To start the 2017-2018 season opener at Marts Gymnasium on Nov. 3, Matthew Judge at 184 pounds put Wilkes ahead 6-0 due to a Millersville forfeit.    Millersville then gained points for the 197 pound technical fall, leaving the score at 6-5, with Wilkes still in the lead.

Nicholas Goff got a takedown during the heavyweight match with just over a minute to take a 3-1 lead. To take back the advantage, Yackenchick escaped and converted a takedown to put himself in front, 4-3. The final seconds ticked down to zero giving Millersville the lead in the match, 8-6.

With another technical fall in the 125 pound category, Millersville gained on the Colonels with a score of 13-6.

Jake Dimarsico, weighing in at 133, was down at the start of his first bout but got ahead of his Millersville opponent, who then went on to tie the score back up, resulting in overtime. Millersville then got the take down, scoring three more points for the Marauders leaving a score of 16-6, with Millersville in the lead.

Mathew Grossman kept the Colonels in it. Weighing in at 141, he was able to cut the gap and make it 16-12, giving the Colonels another chance to fight back.

Medrow, weighing in at 149 pounds, never give up and came back from a Millersville 4-0 lead, making it 4-3 when the final buzzer went off but, unfortunately, fell short to his competitor.

Another technical fall at 157 pounds allowed the Marauders to extend their gap with an overall match score of 25-12 at this point.

With only two more Colonels to compete, Nicholas Racanelli, wrestling at 165, earned a fall with a little less than half a minute left, helping Wilkes close the score gap, that seemed to only be getting larger.

Closing the opener, John Ritter was able to rack up some points in the 174-pound bout. The final score of the matchup was 25-24, with division II Millersville hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

Wilkes Wrestling will be returning to the Marts Gymnasium on November 11th, facing SUNY Cortland.

The Colonels also competed the the Ned McGinley Invitational Tournament hosted by King’s College on Nov. 4. Wilkes gathered 38.5 team points at the event. New York University placed first in the invite with 146.5 team points.

Freshman Kyle Trout took fifth in the tournament after fighting back through the consolation round. He collected four straight 5-2 decisions before falling in the consolation semi-finals. His fifth place match was a victory by medical forfeit.

Millersville 25, Wilkes 24

125: A. Wildonger (M) tech. fall Spencer Reed (W) 23-8 (7:00)

133: A. Baider (M) dec. Jake Dimarsico (W) 6-4 OT

141: Matt Grossmann (W) fall K. Constantine (M) 1:35

149: DJ Mele (M) dec. Kyle Medrow (W) 4-3

157: S. Decker (M) fall Ashton Gyenizs (W) 1:20

165: Nick Racanelli (W) fall S. Ruhnke (M) 4:41

174: John Ritter (W) fall C. Cossitor (M) 4:44

184: Matt Judge (W) won by forfeit

197: C. Dull (M) tech. fall Jacob Huling (W) 16-0 (2:32)

285: Z. Yackenchick (M) dec. Nick Goff (W) 4-3

Note: Match started at 184 pounds.

Exhibition:

197: J. Fetterman (M) major dec. Moustafa Almeky (W) 11-1