2007-2008 News

WRESTLING TEAM AT CHRISTMAS BREAK WITH ONLY ONE LOSS

December 22, 2007

St. Benedict’s wrestling team hardly looked like an undefeated team after falling behind by 25 points against Staten Island’s Msgr. Farrell Friday night.

Yet, the Gray Bees managed to stay unbeaten by recording a decision, a technical fall and three pins to close out an improbable, 38-37, victory in Staten Island.

St. Benedict’s, however, couldn’t play possum for a second straight outing when it gave up the first 15 points and never recovered during a 41-27 setback to powerful Don Bosco Prep on Saturday at home in Dalton Gym.

“For us to come from behind two days in a row is asking too much,” said St. Benedict’s coach Mike DiPiano Jr. “But we go into the break with just the one loss and that isn’t bad.”

St. Benedict’s stands at 7-1 at the Christmas break and won’t return to action until the Parsippany Tournament on Friday.

DiPiano’s squad would have never fallen into such a big deficit if the Gray Bees weren’t without the services of Patrick Hunter. The 125-pounder missed each of the last two matches with a stomach virus.

Despite Hunter’s absence, the club fashioned a furious rally against Msgr. Farrell. Trailing 37-12, Ahmad Ismail started the comeback with a 4-3 decision at 145 pounds.

Turtogtokh Luvsandorj picked up the pace with a technical fall at 152 pounds before Kevin Dufresne and Bagna Tovuujav each recorded second period falls at 160 and 171 pounds, respectively.

Chris Johnson capped the five-bout surge with a must-have pin in 52 seconds at 189 pounds in the final bout of the evening to give St. Benedict’s the one-point margin of victory.

“Even though we were down, we still knew we had enough fight in our upper weights,’’ DiPiano said. “Everyone came through and did what they had to.”

There was no such luck against Don Bosco Prep. The school from Ramsey won the two toss-up bouts and got a huge revenge victory by Nick Vetterlein, the reigning Region 2 champion.

Vetterlein pinned the Gray Bees’ Kevin Dufresne just one week after suffering a 6-5 setback to the 160-pounder in the Beast of the East tournament.

“They were tough down low and that’s where we’re young,” said DiPiano. “It definitely would have been closer at the end if we had Pat (Hunter).”

— By Ron Jandoli