Statesmen Lose Tight 28-26 Dual Meet to Missouri Valley

Marshall, Mo.--The William Penn men's wrestling team fought all night, but came up just short in a 28-26 loss to Missouri Valley in a Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet Thursday.

WPU (4-10, 1-5 Heart) picked up victories in four of the nine contested bouts (earned a forfeit as well), and was in the lead until the final match of the evening, but could not hold off the Vikings.

Dylan McConville (Sr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) gave the navy and gold an early 6-0 advantage by claiming a forfeit at 125 pounds.

The Vikings then took control with three wins in a row, but Kael Bunce (Sr., Stockbridge, Mich., Mechanical Engineering) stopped the bleeding by posting a 17-1 technical fall over Olson Anderson at 157 pounds.

165-pounder Cameron Hargrove (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill., Sports Management) then got his squad back on top with a fall over Jesus Gutierrez in a time of 2:02, while 174-pounder Branson Bottorff (Sr., Mackinaw, Ill., Industrial Technology) snatched a big victory in the most exciting matchup of the dual.

The senior fell behind 9-4 after the first period, but stayed in the match and eventually took down Jokiah Sewell late in the third to force overtime.  Twenty-nine seconds into the extra period, Bottorff culminated the come-from-behind win with a takedown as William Penn extended its edge to 20-16.

The next two battles were falls for each team with 197-pounder Jesse Schwery (So., Panama, Iowa, Secondary Education) pinning Emanuel Ayi-Bonte in 2:46 to make it 26-22 in favor of the Statesmen.

Unfortunately, the heavyweight contest was won by MVC and the home team came away with the victory.

"It is a lot of fun being part of a dual that comes down to heavyweight, but unfortunately, this time around, it did not come out in our favor," Head Coach Aron Scott said.  "I am proud of our guys; they wrestled hard and brought good energy.  It was great having Kael back in the lineup.  Cam and Jesse both wrestled well and it was great to see Branson battle back and get that win in overtime.  We continue to improve and are peaking at the right time."

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Tuesday to host Central in a non-conference dual meet at 7 p.m.

125--Dylan McConville (W) won by forfeit (6-0)
133--Haden Hernandez (M) won by technical fall over Lane Scorpil, 18-2 (6-5)
141--Donavan Parn (M) won by technical fall over Sabri Sino, 17-1 (6-10)
149--Chase Zollmann (M) won by fall over Trent Evans, 2:05 (6-16)
157--Kael Bunce (W) won by technical fall over Olson Anderson, 17-1 (11-16)
165--Cameron Hargrove (W) won by fall over Jesus Gutierrez, 2:02 (17-16)
174--Branson Bottorff (W) won by decision over Jokiah Sewell, 16-13 (OT) (20-16)
184--Drake Tipton (M) won by fall over Kaden Kaiser (0:35) (20-22)
197--Jesse Schwery (W) won by fall over Emanuel Ayi-Bonte, 2:46 (26-22)
285--Joshua Isaac (M) won by fall over Isaac Boucher, 2:49 (26-28)