Scarlet Knights still searching for marquee Big Ten win
The thinking going into Sunday’s match at No. 11 Ohio State was the 17th-ranked Rutgers University wrestling team might finally be able to break through against one of the top powers in the Big Ten Conference.
Although Rutgers had its chances and nearly won the match, in the end it came up on the short end of a 19-14 thriller against the Buckeyes to fall to 0-2 on the season.
With the loss, Rutgers now has a record of 0-38-1 against Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota and Iowa, which are the four teams that have pretty much dominated Big 10 wrestling over the last decade and have combined to win the last 13 national championships.
What proved to be a critical bout in a match with a 6-4 split in Ohio State’s favor unfolded right away when Rutgers’ Nic Aguilar lost to Malik Heinselman at 125 pounds. Aguilar majored the Ohio State wrestler, 14-1, last year, but Heinselman has since been on a roll and opened the match with a solid 10-4 win.
Rutgers came back to take the lead on major decisions by Sammy Alvarez (133) and Sebastian Rivera (141). The Scarlet Knights later got decisions by Robert Kanniard at 157 pounds (in overtime) and highly-touted freshman 187-pounder
John Poznanski to establish a 14-13 lead with two bouts to go.
What followed was heartbreaking as Billy Janzer first dropped a 3-2 decision to Gavin Hoffman at 197 pounds.
In the ensuing winner-take-all heavyweight bout, Rutgers’ Christian Colucci took a 1-0 lead into the final period. Ohio State’s Tate Orndorff, however, rallied with an escape, a stalling point against Colucci and a takedown for a 4-2 win.
Rutgers will return to action on Sunday in a home match against 15thranked Minnesota.
Ohio State 19, Rutgers 14
125: Malik Heinselman (OHST) over Nic Aguilar (RUT) (Dec 10-4) 133: Sammy Alvarez (RUT) over Jordan Decatur (OHST) (MD 14-3) 141: Sebastian Rivera (RUT) over Dylan D’Emilio (OHST) (MD 11-2) 149: Sammy Sasso (OHST) over Mike Van Brill (RUT) (Dec 11-5) 157: Robert Kannaird (RUT) over Elijah Cleary (OHST) (SV-1 7-5) 165: Ethan Smith (OHST) over Brett Donner (RUT) (Dec 10-3) 174: Kaleb Romero (OHST) over Joe Grello (RUT) (MD 15-5) 184: John Poznanski (RUT) over Rocky Jordan (OHST) (Dec 9-6) 197: Gavin Hoffman (OHST) over Billy Janzer (RUT) (Dec 3-2) 285: Tate Orndorff (OHST) over Christian Colucci (RUT) (Dec 4-2).
RIDER ROLLS
Wrestling its first home match, Rider won nine out of 10 bouts to up its record to 2-1 (2-0 in the MAC) with a 32-3 win over George Mason. It was the 18th time Rider beat George Mason in 19 meetings.
Ranked fourth in the nation, Jessie Dellavecchia
(157) improved to 4-0 along with Angel Garcia (174) and heavyweight Ethan Laird. Dellavecchia and Laird both won by technical fall.
Rider’s next match is in two weeks when it travels to Lehigh University on Feb.7.
Rider 32, George Mason 3
141-McKenzie Bell (Rider) over AJ Poindexter (George Mason), 12-0; 149-Wyatt McCarthy (Rider) over Tyler Johnson (George Mason); 8-5; 57-Jesse Dellavecchia (Rider) over Daniel Segura (George Mason), 19-3 at 5:37; Jake Silverstein (Rider) over Neil Schuster (George Mason), 12-7; Angel Garcia (Rider) over Paul Pierce (George Mason), 6-5; 184-George Walton (Rider) over Kyle Davis (George Mason), 7-6; 197-Austin Stith (George Mason) over Matt Correnti (Rider), 11-5; Hvy-Ethan Laird (Rider) over Ali Salem (George Mason), 17-1 at 6:08; 125 —Jonathan Tropea (Rider) over Josh Jones (George Mason), 12-3; 133—Richie Koehler (Rider) DEC Anthony Glasl (George Mason), 10-4.