Wrestling: York College tops McDaniel to break in new facility
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by InterMat
It wasn’t all grins and fist-pumps for York College coach Tom Kessler on Wednesday night. But it wasn’t exactly grimaces and sagging shoulders either.
A major decision at 285 pounds by Luke Pazinni lifted the host Spartans (1-0) to a 30-21 victory over McDaniel College in the season opener for both teams in the first home dual held in York’s new Charles Wolf Gymnasium.
The Spartans trailed only once, but found themselves in a match from first-year head coach Dewey Blake’s Green Terror coming down to the upper weights.
Things could have been over early, though.
“We’re not that strong at the top, I think we wrestled well other than that,” said York coach Tom Kessler.
After returning Division III All-American Kyle Flickinger opened up with a first-period technical fall over Jesse Kolb at 125 pounds, York’s Sean Hightman built a 9-0 lead before getting reversed to his back and pinned at 133 by Tim Hall at the 1:37 mark in the first period.
The way Hall finished wasn’t much of a surprise for either coach … well, not there was some surprise.
“133 was a surprise,” said Kessler. “But that’s the way that kid wrestles.”
Blake affirmed that assessment.
“He’s our 125-pounder normally and he’s coming down to weight now, but that’s what he does. He’ll get down and catch people,” said Blake.
York moved ahead 11-6 after Ryan Catton accepted a forfeit at 141 pounds. Eric Rush gave the Spartans the first of back-to-back falls with a second period fall over Tom Boehm at 149. John Niedrich followed with a fall nine seconds into the second period at 157 over Matt Peters.
“Niedrich’s the real deal,” said Kessler. “He’s going to surprise some people this year.”
The Spartans would go up 26-6 after a 3-1 win by Brian Alwine over Cory Beall.
Then it got interesting.
Courtney Nightengale eased McDaniel back into the dual with a workmanlike 9-3 victory over Jamie Arze at 174 and the Green Terror packed on six more points with Andrew Winfield’s fall over Tom Fitzpatrick.
McDaniel’s Ferris Bond kept his squad within striking distance after a barrage of double-leg takedowns on Dennis Conklin. Needing a fall to take the match to heavyweight, Bond’s final double leg was the winner, as Bond drove in, turked the leg and powered Conklin to his back and held Conklin’s shoulders to the mat.
The rally fell short, however, for the Green Terror with Panizzi’s major decision.
“We got to see where we are at right now,” said Kessler. “We’re going to do this every year with McDaniel, they have a nice team. We have a lot of new guys on our team, a lot of freshmen and they’re going to find out what college wrestling is all about.
We got out with the win. We have a few things we need to work on and some guys that need to start moving and stepping it up.”
Blake’s team is also young.
“We’re in the same boat as them,” said Blake. “We started four freshman start tonight and a forfeit at 141. Got a couple of starters out right now with football, but I was happy with how we performed.”
“These guys were probably heavily favored,” said Blake. “I just wanted our guys to come out there with our guns blazin’. We’re capable of beating a lot of teams and winning matches. This gives them some confidence going into the rest of the season.”
Kessler’s new facility, complete with new wrestling room, should help the traditionally tough Spartan wrestling program.
“This is my 16th year, so we at worse, expect to be in the Top 20, Top 10,” said Kessler. “We have high expectations. Two years ago, we were fifth in the country with four All-Americans. We have a nice program, beautiful complex which will help with the recruiting.”
Said Kessler: “If we’re not Top 20, we’re not doing what we’re supposed to.”
'Box Score:' http://www.intermatwrestle.com/college/results/collshowresults.aspx?ID=3920
