Bonus Points Sink Statesmen Against Yellowjackets

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's wrestling team was unable to take advantage of being at home as it fell 28-15 to Graceland in Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet action Tuesday.

WPU (4-9, 1-4 Heart) dropped six of the nine contested bouts against the Yellowjackets (4-6, 2-3 Heart) with four of those setbacks coming via bonus points.  Conversely, only one of the host's victories was by bonus points.

The navy and gold cut the deficit in half when 133-pounder Lane Scorpil (So., Columbus Junction, Iowa, Industrial Technology) defeated Riley Harger 8-4.

The next three bouts went in favor of the visitors, however, before Cameron Hargrove (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill., Sports Management) stopped the proverbial bleeding with a 12-5 decision over Jett Nelson at 165 pounds.

Branson Bottorff (Sr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology) then used an overtime takedown to get past Joseph Teguia 4-1 at 174 pounds, pulling the home squad within 10 points at 19-9.

Unfortunately, William Penn could not make up the difference down the stretch.  Jesse Schwery (So., Panama, Iowa, Secondary Education) tallied the final points for the Statesmen as he received a forfeit at 197 pounds.

"This was obviously not the outcome we wanted tonight," Head Coach Aron Scott said.  "I am proud of how tough we wrestled at the lower weights, but unfortunately we gave up too many bonus points at a couple of weights.  Cameron Hargrove and Branson Bottorff both performed well and started to turn the tides, but it was not enough."

"We still have not wrestled to our potential," Scott added.  "That knowledge is powerful and will drive these guys to continue to improve and clean up those mistakes so that we can wrestle a solid seven minutes.  If we can do that, the results will take care of themselves."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Marshall, Mo. Friday and Saturday to compete in the Missouri Valley Invitational.

125--Robert Albert (G) won by fall over Brendan Nantz, 2:33 (0-6)
133--Lane Scorpil (W) won by decision over Riley Harger, 8-4 (3-6)
141--Ryan Anderson (G) won by decision over Sabri Sino, 9-4 (3-9)
149--Jackson Wenberg (G) won by major decision over Trent Evans, 10-1 (3-13)
157--Juan Lopez (G) won by fall over Braden Peglow, 3:00 (3-19)
165--Cameron Hargrove (W) won by decision over Jett Nelson, 12-5 (6-19)
174--Branson Bottorff (W) won by decision over Joseph Teguia, 4-1 (OT) (9-19)
184--KJ Fry (G) won by fall over Kaden Kaiser, 1:01 (9-25)
197--Jesse Schwery (W) won by forfeit (15-25)
285--Anthony Yancey (G) won by decision over Isaac Boucher, 7-6 (15-28)