Bloomsburg Downs West Virginia in Wrestling

BLOOMSBURG -- The Bloomsburg University wrestling team won their first Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) match-up on the season with a 22-15 win over West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at the Nelson Field House.

With a 15-1 lead 53 seconds into in the third period of the 125 pound match, Mike Sees (Northumberland/Shikellamy) pinned West Virginia's Scott Stuart to give Bloomsburg an early 6-0 advantage.

At 133 pounds, Bloomsburg's Ricky Donald (Millville/Millville) scored on a takedown in the first period to go up 2-0. An escape in the second period from Donald pushed the score to 3-0. A scoreless third period gave Donald the win over West Virginia's Mark Anderson and pushed the team lead to 9-0.

The Mountaineer's got on the board at 141 pounds with Brandon Rader winning a major decision (14-3) over the Huskies' Darren Kern (Millville/Millville). The loss narrowed the Bloomsburg lead to 9-4.

At 149 pounds, Bloomsburg's Matt Moley (Phoenixville/Spring-Ford) picked up the win over David Jauregui. Moley went up 2-0 on a takedown in the first period and scored an escape in the second period to push the lead to 3-0. In the third, Jauregui got on the board with a takedown making it 3-2, however, Moley recorded an escape and a takedown to go up 6-2 with less than 30 seconds remaining. A last effort escape from Jauregui narrowed the lead to three points, but Moley closed out the match with the 6-3 decision that gave Bloomsburg a 12-4 lead.

In the 157-pound bout, West Virginia's Zach Fryling defeated Dennis Bermudez (Saugerties, NY/Saugerties) 11-6. Fryling recorded four takedowns and a reverse to go up 8-4 in the first period. Bermudez narrowed the lead to 8-5 in the second period scoring on an escape, but Fryling took the match 11-6 narrowing the team score to 12-7, still in favor of the Huskies.

Bloomsburg's Ricky Schmelyum (New Oxford/Bermudian Springs) won a major decision over Eric Connolly at 165 pounds to extend the Huskies' lead to 16-7. Schmelyum dominated the first period taking a 14-1 lead that included three nearfalls, and cruised to the 14-5 win.

At 174 pounds, Bloomsburg's Andrew Jordan (Newark, DE/St. Marks) dropped a close 9-8 match to Kurt Brenner, making the team score 16-10 still in Bloomsburg's favor. In the first period, Jordan fell behind 4-2 after two takedowns from Brenner. The second period ended 6-4 with Brenner retaining the advantage. In the third, Jordan scored a takedown to narrow the lead to 7-6. An escape from Brenner pushed his lead to 8-6 but Jordan scored on a takedown to tie the match with less than 30 seconds remaining. However, a late escape from Brenner gave him the 9-8 win.

In the 184-pound match, Nate Shirk (Middleburg/Middleburg) picked up a win for Bloomsburg, defeating Chance Litton 5-2. Shirk lead the entire match, picking up a takedown in the first and an escape in the second, before ending with a takedown in the third period to close out the match and extend the Huskies' lead to 19-10.

P.J. DiStefano (Whitehall/Whitehall-Coplay) struck first in the 197-pound match taking down West Virginia's Jared Villers to go up 2-0, but Villers dominated the rest of the match winning by tech fall (21-4, 5:22). The victory pulled the Mountaineer's to wining four team points at 19-15.

At heavyweight, Mike Spaid (Perkiomenville/Boyertown) sealed the Bloomsburg victory with a 3-2 win over Dustin Rogers. Spaid scored on a takedown in the first while Rogers added an escape to narrow the lead to 2-1. In the second, Spaid started down and escaped to go up 3-2. Rogers picked up an escape at the beginning of the third period but Spaid was able to hold on to the 3-2 win and Bloomsburg won the match by a score of 22-15.

With the loss, West Virginia drops to 1-3 on the year with a 1-1 EWL record.

The win improves Bloomsburg to 8-7 on the year, 1-1 in the EWL. The Huskies return to the mat on Saturday when they host the 2007 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships at the Nelson Field House. Matches begin at 10:00 a.m.

Bloomsburg 22, West Virginia 15

January 20, 2007

Bloomsburg University, Nelson Field House