WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University wrestling team captured wins in six of the ten bouts including four extra-point victories on way to a 27-16 victory over The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Friday night at the Marts Center.
 
With the win Wilkes improved to 14-4 overall while TCNJ dropped to 11-12 overall in dual matches on the season.
 
Matthew Grossmann (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) began the match at 141-pounds earning an 8-5 decision over Ryan Erwin. Grossmann opened with a 6-0 lead thanks to three takes downs before Erwin battled back to cut the deficit to 6-3. Another takedown ended the hopes of a TCNJ comeback as Grossmann recorded his 22nd win of the season giving Wilkes a 3-0 lead. Kyle Medrow (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) continued his fine rookie campaign at 149-pounds pinning Alfonse Demaria in :58 to push the Colonel lead to 9-0 after two bouts. Nicholas Racanelli (West Creek, NJ/Southern Regional) extended the advantage to 12-0 after an 8-5 decision at 157-pounds over Mark Gerstacker.
 
TCNJ claimed the next two bouts at 165 and 174 cutting into the Colonel lead 12-7 following a decision and major decision. Ricky Fornaciari (Easton, PA/Nazareth) wrestled one of the best matches of his young career dominating Sean Tonry with a technical fall (19-1) in 4:23 at 184-pounds as Wilkes led 17-7 after six bouts. At 197-pounds Jordan Nochimson (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) and Pat Schinder wrestled a tight match throughout with Nochimson leading 4-3 late in the third before a takedown from Schinder with under thirty seconds gave TCNJ a 5-4 win. TCNJ added a fall at heavyweight to come to within one down 17-16 with two bouts remaining.
 
Guesseppe Rea (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) put the match away with a fall in 3:43 over Austin Maltez at 125-pounds putting the Colonels ahead 23-16 with one bout left. Pankil Chander (Cedarhurst, NY/Lawrence) closed out the match with an 11-3 major decision at 133-pounds giving Wilkes the eleven-point home dual victory.
 
Prior to the match, seven Colonel senior members were honored for all their hard work and dedication to the Wilkes wrestling program including Rea, Chander, Cory Fleming (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris), Edwin Fiscal (Bogota, NJ/Bogota), Michael Paskas (Rutherford, NJ/Rutherford), Jacob Brook (Layton, NJ/Kittatiny) and Jordan Nochimson (Nutley, NJ/Nutley). Rea was also presented his 100^th win plaque by Wilkes University Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Paul Adams.
 
Wilkes continues its home stretch Sunday hosting a quad match with Scranton, RIT and West Virginia Tech starting at 11:00 a.m. in the Marts Center.
 
Wilkes 27, TCNJ 16
141 – M. Grossmann (W) dec. Ryan Erwin (T) 8-5
149 – K. Medrow (W) fall Alfonse Demaria (T) :58
157 – N. Racanelli (W) dec. Mark Gerstacker (T) 8-5
165 – Nick Herring (T) dec. M. Paskas (W) 9-2
174 – Dan Kilroy (T) major dec. J. Morel (W) 11-0
184 – R. Fornaciari (W) tech. fall Sean Tonry (T) 19-1 (4:23)
197 – Pat Schinder (T) dec. J. Nochimson (W) 5-4
285 – Kyle Cocozza (T) fall A. Santana-Quintana (W) 2:22
125 – G. Rea (W) fall A. Maltez (T) 3:43
133 – P. Chander (W) major dec. L. Rivera (T) 11-3

Exhibition:
157 – M. Sherrod (T) dec. M. Brown (W) 8-1