By Mark Walters
After three bouts at the Mack this past Sunday, it would have been hard to predict an ending such as this.
Coming off a win via pinfall by Justin Accordino over the Big Red’s Corey Manson at 4:05, Hofstra was up 9-4 over third-ranked Cornell heading into the 149-pound bout featuring the Pride’s Fran O’Brien and Cornell’s DJ Meagher. That was until 2:06 into the match when Meagher pinned O’Brien, sucking the life out of a stunned crowd and the Hofstra bench as well.
“It’s frustrating because we work hard and as a team we push each other,” Accordino said of the team loss, despite his pin that ignited the home crowd. “Sometimes it’s not going to go your way, so we’ve just got to keep working harder.”
Hofstra would not score again until the last bout, long after Cornell’s team victory was well in hand. The final score was 27-12, but had a few things gone differently, who knows what could have happened?
“My honest opinion is I thought Cornell was a better team,” head coach Tom Shifflet said after the match. “On their feet, they were physical, they got in our heads. They really pushed the pace. They had us backin’ up quite a bit in a lot of the matches.”
After O’Brien was pinned, junior Jonny Bonilla-Bowman faced Jordan Leen at 157. Down 5-0 in the third, Bonilla-Bowman had to stop the match with 52 seconds remaining, but as he winced in pain holding is abdomen, Bowman refused to walk off the mat.
The match resumed with Bonilla-Bowman in angst, and shortly thereafter Bowman could not bear it any longer, as he had to forfeit the match, surrendering six points to Cornell.
According to Shifflet, he had tweaked something in his ribs earlier in the week and re-aggravated it in his match against Leen. Bonilla-Bowman said after the match that he hopes to be back sometime this week.
After Bonilla-Bowman’s heroic attempt to last through his bout, Ryan Patrovich faced the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 165. After a scoreless first period, Cornell’s Mack Lewnes and Patrovich exchanged escapes in the final two periods and the match was tied 1-1 after three.
Neither wrestler could score in the sudden victory overtime until Lewnes took Patrovich down with two seconds left. It was a heart-breaker for the Pride sophomore who has yet to score a big win over a highly-ranked opponent.
“I’ve had close matches with a couple top guys,” Patrovich said. “I’ve just got to get that win to put me over the top and I haven’t gotten it yet.”
Shifflet attributed Patrovich’s loss to lack of attempts, comparing his four to five to Lewnes’ 10-15.
“In most cases that guy who has more attempts is gonna win,” Shifflet said.
While Patrovich is still trying to get that monkey off his back, eighth-ranked Lou Ruggirello did so with a 6-0 decision over Mike Grey, ranked 12th at 133. Grey had beaten Ruggirello twice last year according to Shifflet. It’s something the coach sees as a big momentum swing for his junior who could do big things this year.
“He’s [Ruggirello] had a tough time beating Mike Grey. Grey’s a returning All-American, and Lou was aggressive; he listened,” Shifflet said. “He’s been working on some things the last few weeks because he’s in it with the best guys in the country and he’s certainly a contender to win a national title.”
In his last home match at the Mack, 10th-ranked senior Alton Lucas was anything but his aggressive self. He lost 2-0 at 174 to Steve Anceravage, someone who beat Lucas last March at nationals. It was 0-0 after the first two periods, and 1-0 early in the third when Anceravage got up from starting down, but as time expired Lucas simply stood around and watched the match slip away, surrendering an extra point due to ride time.
“He certainly didn’t go after the win,” Shifflet said. “He’s been battling some anxiety. He feels a lot of pressure being a returning All-American. Whereas last year he was chasing to get on the podium, this year he’s already on it. It’s a different Alton Lucas.”
Lucas’ loss made it 22-9 in Cornell’s favor, and after that there didn’t seem to be much left to go after, but you couldn’t have convinced freshman heavyweight Jordan Enck that.
It took him three extra periods to do so, but Enck finally scored the winning point over No. 12 Zach Hammond to give Hofstra 12 team points.
“I thought back to Christmas break to when everyone was home and we were doing two-a-days everyday for about four weeks,” an exhausted but proud Enck said. “I know he was ranked in the preseason, but I got a tough match up in Edinboro [next week]. Got to keep going through each week and hope for the best.”
Like Ruggirello’s win, Shifflet sees Enck’s as something to take into the latter stages of the season.
“Jordan Enck, just a freshman, beats the No. 12 guy in the country, that’s a lot of confidence for him,” Shifflet said. “Today he found a way to win and that is huge when you get to this part of the season. That’s something that I think he’ll carry in for the rest of the season.”
The match started in Cornell’s favor when No. 2 Troy Nickerson scored a major decision over No. 20 Steve Bonanno at 125. Freshman Ben Clymer dropped a 6-2 decision to No. 16 Justin Kerber at 184, and at 197 Anthony Tortora fell 11-4 to freshman Cam Simaz. While the win made the score 28-9, Cornell was penalized a team point for unsportsmanlike conduct after the bout.
This Saturday the Pride heads to Edinboro, PA, to take on the No. 12 Fighting Scots before heading north to Buffalo to face the Bulls on Sunday.
Wrestling Notes & Quotes:
Bonilla-Bowman a True Sportsman
Hobbling up to the locker room after his forfeited match, Jonny Bonilla-Bowman was a picture of grit and class. Twice stopping the match due to barely-tolerable pain, Bowman had to stop it inside the final 20 seconds, but refused to say anything negative about his opponent who showed no mercy despite his obvious advantage over a suffering and shaking Bonilla-Bowman.
“He’s got to get the pin,” Bonilla-Bowman said after being told of his toughness.
Gallo Honored
At halftime of the match Sunday, Hofstra honored Pride wrestling great Nick Gallo. Gallo won the national title at 126 pounds in 1977. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Gallo captured the 126-pound title and was named the NCAA Championship’s Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1977. He earned All-America honors in 1975 by placing fourth and in 1977 with the national title. During his four years at Hofstra, Gallo recorded a 104-14 record. He was a silver medalist in the 1980 World Cup, Pan American Trials Champion in 1979, and a member of the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Teams.
Gallo returned to Hofstra as a coach in 1979 and acquired a 49-25 record over four years. In his second season, his team placed 26th at the NCAA Championships with just two wrestlers, Ed Pidgeon and Mike Hogan. In 1982 Gallo sent three wrestlers to the national tournament, and in his final year as coach Gallo led the Pride to a 13-3 mark, sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships and finished 24th in the nation.
Inducted into the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, Gallo is also a member of the Suffolk County Hall of Fame and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He is currently the president of TW Promotions, the exclusive New York metropolitan area distributor of the RESILITE wrestling mat and protective wall padding line, and supplier of ASICS products.