On Friday, November 18, the night started and ended in pins. In the first home match of the year against Wilkes-University, Elizabethtown College senior wrestler Brian Schneider got the pin in the second round and captured the first six points for the team. Later in the night, junior Dorian Gonzalez was up to the mat with the chance to win with a pin and was able to bring home the upset victory with just 37 seconds left in the match.
“Being able to start with some momentum was great to start the team off,” Schneider said. The momentum he started the team off with was much needed as the spark to ignite the fire. In his mind, it was a revenge game after Wilkes had posted highlights of their victory last year all over social media.
Brian had previously won the first invitational of the year at Messiah University leading his team to victory along with Gonzalez. Etown scored 123.5 points as a team, barely outpacing Washington & Lee University at 123 points.
In the next two fights, first-year Ganon Smith lost his bout, giving Wilkes three points before sophomore Will Davis was able to regain the three points. Senior Tyler Phenagar lost his bout for four points, and then, first-year Jimmy Yeingst in the heavyweight class got pinned quickly, giving Wilkes the 13-9 lead. In the lightest weight class, junior Ethan Liptzin fought hard but struggled through a shoulder injury, costing him the fight as Wilkes went up 17-9.
Etown attempted to start a comeback starting with junior Scotty Reagan winning his fight bringing it back to 13-18. Next up was senior Zach Rupp who lost a very close fight, only giving up three points to Wilkes.
Down 22-13 with two fights left, the odds for Etown were bleak. Senior captain Shane Strausser attempted to bring the match back into grasp of victory by winning his fight with a pin, bringing the overall match score to 18-22 and leaving it up to Junior Dorian Gonzalez looking for the overall match victory.
“This one was for the team, [I] had to dig a little deeper to get this pin,” Gonzalez said afterwards. It was a very back and forth fight with Gonzalez gaining the advantage several times and he finally got the pin with 37 seconds left giving his team the overall match victory at 24-22 and started the celebration and jubilation.
Coming into the night Etownwas 0-1 on the season after losing to local foe Franklin & Marshall. The two teams met last year with Wilkes coming away with the 29-12 victory over the Blue Jays. All time Etown was just 1-10 against Wilkes coming into Friday night’s match.
“Total team effort. Guys were battling through injuries, guys keeping matches close, showing the toughness of our team,” Coach Walker said enthusiastically after the win. It was a very good effort shown by all wrestlers and a great match in his eyes.
Etown now has a home match against Johns Hopkins University on Dec. 2 before a home invitational on Dec. 3. After a 7-7 performance last year, the team looks to improve and have good momentum going into NCAA tournaments in March for qualifying wrestlers.
