Laird’s heavyweight upset lifts Rider
Led by an impressive and eye-opening upset victory by heavyweight Ethan Laird, the Rider University wrestling team posted a solid 17-15 victory at Lehigh University Sunday afternoon.
It all came down to heavyweight with Lehigh holding a one-point lead after a tight 2-0 decision at 197 pounds on a third period rideout by Jake Jakobsen over Matt Correnti.
Ranked fifth in the country, Lehigh heavyweight Jordan Wood (4-1) appeared to be taking control against Rider’s 14th-ranked Ethan Laird with a takedown after a scoreless first period.
Laird, however, was able to come out of the second period with a 3-2 lead courtesy of a penalty point on Wood for a figure four and escape,
In the third period Wood took the lead with a takedown and appeared to be riding out Laird before making the decision to cut the Rider wrestler loose with :27 to go.
With Wood now needing another takedown, this decision backfired big time as Laird beat him to the punch with a late single-leg takedown
of his own to post an 8-5 victory.
Laird’s victory completed a Rider comeback that saw the Broncs win four of the last five bouts and six of 10 overall.
Rider also got two key victories from Jake Silver- stein (165) and Angel Garcia (174). Silverstein beat Brian Meyer, 3-1,in sudden victory and Garcia remained undefeated with a 4-3 win over Jake Logan.
With the loss, Lehigh’s all-time record against Rider is now 15-7. Rider was not at full strength for this match with the most notable absentee being Jesse
Dellavecchia, who is ranked in the nation at 157 pounds. Rider also had a team point deducted.
Rider (2-2) will return to action at home Thursday night in a home dual against Drexel.
Rider 17, Lehigh 15
125: Jaret Lane (LEH) over Jonathon Tropea (RID) (Fall 3:49) 133: Richie Koehler (RID) over Mitchell Polito (LEH) (Dec 6-4) 141: Connor McGonagle (LEH) over McKenzie Bell (RID) (Dec 6-1) 149: Wyatt McCarthy (RID) over Joe Lobeck (LEH) (SV-1 3-1) 157: Austin (AJ) Burkhart (LEH) over Cole McComas (RID) (Dec 7-6) 165: Jake Silverstein (RID) over Brian Meyer (LEH) (SV-1 3-1) 174: Angel Garcia (RID) over Jake Logan (LEH) (Dec 4-3) 184: George Walton (RID) over Caden Wright (LEH) (Dec 6-3) 197: Jake Jakobsen (LEH) over Matt Correnti (RID) (Dec 2-0) 285: Ethan Laird (RID) over Jordan Wood (LEH) (Dec 8-5)