GRANTHAM, Pa. - The 2019 Messiah Petrofes Invitational began Friday afternoon with 19 teams competing and hundreds of wrestlers vying to win their respective weight classes. The Falcons came out of day one with eleven wrestlers advancing to compete in day two of the tournament. Nine Falcons are going to be competing in the semifinals tomorrow morning while two Falcons will be battling for third place in their weight class.
Freshman
Garret Cornell led Messiah on the day, winning all three of his matches by way of a pin.
Stephen Maloney and
Matt Pangle also put together impressive days for the Falcons, with Maloney picking up a pin and two tech. falls while Pangle recorded two pins and a tech. fall on the day. Messiah will be back in action when the tournament picks back up tomorrow morning inside Hitchcock Arena at 9:00 a.m. The Falcons will be looking to claim their fifth team Messiah Petrofes Invitational title in the past seven years.
Strong At 125 and 141
Both wrestlers competing in the 125 pound weight class are moving onto the second day for Messiah. Senior
Sean Redington continued his impressive season on Friday. He had a bye in the first round. After this he picked up an 18-2 tech. fall victory over conference foe Jonathan Portillo of Alvernia. Redington then punched his ticket to tomorrow's semifinals with a pin over Wilson Gomes of Bridgewater State. He will battle Errik Gerback of Mount Union tomorrow in the semifinals.
Jordan Howard started his day with a bye before picking up an 11-5 decision in his second round before dropping his next match by way of a 9-4 decision to Springfield's Robert Hartling. This dropped Howard into the consolation bracket, where he won by a 7-2 decision to keep his chances alive for third place tomorrow morning. He will start his day on Saturday by wrestling Ian Forgitano of Bridgewater State.
The Falcons had two wrestlers move into tomorrow from the 141 pound weight class. As mentioned,
Garret Cornell continued his great freshman campaign by picking up three more wins on Friday. He picked up these wins by way of pins to move his way into the semifinals where he will face off with Ryker Eckenbarger of McDaniel.
Dalton Daugherty's path to wrestling on Saturday was a little bit bumpier. The sophomore dropped his first match of the day by way of decision which moved him into the consolation bracket. This is where he picked up four straight wins to punch his ticket to a chance at third place in the 141 pound weight class. It started with a pin before a 19-3 tech. fall, and then he picked up a close 4-3 decision before ending his day with a 7-2 decision over Jack Coulston of Penn State Mont Alto.
Singles In Seven Weight Classes
Josiah Gehr started off his day at 133 with a pin before a 16-0 tech. fall and an 8-3 decision over West Virginia Tech's Logan Robertson moved him into tomorrow's semifinals. Gehr will take on Nolan Wochna of Mount Union with a chance to move into the finals on the line. Gehr won an individual title at 125 last season at the Messiah Petrofes Invitational.
At 149,
Nick Nunez won by decision to start the day and then earned a 20-7 major decision before an 8-3 decision over Eric Mougalian of Gettysburg sends him to the semifinals tomorrow. In this semifinal he will be taking on Luke Hernandez of Mount Union.
After winning an individual title at 149 last season,
Stephen Maloney is looking to pick up an individual title at 157 this season. He got off to a good start by way of a 17-0 tech. fall before a pin and then a 16-1 tech. fall sent him into the semifinals. Here he will face off with Alexander LaVeck of McDaniel.
Matt Pangle recorded a pin in his first match of the day at 165. He then won by way of a 22-3 tech. fall before picking up another pin to move into the semifinals. Tomorrow he will wrestle Michael Mcintire of Mount Union.
After a bye to the second round,
Brian Shermeyer recorded a pin and a 13-4 major decision to carve his path into the semifinals tomorrow morning. Here he will face Conner Homan of Mount Union.
At 184,
David Stevens had a bye in the first round before winning a 4-1 decision and 5-3 decision over Alvernia's Ali Capobianco to earn his way into the semifinals. He will face Gino Sita of Alderson Broaddus in the semifinals tomorrow.
Carter Urich picked up two pins to begin his day before an 8-2 decision win over Ryan Higgins of Bridgewater State moved him into a match with Grant Martin of Mount Union in the semifinals.
Inside The Mats
In all, 21 wrestlers competed for Messiah on Friday with 12 Falcons winning at least one match in their respective Championship Bracket. Of the nine semifinal matches for Messiah, a whopping six of them will come against Mount Union, while two come against McDaniel and one against Alderson Broaddus.
Day One Leaders
After the first day of the tournament, Messiah sits in second place with 112.5 team points. Mount Union is in first with 124.5 points while Muhlenberg slots in at third with 87 points. Rounding out the top five is Springfield with 72 and McDaniel with 70 points respectively.
What's Up Next
As mentioned, eleven wrestlers will compete for Messiah tomorrow morning beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the second day of the Messiah Petrofes Invitational.
