Red Raider Grapplers Takedown Crusaders

After wrestling ten matches in two days in Orlando the St. Francis Red Raiders wrestling team wasted no time before squaring off with the new and improved Canisius Crusaders on Wednesday night for a Msgr. Martin league showdown.

The Raiders (2-0, 18-7) spent Thursday, December 27th and Friday, December 28th at the KSA Holiday Duals in Orlando, FL going 8-2 in dual meets. Taking into consideration travel, rest, and practice to get back on weight for Wednesday’s match head coach Mike Messore had little margin for error in preparing for the dual.

“I didn’t sleep for a week” commented Coach Messore. “In Florida we were able to use the workout facilities. We had the day off on New Year’s Eve (Monday) and practiced on New Year’s Day (Tuesday) and just tried to make a plan for today.”

The Crusaders (2-1, 9-2) led by first year head coach David Wilcox are off to an excellent start and led the MMHSAA standings going into the dual. Certainly this Crusader squad is one that the Raiders couldn’t afford to take lightly.

St. Francis took an early 12-0 lead after forfeits were earned by Marko Kasiyan at 106 and Logan Lauck at 113. Canisius’s Josh Kracker won the night’s first head to head bout with a 9-5 decision good for three team points. St. Francis’s Tyler Wilkinson responded with an 8-6 overtime win to stretch the Raider lead back to twelve points, 15-3.

A Cody Franklin major decision win at 132-pounds earned Canisius four more team points but pins by Slade Merck at 138-pounds and Jack Gordon at 145 gave the Raiders another twelve to extend the lead 27-7 after seven weights.

The squads went back and forth over the next four weights as two-time CHSAA place winner Matt Baldwin earned a pin for the Crusaders at 152 only for Shane Roberts to respond with a pin for the visitors at 160. At 170-pounds two-time CHSAA placer Tom Blackwell gutted out a 3-2 decision to settle Canisius at 16 team points, but two-time CHSAA champion Dominik Thomas came right back with a pin at 182. Two-time CHSAA placer Nolan Thomas officially put the match out of reach for Canisius when he earned a first period pin to make the score 45-16 St. Francis with only three weights left.

Collin Monteleone salvaged a pin for the Crusaders at 220-pounds and Tristan Vandenberg pushed St. Francis standout Jack Lauer until Lauer earned a pin at 285 with only eight seconds left in the bout. Canisius’s Noah Rockensuess earned a forfeit at 99-pounds to conclude the evening with the final score St. Francis 51 Canisius 28.

Following the win Coach Messore was proud of his team and recognized the work that Coach Wilcox, his staff, and the Crusaders have done this season.

“Everybody is much improved…they’re young and they’ve got a lot of potential” stated Messore. “It does nothing but help the league to have good competition. We’ve [St. Francis] been driving the competition back and forth with Joe’s and another good team is just going to make everybody better.”