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WVU Tech Picks Up Two

November 14-15, 2014

WVUT 49 Southern Virginia University 6
November 14, 2014


MONTGOMERY, West Virginia - WVU Tech's Homecoming theme this year was "Rock n' Roll Fantasy," and the Golden Bear wrestlers proved to be a great opening act for the weekend's festivities. Hosting NCAA DIII foe Southern Virginia University the Tech wrestlers produced hit after hit on the mats of the Baisi Center Friday, winning by a score of 49-6.

At 125 lbs. Denis Robles-Gomez won by forfeit as did Roman Marmalukov at 133 and Robbie McNeill at 141 to give the Golden Bears a big 18-0 lead to start the match.

After giving up a fall at 149, Corey Palmer made his Golden Bear debut at 157 lbs. He made the most of his first home opportunity and won by a score of 16-3, putting together a number of slick low level attacks with some solid riding to score the major decision and earn bonus points.

Down to 165 where he belongs, freshman Bryan Overton scored three takedowns, an escape and a riding time point to win 8-3. Colton Rowe continues to build on a strong freshman year with an even stronger sophomore campaign, moving to 5-0 with a victory Friday. He used his dominating under hooks, throws and tilts to jump out to a big lead finishing his opponent off with a cradle for a fall. Rowe remains unbeaten in Baisi center for his career.

At 184 lbs. Aaron Wallace stayed unbeaten on the season by receiving a forfeit. The team score at this point was 37-6 in favor of Tech. "Terrible" Terry Nance's return to the Baisi Center was far less gruesome than last February's blood soaked brawl that ended in an injury default. The 197 pounder used his tremendous strength to lift his opponent off of a single leg attack into the air and plant him flat on his back to earn his third pin of the season.

Big Jon Boarman made his long awaited debut at heavyweight and started what looks like a promising career off right. Scoring a slick arm spin takedown early in the first period the heavyweight with the best hair in the weight class used a tight wrist ride to wrench his opponent's arm out and turn him to his back where he'd earned the fall. This brought the final score to 49-6 in favor of WVU Tech.

Team Captain Dirk Ponchak had this to say after watching his team compete vs. SVU, "Southern Virginia was hurting a bit because many of their guys are still playing football. Still, we put in the work necessary to win, our guys were ready and the results speak for themselves. There are things we need to improve upon. Overton needed to bend his knees and move his feet more. We need to pick up the intensity of our wrestling across the board."

WVUT 42 Penn State Dubois 3
November 15, 2014

Coming off Friday night's dominant performance against Southern Virginia, the Golden Bear wrestlers faced an unfamiliar foe at this point in the season, back-to-back weigh-ins, as they prepped to wrestle Penn State Dubois this afternoon in the Baisi Athletic Center. Tech's depth, developed over the last few years through extensive national recruiting and was evident as they put out a significantly different line-up in today's Homecoming match, but garnered similar results.

Two weights, 125 and 141, went uncontested by Dubois. Freshman TJ Bean earned his first career victory and freshman Robbie McNeill moved to 4-0 on the young season earning his second consecutive forfeit victory.

The "Wolfdog" Alfred Martinez made his first appearance of the year in a Tech singlet today. Active on his feet, Martinez used a number of single leg attacks to score the majority of his points early in the match. He slowed down a bit in the third period and was ridden, but escaped with an 8-5 victory.

Stephen Beam, an NWCA National qualifier in 2014 made his debut at 149 lbs. He got off to a great start scoring a takedown and back points immediately to begin the match. The bout ended 11-5 in favor of the,first year Golden Bear.

Conrad Lacey, the "Alaskan Assassin," made his return to the Baisi Center after a year off and it was a solid performance. In the first period he used a low single leg and whip over counter to jump out to a 7-1 lead. In the second a second takedown and another set of back points brought the lead to 12-1. In the third a takedown and a headlock to the back was enough for Lacey to score the technical fall and earn 5 team points to bring the team score to 23-0.

AT 165 lbs., Ponchak continued his assault on the Tech record books, as he made his presence known immediately on the mat today., A strong first period that included two takedowns and back points was followed by a set of backs in the second and a reversal in the third to make for a 13-5 victory at home., Ponchak is unbeaten at home for his career.

Rowe, in front of his Tech alumnus mother and his family members from Montgomery, on this Homecoming weekend, continued his string of strong performances at 174 lbs. Early in the first, Rowe countered a single leg attack that look destined to score for his opponent and turned it into points of his own off of the reshot. He continued to score regularly and earned the team four points for his 14-4 major decision victory. Rowe is now 5-0 on the year, and like Ponchak is unbeaten at home for his career.

At 184 lbs. Aaron Wallace countered his opponent's cradle and scored a fall off the reversal, using a half nelson to drive his opponent to his back. Wallace moves to 6-0 on the season. Tola Morakinyo, with a back resembling a relief map of the Andes Mountains, took the mat at 197 lbs., using a slick misdirection single to score his first takedown, he cut his Dubois opponent in search of another score. This lead to an explosive duck under to a driving double leg right to his opponent's back, where he would secure the fall and remain unbeaten on the year.

The dual's final score was 42-3 in favor of the Golden Bears. Co-Captain Conrad Lacey had this to say about the team's performance: "I think we wrestled a bit better tonight than we did last night. We still need to move our feet and bend our knees more. This will keep people off of our legs. We are headed in the right direction for sure, but we can always get better on bottom, and even though we were dominant on our feet I think we can be even more aggressive and score more points. We'll get in a lift after this and get ourselves ready for Tuesday. We have a busy week ahead of us."

WVU Tech moves to 6-1 on the season and are headed next to Ohio Valley University on Tuesday evening.


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