WILKES-BARRE – The No. 19 Wilkes University men's wrestling team used seven wins, five coming in extra-point fashion, on way to a 34-13 victory over cross-town rival King's College on Friday night in the Marts Center.
 
Wilkes began the match with a 10-4 decision win by Connor Kerwin (Totowa, NJ/Passaic Valley) at 125-pounds to take a 3-0 lead. Cole Anderson answered back for King's earning a major decision over Noah Rosa (Reading, PA/Berks Catholic) at 133-pounds to give the Monarchs a 4-3 lead after two bouts.
 
Ryan Santiago (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) put the Colonels ahead for a second time in the match leading 8-3 after a dominant 21-4 technical fall over Noah Clawson at 141-pounds. King's had another answer at 149-pounds as Shane Kibler took a 22-5 technical fall tying the match at eight.
 
Wilkes used back-to-back wins at 157-pounds and 165-pounds to build a 16-8 lead after six bouts. Colton Thorpe (Southington, CT/Southington) won by a 3-1 decision over Brett Murphy and Caleb Lawrence (Larksville, PA/Wyoming Seminary) cruised to a 21-4 technical fall over Nick Costello to push the Colonels ahead.
 
After a King's technical fall at 174-pounds and an injury default win at 184-pounds for Wilkes, Cameron Butka (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) added to his school-record for wins with a fall in 4:57 and Caleb Burkhart (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) followed with his team-high 20^th fall in 2:02 to seal off the match at 197 and 285 respectively.
 
The Colonels return to the mat tomorrow with dual matches against Hunter College and host Misericordia University at 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. respectively in Dallas, Pa.
 
Wilkes 34, King's 13
125 – C. Kerwin (W) dec. Patrick Horvath (K) 10-4
133 – Cole Anderson (K) major dec. N. Rosa (W) 8-0
141 – R. Santiago (W) tech fall Noah Clawson (K) 21-4
149 – Shane Kibler (K) tech fall J. Bettencourt (W) 22-5
157 – C. Thorpe (W) dec. Brett Murphy (K) 3-1
165 – C. Lawrence (W) tech fall Nick Costello (K) 21-4
174 – Jacob Hachtmann (K) tech fall J. Bilinski (W) 22-6
184 – C. Nuss (W) injury default Frankie Theroux (K)
197 – C. Butka (W) fall Richard Fronheiser (K) 4:57
285 – C. Burkhart (W) fall Nick Valenzano (K) 2:02