Wrestling 1/6/2018 9:00:00 PM

Wrestling grabs pair of victories at North-South Duals

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- Elizabethtown College wrestling alternated victories and defeats at Saturday's North-South Duals. The Blue Jays earned commanding wins over Rhode Island College (43-10) and Penn College (35-21) to split the day.

ELIZABETHTOWN 43, RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE 10
E-town scored 27 unanswered points and used four falls to dispatch the Anchormen in the opener.

In a match where all 10 bouts featured bonus points, it was the Blue Jays striking early and often. Senior Philip Torresani needed just 2:01 to pin Brandon Nunez late in the first period of the 125-pound match.

Elizabethtown was on its way from there. Josh McLaughlin won by major decision, 15-6, at 133 and Josh Paisley had Daniel Murray on the ropes with 12 first-period back points before finishing him off with by technical fall, 16-0,early in the second.

First-period pins from 149-pounder Dan Smith and 157-pounder Chris Kummerer put the Jays in front 27-0. Freshman Tyler Mentzer pinned Tim Caplan one second shy of two minutes in at 174 to put the match out of reach.

Rhode Island College got a pin from Nicholas Coppola at 184, but a forfeit for Rocco Hladney at 197 and a major decision by Eric Eckstein at heavyweight provided the final margin of victory.

Though he only needed to step on the mat to have his hand raised, Hladney picked up his 50th career win as a Blue Jay.

SOUTHERN MAINE 31, ELIZABETHTOWN 7
Elizabethtown couldn't replicate its hot start against Southern Maine, as it was the Huskies ripping off 17 straight points to start in a 31-7 victory over the Blue and Gray.

Fourth-ranked Peter Del Gallo, the younger brother of 2017 149-pound NCAA DIII champion Daniel Del Gallo, opened the match with a tech fall at 125 and Southern Maine went on to win eight of 10 matches.

Chris Kummerer moved to 2-0 on the day with a major decision triumph at 157 and Rocco Hladney posted a 10-4 decision over Brandon Cousino at 197.

ELIZABETHTOWN 35, PENN COLLEGE 21
Maximum points were handed out left and right as the Jays eventually pulled away from Penn College in a 35-21 win.

The first eight bouts were all decided by pin or forfeit. E-town got falls from Dan Smith (149) and Chris Kummerer (157), while Philip Torresani (125), Chad Rosenberger (165) and Quinn Ruble (184) were victors by forfeit.

Kummer, Rosenberger and Ruble's wins helped E-town outscore the Wildcats 18-6 during a four weight-class run that turned a 12-12 match into a 30-18 Blue Jay advantage.

Rocco Hladney, a d3wrestle.com contender, made it 35-18 with a 17-2 tech fall against Jared Mooney at 197, as the Blue Jays briefly evened their dual record at 3-3 on the season before falling to nationally-ranked Stevens in Saturday's finale.

#10 STEVENS 33, ELIZABETHTOWN 12
Stevens used the help of three nationally-ranked grapplers and two others receiving honorable mention from d3wrestle.com to win seven bouts in a row in a 33-12 victory over E-town.

Quinn Ruble got the Blue Jays on the board at 184 with a 2:44 pin of Bruce Parola and Rocco Hladney followed with a 3:35 fall against Colin Myles at 197 to account for all of E-town's points.

Hladney was the only Blue Jay to go unbeaten (4-0) at the North-South Duals and improved to 20-4 on the season in doing so. The Middletown, Del., product finished with victories by forfeit, decision, technical fall and pin.

Chris Kummerer came up just shy of joining his senior teammate. Kummerer, who had two pins and a major decision coming in to the Stevens match, fell by decision, 11-4, to third-ranked Zach Wilhelm at 157.

The Ducks also got a tech fall from the nation's top 133-pounder, Troy Stanich and No. 4/2 Brett Kaliner provided a major decision at 141.

Stevens secured bonus points in the first four matches with a pair of tech falls and two major decisions on its way to opening a 30-0 lead through the 174-pound bout.

Elizabethtown will return to Thompson Gymnasium Thursday for a match against Scranton at 7 p.m.

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