By Rob Potter
FALLSBURG — December 31, 2010 — The Eldred/Fallsburg wrestling team had mixed results when it hosted two Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division V dual meets on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School.
In the evening’s first meet, the John S. Burke Catholic Eagles defeated Eldred/Fallsburg, 39-30.
But in the second meet, Eldred/Fallsburg defeated the Liberty Indians, 39-29.
Eagles soar to victory
over the home team
Burke was able to earn a win against Eldred/Fallsburg with forfeit and pinfall victories in several weight classes.
In the first two bouts, Eldred/Fallsburg’s Allenson Flores and Burke’s Danny Martin earned forfeit wins at 103 pounds and 112 pounds, respectively.
When Eldred/Fallsburg’s Shane Martin pinned Burke’s Frankie VanLeeuwen 2 minutes, 57 seconds into their 125-pound match, Eldred/Fallsburg took a 12-6 lead.
But Burke’s Kurt Hefner pinned Eldred/Fallsburg’s Marie Countryman in 54 seconds in their 130-pound bout to even the score at 12-12.
The Eagles won the next five matches to take a 39-12 advantage. At 140 pounds, Philip Juliano pinned Eldred/Fallsburg’s Rafael Olan in 2:12. At 152 pounds, Robbie Roehrich earned a 9-2 major decision over Eldred/Fallsburg’s Kris Williams. At 160 pounds, John Longo pinned Eldred/Fallsburg’s Roosevelt Payton in 2:18. In addition, Brian Leahey and Matt Juliano received forfeit wins at 135 pounds and 145 pounds, respectively.
Eldred/Fallsburg recorded forfeit victories in the final three weight divisions, but could not overtake Burke (5-8). Those forfeit wins were earned by Tadeusz Loarca (171 pounds), Andrew Moore (189 pounds) and Ben Davis (215 pounds).
“Everybody wrestled well for us tonight,” Burke Coach Dave Predmore said. “It was a good match.”
Predmore was happy for his team’s opportunity to wrestle the Eldred/Fallsburg squad.
“[Eldred/Fallsburg Co-Coach] Tim Bult is a great guy,” Predmore said. “He is doing a very good job with this Eldred/Fallsburg team.”
Bult and Jim Corcoran are the Co-Coaches of the Eldred/Fallsburg team.
Predmore also noted it is good that Tri-Valley is fielding a varsity wrestling team this winter for the first time ever.
“Tri-Valley should have a nice program,” he said.
Eldred/Fallsburg tops Liberty
Moments after being defeated by Burke, the Eldred/Fallsburg wrestlers returned to the mat and prevailed against Liberty.
However, the Indians jumped out to an early 23-12 lead. After Eldred/Fallsburg’s Allenson Flores received a forfeit win at 103 pounds, Liberty surged ahead 12-6 with forfeit victories by Dylan Blackwell at 112 pounds and Dylan Turk at 119 pounds.
At 125 pounds, Liberty’s Ahsan Jafri earned a 19-4 major decision over Eldred/Fallsburg’s Shane Martin.
Eldred/Fallsburg’s Marie Countryman won by forfeit at 130 pounds to cut the Indians’ lead to 17-12.
But Vinny Webbe pinned Eldred/Fallsburg’s Ralph Olan in 1:36 to give Liberty its 23-12 lead.
At 152 pounds, Eldred/Fallsburg’s Roosevelt Payton scored a 13-8 major decision over Liberty’s Matt Rourke.
Eldred/Fallsburg’s Kris Williams then won by forfeit at 160 pounds to bring his team within two points at 23-21.
The Indians increased their lead when Andy Martinez pinned Eldred/Fallsburg’s J. Rome Brown in 2:50.
Eldred/Fallsburg took a 33-29 advantage when Andrew Moore (189 pounds) and Dom Valez (215 pounds) recorded forfeit wins.
Ben Davis sealed the victory for Eldred/Fallsburg when he pinned Liberty’s Scott Austin in 12 seconds in their 285 pound bout.
Tim Bult noted that the dual meet was a case of the student vs. the teacher. Bult is a 1989 graduate of Liberty Central School and he wrestled for six years under the guidance of Liberty Coach John Lennon.
“Since he was my coach, except for a couple of things, I knew what to expect from him and he knew what to expect from our team,” Bult said. “So it was a good match.”
With its victory, Eldred/Fallsburg improved its Div. V record to 1-2.
“We are getting better with each match,” Bult said of the Eldred/Fallsburg wrestlers. “We have some wrestlers who don’t have a lot of experience. There are only three seniors on the team – Matt Moore, Kris Williams and Matthew Dominick.”
While his team was unable to win the overall match, Lennon was pleased with the effort put forth by his wrestlers.
“It was a good match tonight,” he said. “There were some exciting individual matches. It was a good team effort.”