No. 14 Rutgers wrestling powers past Rider to finish non-conference play
The Rutgers wrestling team capped off a busy weekend with a 31-5 win against in-state rival Rider on Sunday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights (7-1, 0-0) won 8 of their 10 bouts against the Broncs (2-4, 2-0).
Rider started off the dual with an upset win from Tyler Klinsky. Klinsky worked a 9-6 decision over No. 2 junior 125-pounder Dean Peterson, handing him his first defeat of the season.
No. 14 Rutgers instantly fired back, as No. 9 junior 133-pounder Dylan Shawver defeated Richie Koehler in a 10-4 decision to level the contest.
No. 13 graduate student 141-pounder Mitch Moore earned a win in dominant fashion, as he pinned Will Betancourt after approximately 4 minutes to put the Knights up 9-3.
Junior 149-pounder Michael Cetta got the fans at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Livingston campus on their feet with a come-from-behind victory against No. 22 Quinn Kinner. Cetta worked a third-period takedown to take the lead in his 8-6 decision.
After the match, Cetta spoke on what led to his upset win.
“Just gotta continue wrestling through every position, nonstop wrestling for 7 minutes, that’s it,” Cetta said.
No. 33 junior 157-pounder Andrew Clark struggled in his match against No. 32 Colton Washleski and suffered a 4-1 decision. Both teams were deducted a point at the end of the bout due to unsportsmanlike conduct.
Rutgers had an 11-5 lead heading into the intermission.
The Knights would extend their lead to 9 points with a win from junior 165-pounder Anthony White over Jake Silverstein.
No. 27 senior 174-pounder Jackson Turley landed Rutgers’ second pin of the day against Michael Wilson after just 1:05 of wrestling. The Knights owned a 20-5 lead with three bouts left in the dual.
No. 19 sophomore 184-pounder Brian Soldano and No. 8 junior 197-pounder John Poznanski secured impressive victories by a combined score of 24-6 over Isaac Dean and Azeem Bell, respectively.
In the final bout, No. 7 graduate student 285-pounder Yaraslau Slavikouski defeated No. 29 David Szuba in an 11-2 major decision, sealing the win for Rutgers.
Overall, the Knights outscored the Broncs 88-32 and landed 17 takedowns.
Rutgers will look to start Big Ten play off on the front foot against Indiana on Friday. The match will begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
“I thought we wrestled well, wrestled hard,” said head coach Scott Goodale. “Those guys came at us a little bit so that was good and we had some big wins, they had a couple big wins.”
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