GREENVILLE, Pa. - The Thiel College wrestling team defeated the 11th-ranked Mount Union Purple Raiders Wednesday at Beeghly Gymnasium, 26-5.
Thiel fell behind early 3-0 when Mount Union's Nick Mancini defeated Vince Vahaly (Bentleyville, Pa./Bentworth) by decision 8-1 at 125 pounds.
The Tomcats rallied behind two straight decisions by Robert Ritschard (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley) at 133 pounds and Adam Matthews (Greenville, Pa./Reynolds) at 141 pounds. Matthews defeated Bryant Roby, who was recently ranked as a contender at 141 pounds by D3Wrestle.com, 7-3.
Mount Union gained their last victory of the evening when Ben Kazmir defeated Nick Sutton (Butler, Pa./Butler) 8-4 at 149 pounds.
Thiel riffled off six consecutive victories to clinch victory. Sean Byham (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown) (157), Brandon Collins (Hadley, Pa./Commodore Perry) (165), Marco Crivelli (Clinton, Pa./Hopewell) (174), Jerrold Roosa (Randolph, N.Y./Randolph Central) (184) and Blake Heim (Greenville, Pa./Reynolds) (285) each secured decision wins over their Purple Raider opponents.
Roosa knocked off fellow D3Wrestle.com contender Brent Kirk in the 184-pound match, 4-2. Jake Lowry proved his No. 2 ranking by D3Wrestle.com, by earning a 16-1 technical fall over Brian Olsen.
The Tomcats (1-0) will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Alliance, Ohio to take part in the Mount Union Invitational. The first match is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Varsity Matches
125 - Vahaly (Thiel) vs. Nick Mancini (Mt. Union) - Mancini (Mt. Union) wins by decision 8-1
133 - Ritschard (Thiel) vs. Alec Cotton (Mt. Union) - Ritschard (Thiel) wins by decision 4-0
141 - Matthews (Thiel) vs. Bryant Roby (Mt. Union) - Matthews (Thiel) wins by decision 7-3
149 - Sutton (Thiel) vs. Ben Kazmir (Mt. Union) - Kazmir (Mt. Union) wins by decision 8-4
157 - Byham (Thiel) vs. Dom Barlow (Mt. Union) - Byham (Thiel) wins by decision 10-8
165 - Collins (Thiel) vs. Nick Hendershot (Mt. Union) - Collins (Thiel) wins by decision 4-1
174 - Crivelli (Thiel) vs. Nick Miller (Mt. Union) - Crivelli (Thiel) wins by decision 3-1
184 - Roosa (Thiel) vs. Brent Kirk (Mt. Union) - Roosa (Thiel) wins by decision 4-2 *Mount Union deducted one team point for unsportsmanlike conduct*
197 - Lowry (Thiel) vs. Brian Olsen (Mt. Union) - Lowry (Thiel) wins by technical fall 16-1
285 - Heim (Thiel) vs. Jacob Alarie (Mt. Union) - Heim (Thiel) wins by decision 2-1 (Overtime)
