Statesmen Nipped by Fighting Bees in Season-Opening Dual

Oskaloosa--Cameron Hargrove (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill., Sports Management) and Branson Bottorff (Sr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology) both got their senior campaigns started with dominating performances, but it was not enough to lift the William Penn men's wrestling team to victory in its season opener as it fell 25-20 to St. Ambrose in a Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet Thursday.

WPU (0-1, 0-1 Heart) won just four of the 10 contested matches, but all of the victories were of the bonus-point nature as the meet came down to the final bout.

After the hosts dropped the first match of the evening, Lane Scorpil (Jr., Columbus Junction, Iowa, Business Management) got his squad on the board with a pin in 3:53 over Eli Gonzalez at 133 pounds.  The 6-4 advantage was the only lead William Penn would hold Thursday.

Unfortunately, the Fighting Bees (1-0, 1-0 Heart) claimed the next three battles to extend their edge to double figures at 16-6.

Hargrove finally righted the ship at 165 pounds in a matchup of two ranked grapplers.  Hargrove, ranked #16 in the NAIA, had no issues with #19 Jayden Terronez, winning by a 19-3 technical fall.

174-pounder Ryan Van Donselaar (Sr., Otley, Iowa, Exercise Science) then trimmed the deficit down to one at 16-15 as he recorded an 11-0 major decision victory over Anthony Sartori.

The Statesmen then implemented a strategy which nearly put them over the top.  Their other 174-pounder went up a weight, but unfortunately came up short, putting the navy and gold in a 22-15 hole with two matches to go.

Bottorff, who will be WPU's 184-pounder this year, also bumped up a class, matching him against Dylan Meiners who is #23 nationally at 197.  Despite the weight difference, Bottorff, who is #25 at 184 pounds, rolled to a 19-4 technical fall over Meiners to make it 22-20 in favor of the visitors.

That set up a bout between SAU's Jeremiah Morris and WPU's Jesse Schwery (Jr., Panama, Iowa, History), who is slated to be the squad's regular 197-pounder.  In an exciting matchup that had the crowd on their feet throughout, Schwery could not overcome the heavier Morris in a 7-2 setback that clinched the win for the Fighting Bees.

"I am proud of how our team competed tonight," Head Coach Drew Sams said.  "The outcome came down to a few small technical tweaks that we plan to improve for next time.  The atmosphere was electric, and the crowd stayed engaged until the end.  I am excited what the rest of the season will bring."

"Individually, Cameron Hargrove and Branson Bottorff both started their years really well with impressive tech fall wins over ranked opponents," Sams added.

Next Up: William Penn travels to Indianola Saturday to compete in the Simpson Luther Hill Invitational at 9 a.m.

125--Michael Chagnon (S) won by major decision over Jeffery Myers, 8-0 (0-4)
133--Lane Scorpil (W) won by fall over Eli Gonzalez, 3:53 (6-4)
141--Guiseppe Guerra (S) won by decision over Carson Jensen, 12-8 (6-7)
149--Joshua Zeman (S) won by decision over Hector Diaz, 9-6 (6-10)
157--Diego Machado (S) won by fall over Trent Evans, 0:59 (6-16)
165--Cameron Hargrove (W) won by technical fall over Jayden Terronez, 19-3 (11-16)
174--Ryan Van Donselaar (W) won by major decision over Anthony Sartori, 11-0 (15-16)
184--Colin O`Grady (S) won by fall over Kendal Pugh, 2:31 (15-22)
197--Branson Bottorff (W) won by technical fall over Dylan Meiners, 19-4 (20-22)
285--Jeremiah Morris (S) over Jesse Schwery, 7-2 (20-25)