As the student body began trickling onto campus for the spring semester on Saturday, the Hopkins wrestling team squared off against three Centennial Conference rivals in the biggest home match of the 2009-2010 season.
The quad match pitted the Jays against Ursinus, Muhlenberg and Gettysburg in a two-mat, round-robin style competition that lasted most of the afternoon. When the final point was tallied, the young Hopkins wrestling team had finished strong, winning matches against both Muhlenberg and Gettysburg after losing a hard-fought opening match against Centennial powerhouse Ursinus.
The Jays came out strong against Ursinus with wins by sophomore Adam Stevens, 125, and freshman Paul Marcello, 133, capping a 6-0 lead. Urisinus quickly tied the score as freshman Matt Nelson fell by pin to Ursinus's Dan Glover, 2:27 into the first period. What followed was two of the most frustrating matches of the afternoon for the Blue Jays. Junior 149 Rocky Barilla lost to Curtis Walkins by a score of 4-0, after getting caught off guard with a throw that earned two takedown points and two back points. Walkins was able to stall for the rest of the match to secure the victory. Sophomore 157 and Michael Testa met a similar fate. After a fast-paced first period, Ursinus's John Whitman led by a score of 5-3. Testa earned an escape point in the second, but stalling would be the name of the game for the rest of the match and Testa could not break through Whitman's defense-only game. Whitman earned a final escape point in the third to bring the final score to 6-4 and the team score to 12-6 in favor of Ursinus.
"After our first loss we were frustrated," said team camptain juniot Eric Levenseller. "I think we didn't wrestle up to our potential. We were a little hesitant off the whistle and we weren't aggressive with our offense in neutral. Ursinus is a good team, but when we wrestle at our best we are better than them."
Hopkins rallied following the two losses with a 5-2 victory from the junior 165 Levenseller and a 2-0 victory by freshman 174-pounder Andrew Giannascoli, tying the score at 12-12. Hopkins lost six points by forfeit at the 184-pound match, followed by a 4-2 loss at 197 by freshman Reid Mosquera, which clinched victory for Ursinus. With the match already lost for the Jays, sophomore heavyweight Rick Danilkowicz was able to salvage some dignity for the Jays, finishing the match with a 3-2 victory and bringing the final score to 24-12, Ursinus.
Despite the loss, Hopkins rallied strong in the second match against Muhlenberg. The opening tag team of Stevens-Marcello earned the Blue Jays quick points from the beginning, as Stevens claimed a six-point forfeit and Marcello earned a last-second pin in the second period, to bring Hopkins to an early 12-0 lead. After an 8-6 loss by Nelson, Hopkins came out with a vengeance, earning five straight victories to gain a commanding 34-3 lead going into the final two matches. After a Hopkins forfeit at 197, Danilkowicz secured the dominant performance of the Blue Jays with a 13-3 major decision, bringing the final score to 38-9.
Grappling with the fatigue of two matches wrestled, Hopkins barreled on in the final match against Gettysburg. The match turned out to be a strange one, with Hopkins commanding the first five matches, then almost blowing it with a four-match string of Gettysburg victories that earned the Bullets a cumulative 22 team points to tie the match going into the final bout. It is rare for a final forfeit to spell victory or defeat for a team, but luckily for Hopkins, Gettysburg could not send a wrestler out in the 133-pound match, and Marcello got his hand raised in the middle of the mat to earn a 28-22 victory for the Blue jays. Barilla, Testa, Levenseller, and Giannascoli earned the first five victories for the Blue Jays, followed by a Hopkins forfeit at 184, a six-point Gettysburg injury default over Mosquera at 197, a Gettysburg pin over Danilkowicz at 285, and a major decision over Stevens as the tying match. The keystone of Hopkins' first five victories was easily the 165 match where Levenseller fought out a close-fought 7-6 victory to earn what would become three extremely crucial team points.
"Eric's win against Gettysburg's 165 was huge and definitely the match of the day," said Stevens.
The wrestling team is in the midst of a strange season with no senior wrestlers remaining on the team, yet this young squad continues to prove that they are a competitive force in the Centennial Conference.
"As the season is getting closer to the finish yet much more competitive at the same time, we have a lot to focus on," said Levenseller. "The way we have been wrestling we have a lot of momentum that is going to be needed to face our final three opponents, all very good teams. So far we have been wrestling well, but we need to get ready to push ourselves to the next level if we really want to stand out in the conference this year."
"I think we are right there with Stevens, Ursinus, and McDaniel near the top of the conference," said Stevens. "A top three finish is a definite possibility if we peak at the conference tournament."
The Blue Jays travel to Washington & Lee this Saturday to take on a traditionally-strong Generals squad at 2 p.m.
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