by
Hugh Kellenberger
Staff Writer
The Virginia Tech Hokies were caught doing the hokie-pokie when
they were supposed to be wrestling Sunday afternoon against Appalachian
State University. The Mountaineers cruised to a 30-6 victory at
Varsity Gym.
“Our kids wrestled well,” ASU head coach Paul Mance
said. “We won some matches I didn’t think we would win.”
David Hazell got things started out right for the Mountaineers,
scoring a 6-2 victory over Kris Wiedegreen (13-15) in the heavyweight
division. The two fought to a scoreless tie after two periods, neither
giving up an inch. Hazell (16-7) scored a one-point escape to start
the third period, and never looked back. Wiedegreen only put together
a one-point escape and another point from a Hazell penalty. Hazell
karate-chopped Wiedegreen on the shoulder blades to get the penalty.
Guy Gibson kept things going at 125 pounds, registering a 5-2 decision
over Ryan Broughman. Gibson scored first in the battle of two freshmen,
scoring a two-point takedown with 30 seconds left in the first period.
After a Gibson injury timeout, Broughman (6-20) got a quick takedown
to cut the lead to 3-2. An escape and riding time sealed the victory
for Gibson (9-6).
Terreyl Williams scored a forfeit victory at 133 pounds. David Hoffman,
the 11th best wrestler in the country at his weight class, was not
able to return from injury in time for the match.
Scott Ervin scored his 20th victory of the season at 141 pounds,
extending the ASU lead to 15-0 in the process. Four points were
enough to claim a decision victory over Aaron Brown (5-13), who
failed to register a single point in three periods of action.
The good times kept rolling for the Mountaineers at 149 pounds,
with co-captain Jason Jones scoring a decision victory over Tyde
Prater.
Jones dominated the first two periods of action but failed to register
a point, as did Prater. Jones (29-6) registered a one-point escape
to start the scoring off.
A takedown and the riding time point sealed a 4-0 victory over Prater
(7-9).
Carl Elliot scored another forfeit victory at 157 pounds. Andrew
Donofrio was injured and unable to wrestle.
With a comfortable 24-0 lead, Lee Roper went out to wrestle against
the 18th best wrestler in the country at 165 pounds, Chris Stith.
The two battled hard for three periods of action but Stith came
out on top, 4-2.
“If he hadn’t taken a couple of chances, he would have
had a chance to take down Stith,” Mance said.
In the match of the afternoon at 174 pounds, Corey Pendergrass topped
Steve Borja in sudden-death overtime.
The two battled to a 1-1 tie after regulation, then remained tied
after a one-minute overtime period. Each wrestler took the bottom
position for corresponding 30-second periods. Borja (18-12) went
down first, and scored a two-point reversal.
Pendergrass (5-17) reversed it, then got two back points as time
expired. Armed with a 5-3 lead, Pendergrass scored a one-point escape
and another takedown to seal an 8-3 victory.
“You don’t see that [overtime] happen very often,”
Mance said.
This was the first sudden-death overtime match of the season for
ASU.
Aaron Barnette (9-12) took a 2-0 decision loss at 184 pounds to
Jerome Villanueva (3-8).
Josh Carroll (7-2) ended the match at 197 pounds with a 6-3 victory
over Shaun Guttridge (7-16).
This was Appalachian State’s last home match of the season.
They finish with a 4-1 record at Varsity Gym. Their next match will
be at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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