Wrestling Rallies to Beat Lock Haven in First Dual of Season

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Despite not holding a lead the entire night and trailing by 12 team points after seven bouts, the Michigan State wrestling team rallied in its first dual meet of the season for a 19-17 win over Lock Haven Thursday evening at Thomas Fieldhouse in Lock Haven, Pa.

Clinching the comeback with three-straight bonus-point victories to end the match, the Spartans moved to 1-0 in duals this season, while the Bald Eagles shifted to 0-1 despite a distinct home-mat advantage from a noisy 1,327 LHU fans.

"I always say you can grow from adversity if you look at things the right way, and our guys were put in a pretty crazy situation," said MSU coach Roger Chandler. "I think they underestimated the environment they were going to be in (with the hostile crowd). I just think we had some senior leadership guys and our last three weights pulled it together for the team, and it obviously felt good to get out there with a win considering none of us felt like we wrestled up to our expectations of the program."

Michigan State opened the weeknight showdown in a with graduate student Julian Saldana holding his own against former All-American Luke Werner, taking Lock Haven's 125-pounder to overtime before dropping an 11-7 decision as the home team took the first bout. Redshirt senior Rayvon Foley continued his strong start to 2021-22 in the 133-weight class by defeating Gable Strickland, 10-5, but graduate student Matt Santos lost a close 7-5 decision to LHU's Nick Stonecheck at 141.

After an unexpectedly early intermission with LHU ahead, 6-3, the 149 bout saw the biggest upset of the night occur, as Lock Haven's Connor Eck used a late ankle pick to earn a 6-5 decision over MSU redshirt sophomore Peyton Omania, while an unsportsmanlike conduct call on MSU in the bout put the Spartans further down, 9-2. Sophomore Chase Saldate made up ground with an 8-5 decision over Ben Barton at 157, but Lock Haven retook a seven-point edge when 165-pounder Ashton Eyler defeated sophomore Caleb Fish in a low-scoring 3-0 decision.

The Green and White suffered another defeat at 174, as redshirt junior Nathan Jimenez was on the losing end of a 16-0 technical fall by Tyler Stoltzfus, putting MSU down 17-5.

MSU rebounded in the 184 match, as redshirt junior Layne Malczewski notched a fall with two seconds remaining in his bout with Thomas Dressler. Michigan State's 197-pounder, redshirt senior Cameron Caffey, continued the Spartan momentum with a 14-5 major decision over LHU's Parker McClellan, bringing the team score to 17-15 in favor of the Bald Eagles with one bout left.

In the final match of the night, MSU redshirt senior Brad Wilton jumped up to the heavyweight class and handed his team the bout, getting a 13-5 major decision over Colby Whitehill and finishing the Michigan State comeback.

"We have a very talented team, and we got good guys capable of doing great things," added Chandler. "What I told our guys in the locker room was we have to wrestle every second of the match instead of just going for a home run trying to end the match early. I think some of those guys haven't been in that situation with that type of crowd before, because we haven't had fans for two years and it felt like there were 2,000-plus fans in the venue that were packed in. I think a bunch of our guys can grow from that moment and (learn) how to move forward."

Up next for Michigan State is the second half of its back-to-back duals in Pennsylvania, as the Spartans wrestle Friday night at Bucknell. That meeting is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Bout-By-Bout
125: Luke Werner (LHU) dec. Julian Saldana (MSU), SV, 11-7
Werner and Saldana both scored a takedown and an escape in the first period, seeing the score tied, 3-3, after three minutes. Starting on top in the second, Werner allowed Saldana to escape, and Saldana make him pay with a takedown as the horn sounded. Werner then got an escape from the down position early in the third, and got an ankle pick with 30 seconds left to tie it 6-all. Saldana got an escape, but Werner had the bonus point from riding time to force overtime at 7-7. In extras, Werner took down Saldana and got a near fall as well to end the bout at 11-7.

133: No. 14 Rayvon Foley (MSU) dec. Gable Strickland (LHU), 10-5
Some early grappling was followed by a Foley takedown before the first buzzer. Foley started on top in the second, and ended it with a 4-1 lead after another takedown and a Strickland escape. On the bottom for the start of the third, Foley got a quick escape and turned it into a third takedown. Strickland escaped again to make it 7-2, and another takedown for Foley was matched with a penalty point and a takedown for Strickland right before the final horn. Foley got the riding time point to take the 10-5 decision.

141: Nick Stonecheck (LHU) dec. Matt Santos (MSU), 7-5
Stonecheck got a neutral takedown within the first 30 seconds of the bout, but a Santos escape and takedown put the Spartan in front, 3-2, after one. In the down position to begin the second, Santos had two escapes, but Stonecheck got two takedowns in the final 30 seconds to go up 6-5. An early escape from Stonecheck in the third secured a 7-5 victory.

