Rider 17 Army 16
RIDER EDGES ARMY Black Knights Win Five Matches But Fall 16-14
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Rob Morrison scored a 2-0 win in the final bout of the night as Rider edged Army, 17-16, Thursday night in a non-conference wrestling match at Gillis Field House.
The Broncs, wrestling their sixth dual match of the season, won the final two matches by decision to pull out the victory and improve to 3-3.
Junior Casey Thome posted a major decision and seniors Matt Kyler and Ryan Mergen and freshmen Colin Wittmeyer and Jordan Thome won via decision but the Black Knights fell to 0-2.
Army jumped out to an early lead, retook the lead with two matches to go but Rider fought back to post the victory on the strength of two bonus point wins.
“The effort is there,” said Army head coach Chuck Barbee. “The intensity is there. It’s just a matter of strategy and making sure you don’t make critical mistakes. I’m optimistic that as the season progresses, we will learn from these tough losses and be better at the end of the season. We’re certainly not content with a loss but we made huge strides in the last week or so. We competed well. We lost of couple of tough bouts and won a couple of tough bouts we just didn’t come out on top.”
Mergen, a senior captain, won his second consecutive dual match with a strong third period and got Army off to a 3-0 lead at 174 pounds Rider’s Jim Resnick earned two takedowns in the first period and one in the second but Mergen escaped three times and benefitted from a penalty point for being pushed out of bounds.
Resnick, with at least a two-inch height advantage and 1:36 of riding time, chose down to start the final period. Mergen rode him for the first part of the period and then took Resnick to his back. Mergen had the move locked and held Resnick for 1:15 for three near fall points and a 7-6 win.
Wittmeyer extended the Army advantage to 6-0 with a win in his first dual match at 184 pounds. Wittmeyer secured a takedown with 20 seconds left in the first period, a reversal in the third and a 1:40 advantage in riding time for a 5-1 win.
Rider’s Tyler Smith, ranked #19 in the latest Intermat rankings, scored the Broncs’ first points with a 13-3 major decision over freshman Casey Hedash at 197 pounds.
Smith posted a takedown in the first and three takedowns in the final period and picked up three near fall points as well as an escape and riding time around three Hedash escapes for his 12th win this season to make the match score 6-4.
Rider took its first lead of the match when heavyweight Ed Bordas recorded a 10-2 major decision over freshman Alan Lutterman for an 8-6 lead.
Bordas utilized his weight advantage and scored four takedowns, an escape and riding time against the under-sized Lutterman.
Ilyass Elmsaouri picked up a takedown with 13 seconds left as Rider took an 11-6 lead at 125 pounds. Army’s Lance Penhale escaped just three seconds into the second period for a 1-0 lead and the wrestlers were neutral before Elmsaouri scored the takedown for the 2-1 victory.
Jordan Thome posted his first dual match win with a hard-fought 8-5 win at 133 pounds. Thome picked up a takedown in the first period and two near fall points in the second but Rider’s Jimmy Kirchner put together a reversal and three near fall points for a 5-4 lead after two periods.
Thome chose down to begin the third period, worked a reversal, benefitted from an illegal move point and added more than two minutes of riding time to cut Rider’s lead to 11-9.
Jordan’s older brother, Casey, started quick at 141 pounds with a first-period takedown and three near fall points for a 5-1 lead against Aaron Nestor after three minutes. Thome, competing in his first dual this season, then worked a reversal and picked up two more back points in the second.
The elder Thome put Army back on top with a takedown and three back points to conclude the major decision and give the Black Knights a 13-11 lead.
Kyler, who suffered a tie-breaking loss in his first dual match of the season, left no doubt on Thursday, stringing together four takedowns for a 10-3 win at 149 pounds.
Ranked #10 in the latest Intermat rankings, Kyler had more than two minutes of riding time and put Army ahead, 16-11.
Rider’s Zac Cibula put the Broncs within two points, 16-14, with a 9-5 win over Rudy Chelednik at 157 pounds. Chelednik escaped in the second, picked up a reversal in the second and then a takedown in the third for a 5-3 lead. Cibula then escaped, notched the takedown and then three near fall points for the 9-5 win.
Morrison clinched the match at 165 pounds, making a first period takedown standup in a 2-0 victory that made the team score 17-16.
Morrison won his 10th match this season with his victory against freshman Eric Gobin. Morrison led 2-0, rode Gobin in the second and then fought off numerous attempts from the bottom position and held on for the victory.
Army will be idle until Dec. 28 when the team competes at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C. The two-day event begins Tuesday at 10 a.m.
MATCH NOTES: Thursday was the second of six matches that ITT Knight Vision, the multi-media platform of the Army Athletic Association, will carry live on-line with a video and audio stream … Army’s Ryan Mergen improved to 9-6 this season and 57-42 during his career … Colin Wittmeyer is now 10-4 during his rookie campaign … Jordan Thome has a team-best 14 wins against five losses … Casey Thome is now 2-1 on the season and 60-28 for his career … Matt Kyler improved to 9-2 this season and is now 123-29 in his career. Kyler needs three wins to tie Brad Fenske for second place on Army’s all-time wins chart.
RIDER 17, ARMY 16 174: Ryan Mergen (A) dec. Jim Resnick, 7-6 184: Colin Wittmeyer (A) dec. Joe Ferber, 5-1 197: #19 Tyler Smith (R) major dec. Casey Hedash, 13-3 285: Ed Bordas (R) major dec. Alan Lutterman, 10-2 125: Ilyass Elmsaouri (R) dec. Lance Penhale, 2-1 133: Jordan Thome (A) dec. Jimmy Kirchner, 8-5 141: Casey Thome (A) major dec. Aaron Nestor, 15-2 149: #10 Matt Kyler (A) dec. Michael Kessler, 10-3 157: Zac Cibula (R) dec. Rudy Chelednik, 9-5 165: Rob Morrison (R) dec. Eric Gobin, 2-0 Referee: Mark Sigmon