The Terrapin wrestling team had to wait an hour while Drexel crushed York 37-9, but once the Terps hit the mats they seemed to work diligently and quickly as they smacked Drexel 35-6.
With the exception of the 149-pounds and the heavyweight class, where both John Kohler and Pat Gilmore lost close decisions, the Terps systematically dominated Drexel as the Dragons were obviously overmatched at almost every other weight class. There are some in attendance who think the upcoming match between the Terps and York could end in a shutout, which would be impressive no matter the competition.
Here are a few of my humble observations from the first match.
- By far the most exciting victory of the day went to redshirt sophomore Kyle John who, filling in unexpectedly for Brian Letters, came back from an 8-4 deficit after two periods to win in the final seconds 9-8. I was unable to talk to coach Kerry McCoy in between matches but I will make sure to ask him the issue with Letters at the end of the day.
- In one of the chippier yet more even matches of the day, Terp heavyweight Pat Gilmore came back from a small margin to send his match with Drexel’s Kyle Frey into overtime. Unfortunately less than 20 seconds in the overtime Frey was able to stand Gilmore up and get a hold on one of his legs. From there he scored sudden victory with a swift takedown.
- In yet another chippy match, All-American Alex Krom dominated his opponent en route to a 13-5 major decision victory. Throughout the match Krom seemed frustrated as his opponent seemed to try and stall at key points. Krom repeatedly gestured for his oppponent to get off the mat and wrestle, he gave his opponent a point when he was whistled for taunting. The Drexel fans booed Krom as he left the mat, but neither Krom nor McCoy seemed too fazed by the nay-sayers.
- Mike Letts had the easiest day of them all at 174 pounds as he was dressed and ready to wrestle, but instead all he had to do was jog out to center-mat and have his right hand raised in victory by the referee. For those of you still confused that means he won by forfeit.
- As soon as the referee dropped his hand there was little doubt Drexel’s Jack Callender was way out of his league against Terp star Hudson Taylor at 197 pounds. It took Taylor just 1:29 to pin Callender as one Terp fan spent most of the match rDeminding Callender “the pain is coming!”
I will be back for quick observations after the showdown with York and then look for a full weekend recap in Monday’s edition of The Diamondback.
Michael Lemaire is the Terrapin Wrestling beat writer for the 2009-2010 season. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com