149: Connor Eck (LHU) dec. HM Peyton Omania (MSU), 6-5
Two stalls from Eck earned Omania an opening point, and a takedown in the final minute of the opening period gave Omania the 3-0 edge entering the second. Eck started down in the second but escaped, while an Omania stall and Eck takedown switched the advantage to 4-3 Eck after two frames. On the bottom, Omania escaped to start the third, but a takedown from Eck put him up 6-4. Another Omania escape was not enough, as Eck completed the upset, 6-5.

157: No. 21 Chase Saldate (MSU) dec. Ben Barton (LHU), 8-5
Saldate got the first-period takedown, but Barton escaped before the buzzer to keep the bout within one point. Barton got the escape in the second after starting down, but neither wrestler could notch any points the rest of the period. Saldate escaped early after starting down in the third, adding a takedown and a near-fall before Barton got an escape. Barton had a takedown before time expired, but Saldate got the riding time bonus to take the match, 8-5.

165: Ashton Eyler (LHU) dec. Caleb Fish (MSU), 3-0
Fish and Eyler were scoreless after the first period, and Eyler kept Fish down for the entire second frame to keep it at a 0-0 stalemate. With Eyler down to start the third, he got a reversal early to break the scoreless tie, also earning the riding time bonus for a 3-0 win.

174: Tyler Stoltzfus (LHU) tech. fall over Nathan Jimenez (MSU), 16-0 (5:33)
Niether wrestler was able to score in the netural start of period one, but Stoltzfus got two four-point near-falls in the second frame to grab a commanding lead. Stoltzfus added seven more back points and the riding time bonus in the third to finish off the 16-0 technical fall.

184: No. 22 Layne Malczewski (MSU) fall over Thomas Dressler (LHU), 6:59
Malczewski notched a takedown in the first, then used an escape and a second takedown to open the second period and hold a 5-0 lead heading into the third frame. Dressler escaped in the final period, but Malczewski wrapped up the bout with a pin at the 6:58 mark.

197: No. 23 Cameron Caffey (MSU) maj. dec. Parker McClellan (LHU), 14-5
Caffey posted two takedowns in the first period, as a McClellan escape made it 4-1 Caffey to start the second. Starting down, Caffey escaped 20 seconds into the second, and added a takedown to enter the final period up, 7-1. In the third, McClellan got four escapes, but Caffey got three takedowns and riding time to grab a 14-5 major decision.

285: Brad Wilton (MSU) maj. dec. Colby Whitehill (LHU), 13-5
Whitehill had a takedown 40 seconds in, but Wilton escaped and had his own takedown, along with a four-point near-fall, before Whitehill escaped. Whitehill escaped the down position to open the second, but Wilton had another takedown to gain a 9-4 lead until Whitehill escaped again. In the third, Wilton added another point on an interlocking arm call and tacked on two more via a reversal, as a Whitehill escape and the MSU riding time bonus closed out Wilton's 13-5 major decision.

Michigan State 19, Lock Haven 17
125: Luke Werner (LHU) dec. Julian Saldana (MSU), SV, 11-7; LHU leads, 3-0
133: No. 14 Rayvon Foley (MSU) dec. Gable Strickland (LHU), 10-5; MSU and LHU Tied, 3-3
141: Nick Stonecheck (LHU) dec. Matt Santos (MSU), 7-5; LHU leads, 6-3
149: Connor Eck (LHU) dec. HM Peyton Omania (MSU), 6-5; LHU leads, 9-2
157: No. 21 Chase Saldate (MSU) dec. Ben Barton (LHU), 8-5; LHU leads, 9-5
165: Ashton Eyler (LHU) dec. Caleb Fish (MSU), 3-0; LHU leads, 12-5
174: Tyler Stoltzfus (LHU) tech. fall over Nathan Jimenez (MSU), 16-0 (5:33); LHU leads, 17-5
184: No. 22 Layne Malczewski (MSU) fall over Thomas Dressler (LHU), 6:59; LHU leads, 17-11
197: No. 23 Cameron Caffey (MSU) maj. dec. Parker McClellan (LHU), 14-5; LHU leads, 17-15
285: Brad Wilton (MSU) maj. dec. Colby Whitehill (LHU), 13-5; MSU wins, 19-17
* 149 – MSU deducted one team point for unsportsmanlike conduct
Individual Rankings are based on FloWrestling

Wrestling Rallies to Beat Lock Haven in First Dual of Season

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Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Nathan Jimenez

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Julian Saldana

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Brad Wilton