Wednesday, Jan 22, 1997
@ Redbank

103     Forfeit		Josh Davis	   Forf		0	 6
112	Matt Boozer	 Chris Weiser	  5-1		3	 6
119	Anthony Adams    Eric Waters	   1:07	    9	 6
125	Matt Brinker	Chawn Chelton	 5:13	   15	 6
130	Shawn Smith	 Ryan Chelton	  7-5 OT	 18	 6
135	forfeit		Eric Britton	 Forf	    18	12
140	Nathan Gourley   John Riley	    1:26	   24	12
145	Benji Shaffer    Ben Brinker	   1-3 OT	 24	15
152	forf		   Brian Britton	Forf	    24	21
160	Todd Dinger	 Jake Tenney	  18-10	   28	21	
171	Cory Moore	  Mike Willyoung	2-1	    31	21
189	Jason Barnett    Ryan Hutchison	7-13	   31	24
275	Scott Harriger   Josh Knight	  10-25	   31	29

The Redbank Bulldogs and the Oil City Oilers met last night in what turned out to be a real nail-biter of a match. Redbank was minus two senior standouts: Lenny McNeal is ill and will miss the next two weeks, while Erik Rupp injured his elbow in a pickup basketball game last Sunday (Rupp will return for the Grove City tourney this weekend).

Down 18 points right off the bat (being without a 103 all season) the Bulldogs had to figure out a way to make lemonade. Scoring quickly with a win from Boozer and falls from Adams and Brinker, defeat was staved off momentarily when Shawn Smith uncharacteristically scored on a deep double-leg takedown in OT to put RV up 18-6. Hope was still alive, but Oil City was sending out Eric Britton at 135 - and a forfeit loomed at 140. But Britton went to the mat early and RV capitalized on the error by forfeiting at 135 and moving Gourley up to 140, where he caught John Riley in a spladle in the first period to put six more points on the board and hold the spread at 24-12.

Benji Shaffer kept it close in losing a 1-3 OT decision to Redbank transplant Ben Brinker (brother of Matt). After cashing in another forfeit @ 152, Oil City yielded an 18-10 Major decision @ 160. Dinger had Jake Tenney in a tight cradle in the 2nd period, but just couldn't get both shoulders down. The margin shrank to 28-21.

The mental pressure seemed to be taking its toll at this point. In a scoreless match @ 160, Cory Moore took down in the 2nd period. As he repeatedly attempted to fight to his feet, Mike Willyoung yielded first one and then two points for interlocking. The win opened it up to 31-21 and only two falls could pull the Oilers' irons out of the fire. Jason Barnett wrestled a cautious match and gave up a stingy 7-13 loss to wrap it up. Ryan Hutchison was able to take Jason down five times, but that wasn't enough to do it.

At 275, Josh Knight earned a Tech fall to pull the final score within two, but it was too little, too late, once again - as the Bulldogs move to 5-0.

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