Thanks to the wondrous joy that is DOTS and its sketchy transportation system, I arrived 20 minutes late for the meeting between the Quakers and the Terps, but that is another story for another day.
Luckily all I missed was a forfeit victory at heavyweight for Pat Gilmore, and a decision victory by James Knox at 125 pounds, 7-4. For those who are mathematically challenged or don’t understand wrestling scoring, that means the Terps are winning 9-0, six for the forfeit and three for the decision.
For the first time this season the Terps have switched up their starting lineup as Steve Bell is getting the night off and fellow senior Mookie Golden is in the midst of the match. Also Alex Krom will be getting the night off as well and Matt Bogusz will take his place at 141 pounds. I will update again after Golden’s match and for every match thereafter so make sure to follow me after the jump.
133- Bryan Ortenzio (UP) dec. Mookie Golden, 6-5.
This match took a lot of time as Golden starting bleeding from the lip and re-opened the scratch multiple times throughout, getting blood on Ortenzio. It was an extremely tight match all the way through, but after an escape Ortenzio took a 5-4 lead.
With four seconds left Ortenzio was called for stalling. But Golden wasn’t able to break through in the final seconds and Ortenzio earned the final and decisive point for riding time. Golden is now 6-5 on the season and the Terps lead has been cut to six, 9-3.
141- Zack Kemmerer (UP) dec. Matt Boguz, 10-4.
It was not a good night for the Terp newcomers. Facing arguably Penn’s best wrestler, Bogusz had very few opportunities to score and often looked disgusted with himself when Kemmerer was able to take him down.
Kemmerer got the early advantage in riding time, and easily escaped Bogusz everytime he needed to. He even allowed Bogusz an easy escape in order to keep attacking and score more points.
Bogusz’s best chance came midway through the third period when he was able to get behind Kemmerer and get a hand around his leg. The position can often lend itself to a pin, but Kemmerer, who was clearly the stronger of the two, used his superior muscle to prevent Bogusz from rolling him over. After that it was clear Bogusz was out of gas. The redshirt sophomore dropped to 12-5 on the season and the Terps are just ahead by three, 9-6.
149- Jon Kohler (MD) dec. Troy Hernandez, 10-3.
This is where the Quakers really could have used their suspended senior Cesar Grajales.
Grajales, along with fellow nationally ranked seniors Matt Dragon and Rollie Peterkin were suspended two weeks ago for an aggravated assault charge that stemmed from an incident in October.
Without Grajales, Terp coach Kerry McCoy told me on Wednesday the Quakers were especially weak in the middle weight classes, and it showed on this night. Hernandez is a freshman and looked overmatched throughout again the more experienced and technically sound Kohler.
To his credit, Hernandez was able to fend off multiple pin opportunities from Kohler and at the very end when the match was in hand, Kohler seemed to let up a little and Hernandez aggressively sought out scoring chances. The win was the third in a row for Kohler who was coming off an upset of then-No. 12 Nick Stabile for the Tar Heels. He is now 9-6 on the season and the Terps are back up by six.
157- Kyle John (MD) major dec. Jake Hunter, 16-4.
John, who earned the No. 19 ranking in the country from InterMat after his major decision shutout victory last week against then-No. 9 Thomas Scotton of North Carolina. Hunter, on the other hand, dropped to 1-6 on the season and clearly was not on the same level as John.
Again, Penn coach Rob Eiter would have loved to have been able to trot out Matt Dragon, who was ranked No. 6 in the country in the preseason but such is life, and the Quakers depth is clearly an issue.
John improved to 15-3 on the season and is quickly make Terp fans forget that he was projected to sit the bench. But of course he was forced into action with the multitude of injuries to Brian Letters, and the Terps depth is clearly not as big an issue.
165- Josh Asper (MD) dec. Gabe Burak, 12-7.
Burak is one of the two other Quakers who have an argument as the team’s best wrestler, although he remains unranked. At 18-2 Burak, a junior, was expected to give Asper a good match and things could have gotten a little hairy for the Terps if Burak had scored the upset, but it was not to be.
Asper almost ended it early as he had Burak’s shoulders very close to the ground for what would have been the Terps’ fastest pin of the season. Asper continued to show why he could be extremely impressive down the road. He is an very polished wrestler for a redshirt freshman, and has an advanced technique as well.
Of course it helps that the former all-conference linebacker in high school is built like a rock and has extremely quick feet. When he started in the down position, Burak resorted to jumping on his back and even that couldn’t stop Asper from scoring. It was Asper’s third consecutive win and he is now 15-2 on the season and the Terps have almost put the match away, winning 19-6 with just three matches remaining.
174- Mike Letts (MD) dec. Scott Giffin, 7-4.
On paper this was going to be the banner match, and it lived up to its billing. Letts came in ranked No. 6 in the country and carries a sporty 15-3 record. Giffin is the only Penn wrestler who is nationally ranked, coming in at No. 18 with a record of 11-2 on the season now.
The first period with Giffin on top 1-0 for an escape, and the second period ended with the score tied at two. Giffin took a 3-2 lead early in the third, but Letts never gave up and earned a takedown that enraged the Penn corner. Just 15 seconds later Letts put the match out of reach with a three-point near fall. Eiter and his coaching staff were visibly upset with the reversal of fortunes, slamming the Maryland chairs so nicely set out for them.
The match is now mathematically out of reach for the Quakers and the Terps will improve to 7-1 heading into the holiday. The victory was only Letts’ second against a ranked wrestler and he has faced three others. For those frantically pushing the refresh button to find out the score, it is 22-6.
184- Corey Peltier (MD) major dec. Harrison Cook
This match was pretty much over from the get-go. Cook was just 4-7 coming into the match and Peltier never even gave him a chance, dominating the first two periods before allowing Cook a short opening in the third that Peltier quickly shut.
He was able to earn the major decision victory thanks in part to an impressive 2:19 seconds of riding time, most of which came in the second frame. It would have been more but to his credit, Cook showed a lot of fight, especially in the third frame. He tried multiple times to score but was foiled when Peltier was able to grab his ankle. Peltier is now 7-5 on the season and the Terps lead 26-6.
197- Hudson Taylor (MD) pin fall Micah Burak, :49
It starting to get to the point where opposing teams should just forfeit the 197-pound match because Taylor has been absurdly good to start the season. He earned a takedown in the first 10 seconds, positioned himself on top of Burak, and turned the shoulder…..and done. It was surgical.
Taylor improved to 18-0 on the season and 14 of which have come by way of the pin. According to coach and stat guru Tim Kearns, Taylor needs just 11 more to put himself in fourth all-time in career pins. Taylor begrudgingly admitted third is out of reach but fourth is still an amazing accomplishment.
The final score was 32-6 and the Terps will now have until after Christmas to rest up and prepare for the Wilkes Open and then the always-tough Midland Championships. It is interesting to speculate whether they could have earned their third shutout and second straight. Both Krom and Bell are nationally ranked, but I suspect McCoy just wanted to make sure two of his all-americans are well-rested for tournament time.
Look for a full recap in Monday’s edition of The Diamondback.
Thanks to what I imagine is a legion of readers devoutly following my analysis. The Terps wont return to the Comcast Pavilion until nearly the end of January. So until then, he gone!
Mike Lemaire is the 2009 Terrapin wrestling beat writer. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com