Wrestling: Rogers Seals Deal in WVU Victory
January 24, 2009 09:37 PM | General
January 24, 2009
| West Virginia 22, Clarion 14 memorial stadium clarion, pa. |
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| Individual Results | |||||||
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Results |
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125 |
Smith | Major 12-3
> |
Ivanco | ||||
133 |
Oravec | Major 13-4> |
Moran | ||||
141 |
Johnston | < Dec 5-4 |
Lascari | ||||
149 |
#19 Jauregui | < Dec 13-6 |
Lewis | ||||
157 |
Goodman | Dec 5-3 > |
Harrison | ||||
165 |
Jones | < Major
15-6 |
Ross | ||||
174 |
#13 Brenner | < Dec 6-1 |
Joseph | ||||
184 |
Bryson | < Dec 5-2 |
Podish | ||||
197 |
Rooney | Dec 5-2 > |
Luckett | ||||
HWT |
Rogers | < Fall 2:08 |
Husam | ||||
| Top WVU Wrestlers | |||||||
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CLARION, Pa. (January 24, 2009) – Behind heavyweight fifth-year senior Dustin Rogers’ pin at the 2:08 mark, the West Virginia University wrestling team earned its second straight victory in EWL action, defeating Clarion 22-14 on Saturday night at W.S. Tippin Gym. The Mountaineers improve to 5-4 overall, 2-0 in league play.
"You have different roles depending on where you are in the match,” Coach Craig Turnbull said. “Dustin handles it well. He handled last night's match well just like he did with tonight's match. He goes out and gets the job done."
Rogers, a Corning, Calif., native, earned a quick takedown against Clarion’s Roman Husam to jump ahead 2-0 in the first period. After riding Husam, Rogers was able to flip Husam on his back, pinning the Clarion heavyweight for the second year in a row. On the same day last year, Rogers pinned Husam at the 39-second mark. Rogers leads WVU with four fall victories this season.
The Mountaineers, who started the match down 8-0, came from behind again for the second straight day, this time starting with freshman 141-pounder Colin Johnston. The Eighty Four, Pa., native’s first period scoring was too much as he posted a 5-4 victory over Sal Lascari. Johnston registered two takedowns in the first session and earned another point after garnering 1:49 in riding time for his fourth victory of the season.
"The team felt real good against Bloomsburg, really having our back to the wall and no wiggle room for error - we left that match feeling really good about ourselves about how we battled back and took a hard fought win. We really had to repeat it again tonight,” Turnbull added. “We started a bit slow and they [Bloomsburg] got excited and they had their band playing. They guys really started to believe in themselves collectively. They are finding a way to win and that's encouraging.”
Fifth-year senior David Jauregui followed Johnston’s victory with a near major decision, registering a 13-6 win over Clarion’s Greg Lewis. Ranked No. 19 nationally at 149 pounds, Jauregui scored six takedowns through the match. Jauregui’s first takedown came less than 20 seconds into the first period, another one no more than 40 seconds later and tacked on his final one in the first frame. The Santa Ana, Calif., native earned another point with 3:16 in riding time.
After dropping a close 5-3 decision at 157 pounds, WVU won four of the next five bouts.
At 165 pounds, redshirt-junior Donnie Jones earned a 15-6 major over Dominic Ross. Even though Ross had momentum coming into the match with a 2-0 mark on the day, Jones delivered on his second major decision in as many days (earned a 9-1 major on Jan. 23 at Bloomsburg). Through the two periods of action, Jones was ahead 9-4, and continued to add to his point total in the third session. Electing to choose the defensive position in the third period, Jones earned an escape and then recorded two more takedowns plus 1:32 in riding time for the victory. Jones improves to 4-2 this season.
"Donnie and some of the others are really feeling more and more confident in themselves,” Turnbull said. “Kyle Rooney didn't win this match, but you could see winning is very important to him and he's willing to battle. Even in the losses, we showed some good signs. At 125, Tyler (Smith) saved us two team points and those add up."
Down by just one, 11-10, WVU had the ability to take the lead with a Kurt Brenner win at 174 pounds. Not to disappoint, the 13th-ranked Brenner came through. Despite a vicious hand fight with Clarion’s Scott Joseph, Brenner notched a takedown in the first and then recorded four more points in the second en route to the 6-1 decision, while giving WVU the 13-11 lead.
With just a two-point margin, WVU needed a win from WVU’s Lance Bryson at 184 pounds for a safe lead. After going scoreless through the first period, Bryson took it upon himself to go on the offensive and it proved to be successful. After earning an escape point to go ahead 1-0, Bryson earned two more points via takedown and tacked on another in the third with less than seconds left for the 5-2 victory.
"Someone who has been in a similar position has been Lance Bryson,” Turnbull commented. “He wrestled one of Clarion's more successful wrestlers, and last night he wrestled someone with more experience than him. Even though the very last match was Dustin's, I felt Lance, two matches in a row, earned some key victories for us."
The Mountaineers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 31 at EWL foe Lock Haven. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at Thomas Field House.
