Back from the Turkey hangover, we’ve got college wrestling back on the mats. Jason Bryant’s College Wrestling Wrap Sheet is a look at five topics from the world of college wrestling with highlights, things you know and things you don’t. Here’s the five for November 30, 2021.
- Stately Statesmen
William Penn stormed back from a 20-0 deficit and won five of the last six weights to get past upstart St. Ambrose 24-23 in the NAIA. St. Ambrose, in its first season, went up 20-0 after the first four weights when Diego Machado picked up a fall over Hector Diaz at 149 pounds. Jesse Schwery’s decision at 197 pounds got the Statesmen (that’s William Penn’s nickname) within striking distance before heavyweight Branson Bottorff pinned St. Ambrose’s Rob Stoll early in the third period to complete the comeback. William Penn improved to 2-1, while St. Ambrose fell to 2-3. - Baldwin Wallace cruises
The usual Tuesday night action in the Ohio Athletic Conference saw Baldwin Wallace improve to 2-0 with a 37-6 win over Otterbein. The Yellowjackets were without 125-pounder Jacob Decatur, ranked No. 1 in the nation by D3wrestle.com and second by InterMat, but that mattered little as Johnny Novak stepped into the starting spot and earned a fall. Both of Baldwin Wallace’s returning All-Americans – Stanley Bleich and Dalton Leightner – picked up victories, but they were tight. Bleich topped Ryan Whitten 3-1 at 157 pounds, while Leightner needed extra time to edge Cale Callahan 7-5. It was an escape and a penalty point that was the difference as Leightner won in tiebreaker 1. Otterbein fell to 0-5. - Polar Bears conquer Purple Raiders, but champ James returns
Ohio Northern dropped the first three bouts of the night, but came back strong to win six of the last seven to knock off Mount Union 24-15. Mount Union started strong with wins by No. 8 Jack Stanley at 125 and David Massey at 133 pounds. Massey’s ranked third by InterMat and eighth by InterMat. Jordin James, the 133-pound national champion in 2019, made his return to the starting lineup and came away with an 8-3 win over Jacob Reed at 141 pounds. ONU chipped away at the lead until finally going ahead with a fall at 197 pounds by Cash Thompson. A forfeit at heavyweight sealed the deal for Ron Beaschler’s squad. - One Two, Student Princes
That’s a weak Spin Doctors reference, but it was the first CD I ever owned. I actually got it for Christmas in eighth grade along with TLC’s Ooooooohhh … on the TLC Tip. Yes, I know there’s exactly seven o’s and three h’s in the title of that CD. What about your friends? Heidelberg always gets love here with its nickname, the Student Princes. They won 40-3 over Muskingum with two falls and an injury default in the middle. - Shooting blanks
There were two shutouts on Tuesday night – John Carroll beat Wilmington 55-0 in conference while Adrian shut out Defiance 56-0. All ten Blue Streaks’ victories (that’s John Carroll, in case you weren’t aware) were bonus, while Adrian won nine out of ten via bonus. I also can’t pass up a John Carroll reference without calling back to Martin Lawrence’s movie with the same name.Wednesday is busy, I’ll be coming with better material.
