NORWICH – The Purple Tornado won all but one of the their weight class matches by pinning a Susquehanna Valley Saber Wednesday night. Norwich had a shut out at 45 points due to four forfeits by the Sabers, three pins, and a decision before Sus Valley put any points on the board. The Purple finished the match with a win of 63-15.
With the match starting at 99 pounds, Andrew Brown wrestled Susquehanna Valley’s Derek Dietrich. Brown started the match off with a take down for two points before pinning him in :34, starting the Purple off with six points.
At 113, Norwich’s Nick Glanville also started off with a take down for two points and a pin. His pin came in just :35 seconds.
In the 138 pound weight class was wrestled by Eli Rodriguez for Norwich and the Sabers Edwin Lavin. With the match already lasting longer than the first two matches combined, Rodriguez set himself up for a pin at the end of the first period by Sus Valley’s Lavin kept his head high, preventing the pin from happening. The match went into the second period with Rodriguez up 7-1. Rodriguez later pinned in 3:38.
At 145, Purple Tornado Austyn Hatton went the distance in his match. With :30 left in the third period, Hatton added another two points to his 5-1 lead as he took a shot and landed a takedown. He later circled out, wasting the remaining time to win his match, adding another three points for Norwich.
The Purple Tornado carried a shutout until the 152 pound event, when Sus Valley’s Paddy Lupole pinned Norwich’s Dakota Hall in 1:25.
The Sabers also won the 160 pound match by a decision that went to their Kyle Leonard over Norwich’s Angel Francis. The match went the three period distance with Francis trailing 5-3 with :30 seconds remaining. The crowd was heavily involved, picking up the noise level and shouting to their hometown wrestler to make his move before time ran out. Leonard was able to hold off Francis, not allowing him to take a shot before the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match.
The next match was between Ty Rifanburg of Norwich and Chris Harold from Sus Valley at 182 pounds. In Rifanburg’s second appearance of the season, he looked like he hadn’t missed any time at all, getting a takedown and a five-count near fall early. Taking a 10-1 lead into the second period, Rifanburg finished the match nine seconds after it started by pinning Harold.
Purple Tornado Brennan Slater took on Mitchell Knapp for the Sabers. The match took longer than Slater wanted since he started off immediately with a takedown and near fall as well. With :30 seconds left in the final period, Slater had a 14-2 lead, headed towards a major decision win. That was until he pinned Knapp with eight seconds remaining, giving his Norwich team another six points to grow their lead to 57-9.
