead prior to earning his first pin of the season and the third of his career.

Gettysburg got on the board with a 6-3 decision by Colin Kowalski over Messiah's Dan Swarr. Kowalski took a 2-0 lead in the match with a first-period takedown and eventually grew his lead to 5-1 with 30 seconds remaining in the third period. Swarr earned a reversal with eight seconds left in the match to cut Kowalski's lead to two at 5-3, but that was the last action of the match as Gettysburg earned the 6-3 decision after a point for riding time.

In one of the more interesting matches of the night, Victor DeFrance claimed an 8-4 victory over Dan Ebert at 184 lbs. DeFrance took Ebert down 25 seconds into the match and rode him for the remainder of the opening period to a build 2:35 of riding time and a 2-0 lead. Ebert chose top in the second period and proceeded to hold control for the entire period, but was hit with a pair of stalling calls to make it a 3-0 lead for DeFrance. The Messiah senior earned a pair of third period takedowns before cutting Ebert loose in the final seconds to go for the major decision. Ebert ended up countering a late shot by DeFrance and earning a takedown, but Messiah won the bout 8-4.

At 197 lbs. Messiah earned their second pin of the night when freshman Joe Embleton put Mike Iodice on his back late in the second period. At the time of the pin, Embleton and Iodice were tied 4-4 after Embleton earned an escape just moments earlier. The Messiah freshman got in on a leg and crashed Iodice on his him to turn him to his back. Iodice fought on his back for 30 seconds, but Embleton proved to be too much as he earned his sixth fall of the season.

Friday's dual wrapped up with Gettysburg's No. 7-ranked Paul Triandafilou earning a 4-1 decision against Denny Karas in the heavyweight bout. After a scoreless first period, Triandafilou earned an escape before claiming a takedown with less than 20 seconds left in the second period. A late escape for Karas in the third period gave him his point, but Triandafilou earned the decision and closed out the dual with Messiah claiming the 33-6 victory.

What's Up Next
With the win, Messiah improves to 3-2 on the season and extends their home dual winning streak to 24 matches, a stretch that dates back to Nov. 19, 2011. The Falcons have a quick turnaround and will be back on the mat tomorrow morning at the Waynesburg Duals. The Falcons will get the duals underway at 11:00 a.m. against Thomas More with matches against Waynesburg (12:30 p.m.), Baldwin Wallace (2:00 p.m.), and Defiance (3:30 p.m.) to following.
 

Messiah 33, Gettysburg 6	MC-GC
125: Jordan Howard (MC) won by forfeit	6-0
133: Dalton Daugherty (MC) dec. Jordan Pinette (GC), 10-3	9-0
141: Nick Nunez (MC) dec. Sean Thompson (GC), 6-5	12-0
149: Stephen Maloney (MC) dec. Colin Devlin (GC), 7-4	15-0
157: Lee Cassel (MC) dec. Ray Martin (GC), 7-2	18-0
165: David Stevens (MC) pinned Tristan Chen (GC), 6:27	24-0
174: Colin Kowalski (GC) dec. Dan Swarr (MC), 6-3	24-3
184: Victor DeFrance (MC) dec. Dan Ebert (GC), 8-4	27-3
197: Joe Embleton (MC) pinned Mike Iodice (GC), 4:24	33-3
285: #7 Paul Triandafilou (GC) dec. Denny Karas (MC), 4-1	33-6

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