{"id":324,"date":"2005-01-11T06:01:09","date_gmt":"2005-01-11T12:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/?p=324"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T05:00:00","slug":"easton-highly-protective-of-home-turf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/w324\/easton-highly-protective-of-home-turf\/","title":{"rendered":"Easton Highly Protective of Home Turf"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Express-Times<\/a>
Easton highly protective of home turf
Monday, January 10, 2005
By NICK FIERRO
The Express-Times <\/p>\n

PALMER TWP. — There’s nothing like tuning up for the main event with a match against the 38th-ranked high school wrestling team in the nation.<\/p>\n

No. 5 Easton did just that Saturday and walked away with a pair of extremely satisfying wins to cap the Easton Invitational at its cozy 25th Street gym.<\/p>\n

First, the Red Rovers handed Caesar Rodney (Del.) a 36-25 setback, then sent neighboring rival Wilson to a 36-20 defeat in the final session to improve its dual-meet record to 7-0.<\/p>\n

No. 38 Caesar Rodney, which nearly beat No. 37 Nazareth earlier in the day, lost all the close ones in the middle and up top — which is never the way to beat Easton.<\/p>\n

“The close ones and the pins are the ones you usually have to have, “Easton coach Steve Powell said, “and we really didn’t get the pins tonight.”<\/p>\n

Which meant the match-opening bout at 140 pounds proved to be as crucial as any in determining the outcome. In that matchup, Andrew Goldstein survived a furious third period on his feet to preserve a 4-4 deadlock against state champion Matt Cathell and then came through with the winning takedown in overtime.<\/p>\n

Cathell, fifth at the Beast of the East, came into the match with a 16-2 record. But one of those losses was to another Lehigh Valley wrestler — Northampton’s John Paukovits — at the Beast.<\/p>\n

“It goes to show that a Pennsylvania kid that doesn’t even go to states can beat a state champ from another state, “said Goldstein, who was fully aware of Cathell’s pedigree.<\/p>\n

What Goldstein didn’t know was that his bout would end up being so crucial.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think about that stuff, “he said. “I just go out every match and try to wrestle my hardest, and whatever happens.”<\/p>\n

Actually, there was a little more to it than that. Caesar Rodney, like Easton, has many excellent riders throughout its lineup, including Cathell. So Goldstein, after taking a 4-1 lead with a pair of first-period takedowns, needed to stay off the bottom.<\/p>\n

“I felt he was good on top with his legs, but I thought I could take him down a couple of times, “Goldstein said.<\/p>\n

Two bouts later, at 152, Kyle Hershey gave Easton more crucial momentum by hitting a five-point move with a headlock on Matt Shelor with under 30 seconds remaining to score a 7-3 decision.<\/p>\n

“That was a big match and a big win for Hershey, “Powell said. “I think Kyle was probably the underdog in that one.”<\/p>\n

Similar excitement unfolded in the next bout, as Easton’s Sal Crivellaro came from behind in the third period to win an 8-6 decision over Dan Rigby at 160. Crivellaro gave up a takedown early in the third period to fall behind 5-4. But he was able to go back on top for good with a penalty point, escape and takedown.<\/p>\n

The match also was a productive one for the Oliver family — brothers Jordan and Josh of Easton and cousin Alex Meade of Caesar Rodney.<\/p>\n

Jordan Oliver won a 20-9 decision over Todd Koch at 103, Josh Oliver was a 9-4 winner in a surprisingly tight match against Chris Diaz at 130 and Meade overcame Brad Gentzle in what might have been the most exciting matchup of the evening at 119.<\/p>\n

Meade, a freshman, was warned for stalling with 14 seconds remaining in a 2-2 deadlock, but was able to force overtime, where he succeeded after some spectacular flurries with a takedown to win the bout and give his Riders a 25-23 advantage with three bouts remaining.<\/p>\n

But Easton won all the rest to put it away. Seth Ciasulli won a 9-0 major over Luis Burgoss, Josh Oliver beat Diaz and Alex Krom broke open a tight match by pinning Brian Ribolla with 27 seconds remaining in their bout at 135.<\/p>\n

“It was a nice way to start and a nice way to finish the match, “Powell said. “It was a pleasant situation.”<\/p>\n

Though Easton prevailed against Wilson, there were not as many pleasant moments in that one, especially when Wilson’s Ryan Holmes upset Braylin Williams with a five-point move just before the buzzer to pull out an 8-3 decision at 145 and when Kevin Iobst came from behind in a wild match to score a 15-14 decision over David Crowell at 189.<\/p>\n

Crowell reversed Iobst to go up 14-12 with just 1:03 remaining. Iobst responded with an escape and then a takedown with 25 seconds to go. He clamped on legs and rode him the rest of the way to pull it out.<\/p>\n

Gentzle, ranked No. 2 in The Express-Times region at 119, was in the middle of things again in the Wilson match against No. 1 Russell Souders. Gentzle won the match 7-5 with the help of a takedown with 10 seconds to go.<\/p>\n

More importantly, his win broke a 20-all tie and put the Rovers on top for good.<\/p>\n

“I was nervous just wrestling against him even before the match was like it was, “Gentzle said. “And then it turned out to be a real big match. I’m just glad I wrestled well and beat him.”<\/p>\n

Gentzle’s strategy was a lot like Goldstein’s — stay off the bottom.<\/p>\n

“I knew he was a good mat wrestler and I wanted to be on my feet as much as possible, “Gentzle said. “And then when he took top (to start the second period), I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ “<\/p>\n

But Gentzle was able to shake Souders off him after getting away with a tripod in which a potentially dangerous stalemate is called 99 times out of a 100.<\/p>\n

“I had my hands on the mat and I looked up and I thought they were going to call it, “Gentzle said.<\/p>\n

When they didn’t, and he was able to escape, he responded with another takedown and wound up winning the takedown battle, 3-1.<\/p>\n

As in the previous match, Ciasulli, Josh Oliver and Krom all won to close it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Express-TimesEaston highly protective of home turfMonday, January 10, 2005By NICK FIERROThe Express-Times PALMER TWP. — There’s nothing like tuning up for the main event with a match against the 38th-ranked high school wrestling team in the nation. No. 5 Easton did just that Saturday and walked away with a pair of extremely satisfying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-5e","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}