Ephs Finish Third at Budd Whitehill Duals at Lycoming College

WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The Williams College wrestling team (5-1) started Day 2 of the Budd Whitehill Duals undefeated, but that streak ended in their first match on Saturday.

Beginning the day against No. 14 TCNJ, Williams ranked 18^th knew they were in for a tough battle. Unfortunately Williams ultimately lost to TCNJ 24-17, but were not disheartened.

Despite the tough loss to TCNJ the Ephs recovered, and fought back to beat No. 22 York College (PA) in the third place match, 23-22. Williams ended the weekend finishing third in the 16-team field.

Eph head coach Scott Honecker commented, "Man these guys can step it up. I rolled into today with pretty low expectations as far as team results were concerned. We're battling some minor injuries and aren't anywhere near where we can be from a lineup standpoint. My goal was to make it to the championship bracket to see the best competition we could, and we accomplished that goal on Day 1." 

"Taking TCNJ to the limit and then beating York seemed like an unreasonable result to expect," continued Honecker. "Thankfully, this is a special group that believes in one another. We tested TCNJ every match in the semi-final and then had a thrilling victory over York to lock up a finish on the podium."

At 125 sophomore Matt Morris had an impressive weekend. He went 5-0, which included a pin against his opponent from TCNJ. Honecker made it clear that he believed, "Morris doesn't always get the attention he deserves because of his quiet consistency, but make no mistake he is one of the top lightweights in the country." With his performance this weekend Morris puts himself in good position for the rest of the season, determined to prove himself as an important asset to the Williams College team.

Another Eph wrestler who stood out today was sophomore Jake Savoca who had a big day with two impressive wins. "He is an emotional wrestler, which makes him fun to coach and exciting to watch," said Honecker, who was initially concerned that the loss Savoca took yesterday would spill over today. "A year ago it might have," noted Honecker. "Instead Jake showed great maturity and wrestled outstanding. He controlled the pace of both his matches to come out of Day 2, 2-0.

As a whole the captains of Williams continued to demonstrate their character as leaders. Senior Jorge Lopez delivered the win in his first match controlling his opponent and picking up bonus points for the team. Fellow captains senior Tim Garripoli, junior Chris Chorzepa, and senior Anthony Brooks delivered in the second match as Lopez was replaced in the lineup by freshman Alex Pankhurst.

At the start of the 184 match Williams was down 17-11. Chris Chorzepa took his opponent down repeatedly before sinking a bar and half to pin his opponent, tying the score at 17. Feeding off this big win captain Anthony Brooks rolled into his match at 197 and hit his opponent with a feet to back takedown almost immediately to win by a fall in just 15 seconds. When asked for his reaction to his captains' efforts, Honecker simply said, "Prime time players make prime time plays." Brooks' win clinched the victory for Williams, with the final score of the match coming out 23-22 in favor of the Ephs.

Looking ahead Honecker stated, "I'm really excited to get back into an instructional phase with these guys. They're a very good team that can get much better. We will peak again for the NEWA duals in two weeks, but we really need to focus on improving our skills and correcting some small errors in the next few weeks."

Junior Chris Chorzepa was named to the All-Tournament Team at 184.

The Ephs will return to action on January 17 when they travel to Plymouth, NH to compete in the one-day Plymouth State Open.