Columbia University
ARMY
Army Edges Wrestling, 16-15
2/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Although the Black Knights have been included among the East's best this season, Columbia coach Brendan Buckley knew his team could win.
"We knew we could compete against Army," Buckley said. "We knew we could compete against Rider, against West Virginia." The Lions had recently defeated both teams. "We knew it would be close, but we knew we could win."
To do so, Columbia couldn't afford to trade off three-point decisions. While it had worked against Rider -- the Lions had won six bouts to the Broncs' four, each for three team points -- it's a formula fraught with danger, for one bonus match (four team points or more) could tip the scales.
"We needed a major decision [four team points] or a pin [six points]," the coach explained. "We needed an upset, and we couldn't let ourselves be upset."
So after the two opening bouts -- a 4-1 loss for Columbia junior Dustin Tillman (Fremont, Calif.) at 165 pounds, the match's opening weight class, followed by junior Matt Palmer's (Germantown, Md.) 2-1 decision over Chad Marzec at 174 -- left the score tied at 3-3, the Lions got their upset.
Junior Justin Barent (Worland, Wyo.) battled the perennial nationally-ranked Army standout Luke Calvert for the full seven minutes, although the 6-foot-2 Calvert towered over the 5-foot-8 Barent. Every time Calvert closed in for a takedown, seizing the Lion's leg or other body part, Barent fought him off to a neutral position.
Whatever Barent lacks in size, he makes up for with strength, determination, and a keen sense for the sport.
"Justin wrestled a smart match," Buckley said. "He always wrestles smart. And he's aggressive, he keeps going forward."
Barent's 3-2 decision over Calvert gave Columbia a 6-3 lead, and even after losses in the next two bouts, first-year Orrin Kleinhenz (Columbus, Ind.) at 197, 8-4 to Charles Martin, and heavyweight John Grando (Pueblo, Colo.) at heavyweight, 7-4 to Michael Sprigg, the Lions trailed by just 9-6 with the heart of the lineup coming up.
Just two weeks earlier, senior co-captain Jeff Sato (Pismo Beach, Calif.), the team's winningest wrestler, had defeated Army's William Simpson by 6-2 in the title bout of the New York State Championships. Facing Simpson again, Sato appeared to have the match in hand when the first-year from Nashville struck.
He hit Sato with a second-period reversal for two points, then exposed his back to the mat long enough for three "back points", the five-point move all wrestlers fear. "That was a big swing in the match," Buckley said.
Down 6-2, Sato refused to give up. "Jeff did a great job coming back," the coach noted. "All our guys go hard all the time." Simpson held on, however, for an 8-6 victory. "We got our upset," Buckley said, referring to Barent's win, "but then we got upset."
With Columbia trailing, 12-9, Buckley needed a winning bout, and he was still looking for a major decision that would give the Lions the edge they needed. He got the win, but it wasn't easy, as junior 133-pounder Matt DeLorenzo (Wantagh, N.Y.) took down Tyler Howard with 30 seconds remaining in sudden victory overtime for a 7-5 decision.
Columbia's next match almost resulted in that major decision. First-year Sal Tirico (Lodi, N.J.), extending his record to 5-0, just missed a pin -- "He would have gotten it if time hadn't run out on him," Buckley said -- in defeating Whit Dunning, 13-7. One more takedown would have given Tirico a major decision, but Dunning held him off in the closing seconds of the bout.
When that elusive major decision did appear, seven minutes later, it was to the credit of Army's standout senior captain, Patrick Simpson. He defeated Columbia first-year Derek Sickles (Rutherford, N.J.), 17-5, giving Army four team points and a 16-12 lead. Sickles had lost to Simpson by only 6-5 in a December tournament, but soon fell behind in this match.
Only one bout remained as first-year Tyler Thurgood took the mat to loud encouragement from the crowd of 250. Thurgood, out of Blair Academy in his hometown of Blairstown, N.J., the top-ranked scholastic program in the nation, had won five of his first 11 bouts this season, but had fallen into rough going, losing his last 10. He would have to not only snap the streak against Army's Brian Rowan, a 13-match winner, but win by eight or more to give Columbia a match-tying major decision.
"Tyler can beat him," Buckley said on the bench, and that's just the way it looked, as Thurgood took a 4-1 lead after the first period, 6-3 after two.
"We've had faith in Tyler all along," Buckley noted. "He's a great athlete. He was great in practice all week. You could tell he's figuring it out."
Thurgood could have settled for the win, but he continued to press Rowan. "He was working hard for the major decision," the coach pointed out. "You could see it."
Unfortunately, Rowan was able to hold him off, even coming back, as Thurgood broke his losing streak by a 6-5 score. The Cadets won the match, 16-15.
It was just like Buckley had predicted. The key to the match was a major decision; unfortunately, it proved to be Army's, as the Cadets improved their record to 8-3-2 with the victory.
Columbia fell to 4-5 going into its first Ivy League match of the season, at nationally-ranked Cornell Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast nationally via tape delay on CSTV on Tuesday, February 7 at 10 p.m. and will be re-broadcast during the week at times and dates still to be determined.
Army 16, Columbia 15
165* - Jon Anderson (USMA) dec. Dustin Tillman (C), 4-1 3-0
174 - Matt Palmer (C) dec. Chad Marzec (USMA), 2-1 3-3
184 - Justin Barent (C) dec. Luke Calvert (USMA), 3-2 3-6
197 - Charles Martin (USMA) dec. Orrin Kleinhenz (C), 8-4 6-6
Hwt. - Michael Sprigg (USMA) dec. John Grando (C), 7-4 9-6
125 - William Simpson (USMA) dec. Jeff Sato (C), 8-6 12-6
133 - Matt DeLorenzo (C) dec. Tyler Howard (USMA), 7-5 sv OT 12-9
141 - Sal Tirico (C) dec. Whit Dunning (USMA), 13-7 12-12
149 - Patrick Simpson (USMA) maj. dec. Derek Sickles (C), 17-5 16-12
157 - Tyler Thurgood (C) dec. Brian Rowan (USMA), 6-5 16-15
* - The match began at 165.
Players Mentioned
