Pride stuck by early pins
Top-ranked Cowboys quickly force Hofstra wrestlers in deep hole
Hofstra coach still trying to cope with son’s death
BY CHRIS ANTONACCI
STAFF WRITER
The crowd rose as Charles Griffin struggled to find some angle to get his opponent’s shoulder down. This went on for the final minute and 25 seconds of the 133-pound Hofstra wrestler’s bout with Oklahoma State’s Nathan Morgan. The score to their bout was tied and Hofstra was down 12 points in the match with two remaining weight classes to go.
If Griffin could pin Morgan, the 16th-ranked Pride could narrow the gap with the two-time defending NCAA team champ and top-ranked Oklahoma State.
However, the eighth-ranked Morgan avoided the pin and didn’t surrender three more team points to No. 17 Griffin. The Cowboys secured bonus-point wins in the final two bouts for a 30-10 dual-meet win in front of about 2,018 at Hofstra Arena.
The three near-fall points Griffin received as time expired concluded a 7-4 decision and 6-0 streak. Griffin escaped four seconds into the third period, took down Morgan with 1:38 left and eventually cut the deficit to 19-10 for Hofstra (11-5), which had a 33-10 loss at Minnesota in its only other meeting with a top-ranked program.
“I knew it was going to be real tough to pin him, “Griffin said. “I was holding on for the win. You are just trying not to get out of position. You are just thinking about holding him as long as you can on his back.”
No. 7 Ricky LaForge (141) of Hofstra followed by allowing the final 15 points in a 17-2 technical-fall loss that ended his bout with No. 18 Daniel Frishkorn in 5:28. No. 2 Zack Esposito of Oklahoma State (19-0) ended the match by sticking No. 9 Jon Masa in 3:33.
And the drama Griffin and the fans endured became moot for the dual meet’s outcome.
“The pin would have been nice, “Hofstra coach Tom Ryan said, “but I don’t know if that could have changed things.”
Especially considering that Ryan’s team suffered losses to two top-ranked wrestlers before Hofstra’s Dave Tomasette (125) earned the final three points in a 3-1 overtime decision over Derek Stevens.
Steve Mocco (heavyweight) pinned Gian Villante in 2:05 to give Oklahoma State a 19-4 lead. In a 9-5 defeat to Jake Rosholt (197), No. 2 Chris Skretkowicz blew the 5-4 lead he built with 1:29 left with a reversal and two back points. Rosholt reversed Skretkowicz a minute later, gained two back points and built the necessary 1:00 riding-time edge to make it 13-4.
Hofstra’s Joe Rovelli (184) used a 1:00 riding-time edge to follow a seven-point run in a 12-4 major decision over Clay Kehrer. No. 12 Paul Siemon (174) put Hofstra in a 10-0 hole after the first three bouts when he allowed a takedown with eight seconds left in a 14-5 major-decision defeat to No. 1 Chris Pendleton. No. 3 Johny Hendricks (174) had an 8-4 decision over No. 14 Mike Patrovich to make it 6-0. No. 20 Kevin Ward opened with an 8-2 win over James Strouse.
OKLAHOMA STATE 30
HOFSTRA 10
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