Wrestling: No. 7 Missouri routs Rider to open season

As the jet stream dipped some winter-time air through the Mid-Atlantic, one thing was notably apparent during Missouri’s 34-4 win over Rider at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville on Friday.

It was the first match of the year.

Missouri won nine of ten matches over a depleted Rider team wrestling without five regulars and when the big guns stepped to the mat, there was still work to be done.

“Missouri’s very good, they have been for a number of years,” said Rider assistant coach John Hangey. “They taught us a lot of valuable lessens as far as what it takes.”

After wins by Tony Pescaglia, Tyler McCormick and Marcus Hoehn built a 12-0 lead for the Tigers, Rider’s returning All-American Don Fisch stepped to the mat up a weight to take on 12th-ranked Josh Wagner.

Wagner scored on a quick throwby and got three points for a tilt to build a 5-0 lead, but then Fisch got things going.

Fisch tied the score at five by reversing Wagner to his back and nearly getting the fall in the first. After the two went through a relatively uneventful second period with the score knotted at seven, Wagner took his final lead with an early third period escape.

Then Fisch’s flurries put Wagner away.

In the first scramble, Fisch locked up a cradle and turned Wagner for three and late in the bout with Wagner needing a big move, Fisch stopped Wagner’s throw attempt, planting him to the mat for three more nearfall points and came away with a 17-9 major decision.

Fisch acknowledged his own early sluggishness.

“It’s just from cutting the weight the first time, I was a little tired and out of it,” he said. “I knew when I went out there, my arms were all tired and heavy, I wasn’t really moving right, but I won so …”

Missouri coach Brian Smith knew things could have gone differently, but pointed to mistakes.

“(Wagner) made some silly mistakes. When you’re up 5-0, you don’t flip a guy to your back,” said Smith. “He knows that, he’ll bounce back. He’s a winner, he was right there close to being in the national finals. We gave up I don’t know how many points on silly mistakes and if we don’t do that, we win the match.”

Fisch doesn’t see any added pressure coming back from a season which saw him literally centimeters from making the NCAA finals last March in Auburn Hills.

“I’m expected to do well this year, last year I really wasn’t. I’ve been dealing with pressure my whole life, I’ve always been pretty good, so it’s really nothing though,” said Fisch.

The major decision brought Rider within eight points, but Missouri would close out the match in dominating fashion.

Emanuel Brooks picked up a decision over Rob Morrison at 157 pounds and Nick Marable earned one of Missouri’s two technical falls of the night with a 20-3 result against Michael Darling.

First-year starter James Williamson earned a 7-2 victory over Joe Ferber at 174.

“He’s ready,” said Smith of Williamson, who has been on the bench at Missouri for the last four years. “He did a good job, he got us a win. We’re pushing him. We don’t need him to replace Ben (Askren); we need him to wrestle up to his potential. If he does that, he’ll do well for us.”

The proverbial stage was then set for the first of two back-to-back matches with a pair of nationally-ranked wrestlers.

Sixth-ranked Raymond Jordan squared off against 12th-ranked Doug Umbehauer of Rider at 184 pounds, the first at Umbehauer’s new weight class.

From opening whistle to closing whistle, Jordan was all over Umbehauer, picking up a takedown with one second to go to earn a 22-7 technical fall.

The outcome was indicative of the pace the Tigers set all match.

“I told the guys before the match to push the pace, wrestle hard, if you make mistakes, we’ll correct’em,” said Smith. “They’re pushing themselves. It’s hard sometimes when you’re chasing, but you have to learn to wrestle. I want them to be able to fight through that because they’re going to get in better shape as the season goes on.”

“We feel it’s going to be like that every night. We were very aggressive tonight.”

“I thought Raymond Jordan looked awesome, he’s been looking like that all pre-season. To go out there and tech a pretty tough kid – that’s a good thing.

Jordan, an upbeat North Carolina native who’s always smiling had a reason to be after his victory.

“I’m ready this year, every time I step on the mat,” said Jordan. “A couple times last year, I went out there and if a guy wasn’t ranked, I would wrestle to my opponent’s level. This year, I’m going out there to dominate.”

Conditioning was the key factor that broke the bout open.

“We have great workout partners in the room,” said Jordan. “Coaches have been working with me on pushing me no matter how tired I get. I know that my opponent is going to be more tired than me.”

With two-time All-American Tyler McCormick being the most accomplished returning wrestler on the squad, Jordan feels it’s time that he makes the impact this year.”

“I’m ready to be the guy,” said Jordan.

Fourth-ranked Max Askren topped 17th-ranked T.J. Morrison of Rider in the second of the featured matches in a lack-luster 7-6 final.

Mark Ellis closed out the Missouri shellacking with a fall over Peter Reid at 2:18.

Hangey wasn’t shell-shocked after the loss, admittedly with several key wrestlers still not in the lineup, but the final score was telling.

“Some of their kids aren’t even the best in the country but they still taught us lessons on how to train better, how to come in more physical in matches and how to compete in the moment. That’s valuable for the freshmen, but even (Doug) Umbehauer got beat up. That kid is an indicator of that weight class.”

He was pleased with Morrison’s performance, as Morrison kept attacking and did score the final takedown of the match to close within a point.

“T.J.’s made a difference this year,” said Hangey. “We’re trying to get more of on offense going for him. He got visibly bigger and stronger in the offseason and he’s got to settle into his weight a little better.”

Smith’s team hit the bus afterwards to head to Long Island where a dual with 13th-ranked Hofstra awaits Saturday evening.

“They’re a loaded team,” said Smith. “I know we’ll wrestle better, I hope so, we need to. We have to wrestle crisper. There were a lot of shots we were taking that didn’t look good, you hate it, but it’s early season. They’re going to get better as the season goes on.”

Bos Score: http://www.intermatwrestle.com/college/results/collshowresults.aspx?ID=3927