The Bucknell Bison bused into Bethlehem after a season opening drubbing at the hands of Oklahoma State last weekend. The competition didn’t get much easier for the young Bison team as Lehigh reeled off 7 straight wins to start the dual. To Coach Wirnsbergers credit there appeared to be no quit in the young Bison squad. The Mountain Hawks have been getting deeper the last couple of years but this year seems to be different. It not jus the depth that is still growing but the quality has improved. Dare I say things appear to be going to the next level for Lehigh? Over 1,300 fans got to see a lot of PA on PA wrestling and a very good showing for Lehigh.
The Wolf speaks
Darian Cruz
Coach Pat Santoro
Jordan Kutler
Bucknell-7 #11 Lehigh 33
125lbs– #6 Darian Cruz JR. (L) major decision Jordan Gessner (B) 16-5. Cruz opened up aggressively. If he can make himself go a hard 7 minutes he will surprise some people. Can he wrestle with that killer instinct?
133lbs – #17 Scott Parker So. (L) tech fall Joey Gould (B) 20-5, 7:00. I thought that this match was going to be closer than it was. Parker seems to have developed himself a bunch since last season. He’s not just bigger he’s better. Gould is a very good wrestler. Welcome to D1 wrestling.
141lbs – #9 Randy Cruz Sr. (L) decision #19 Tyler Smith (B) 9-3. Cruz handily won his match in the only meeting of ranked foes. Cruz looked in midseason form. I think that he’d benefit from utilizing an ankle/knee pick from neutral. 141 is a tough weight not sure if he’s got the physical strength to close out his career on the podium come March.
149lbs – #16 Laike Gardner (L) major decision Seth Hogue (B) 17-5. Gardner pushed the pace for a bonus point win.
157lbs – #18 Jordan Kutler (L) decision Victor Lopez (B) 8-2. Kutler looked really good in his first appearance for the Mountain Hawks. His one on one forward pressure seems to be making its way through the team. It’s only a matter of time for Kutler to move up the ranking further.
165lbs – Gordon Wolf (L) tech fall Logan Kerin (B) 15-0, 6:42. The Wolf looked good and was entertaining as usual. He’s one of the most active D1 wrestlers that I’ve seen. He just needs to fine-tune some of his attack details.
174lbs – #18 Ryan Preisch (L) tech fall Chad Reese (B) 16-0, 3:19. Preisch dominated from the top and made short work of Reese. I’ve wanted to interview Ryan for a while but his hair intimidates me.
184lbs – Garrett Hoffman (B) decision Kyle Gentile (L) 7-4. Gentile looked gassed. He’s only been back in the line up for a couple of weeks. It would have been easy for Hoffman to mail it in at this point in the match but to his credit he was mentally strong and aggressive for 7 minutes.
197lbs – #17 Tom Sleigh (B) major decision Ben Haas (L) 13-2. Sleigh built on Hoffman’s match and racked up bonus points on Hass rather easily. Hass still looks a bit undersized for the weight.
285lbs – #18 Doug Vollaro (L) major decision Tyler Greene (B) 8-0. The Lehigh wrestler look significantly larger during the match. Vollaro opened up a bit and put 8 points on the scoreboard powered by 3 takedowns.
Next up for Lehigh Journeymen Collegiate Classic Sunday. For Bucknell the Navy Classic on the 19th.