The Hopkins’ wrestling team traveled to Grantham, Pa. on Friday night to take on third-ranked Messiah in a non-conference wrestling match. While the Blue Jays fell at the hands of the undefeated Eagles by a score of 33-9, two Jays were able to come away from their matches victorious. Senior Duncan Crystal beat Greg Kabakjian, 4-2, in the 149-pound weight class, while freshman Jordan Forman was able to pin Jeremy Bailes in the 174-pound weight class. Forman’s pin brought the Blue Jays within 11 points of the Eagles, but three Messiah wins quickly followed Forman's excellent performance, putting the match out of reach for the Jays.
The Blue Jays were able to quickly bounce back from the tough loss to Messiah, as they swept a pair of conference foes in Muhlenberg and Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday evening. The Jays started with a 55-0 blowout over Muhlenberg winning the only two contested matchups, while taking the other eight by way of forfeit. Junior Paul Bewak defeated the Mules’ Jaryd Flank by a score of 7-5 in the 125-pound weight class, as Crystal got the win over Chayoot Chengsupanimit in the 149-pound weight class in a 12-0 major decision.
In a hard fought bout with Merchant Marine, the Mariners were able to build an early lead against Hopkins.
They did so with major decision wins in the 165 and 174 pound weight classes, following a 4-1 Blue Jay victory in the one hundred and fifty-seven pound weight class by junior Christian Salera. A 9-1 major victory from the Jays’ Kyle Spangler(184lb) was followed by Mariner victories at the 197 pound class followed by a hard fought victory at the 285 pound class, giving Merchant Marine a 15-7 lead. Hopkins’ began to mount a comeback as Bewak and senior Ray Yagloski each won by decision. Senior Henry Stauber gave Hopkins an 18-5 lead by way of technical fall. Crystal was then able to clinch the match for the Blue Jays with a 10-2 major decision over Jack Walsh. Crystal’s victory is his tenth in his last eleven matches.
The pair of victories improved the Jays’ record to 9-5 overall and 6-1 in the Centennial Conference. Bewak noted the importance of these two conference victories. “They were big (victories) because with a win this Wednesday we will clinch 2nd place in the conference as a team and this will be our first season with 10 team wins.”
Bewak also noted that the team needs to make some improvements in order to be successful in the postseason. “We need to work on starting the matches off as aggressive as we finish them, we typically have slow starts in individual matches and sometimes we get to far behind to catch up later on.”
Bewak’s two victories push his career win total to ninety-two and move him into a tie for second most all time victories in Hopkins history. Tyler Schmidt, who wrestled for the Jays from 2005-2009, previously held sole possession of second place. Although Bewak has already shown great success in his first two and a half seasons as a Blue Jay, he continues to set his sights on greater accomplishments. “I would like to become a two-time NCAA champion as well as go undefeated next season.” The Blue Jays will wrap up league play on Wednesday when the McDaniel Green Terror come to Homewood. This match will be critical if the Blue Jays would like to improve their standing in the Centennial Conference before the postseason commences. As they look to continue to dominate in conference play, the mighty Jays look to carry their momentum of the two big wins over the weekend into their matchup against the Green Terror.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.