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Shippensburg 36, Greencastle 30
Of note: Alex Ruquet scored a takedown in overtime to edge G-A's Chris Kinsey at 145 pounds, 3-1, giving Ship the victory ... Had Kinsey won, the match would have been tied 33-33 and the Blue Devils would have won on criteria.
Records: The Greyhounds (5-4, 2-2 MPC) host Milton Hershey on Thursday, 7:30 ... Greencastle (2-4, 2-3 MPC) hosts Susquenita on Tuesday, 7:30.
By ED GOTWALS
Sports editor
GREENCASTLE -- Greencastle-Antrim's wrestling team got the matchups it wanted, kept the lead for much of the match and held the ace card, had it ended up tied.
But all that unraveled when Shippensburg's Alex Ruquet pulled out a thrilling 3-1 victory in overtime of the night's final bout to give the Greyhounds a 36-30 Mid Penn Capital Division win Tuesday.
"This match had a little bit of everything," Ship coach Mel Gray Jr. said. "There were some really good matches that were very entertaining. We just won the two that mattered most."
After the Blue Devils elected to forfeit at 125 and 130, the Hounds led 30-27, setting up a battle to the finish in the final three bouts.
At 135, G-A's Bobby McPherson hit a headlock at the buzzer to lead 2-0 after one period over Kaleb Shields. A reversal by Shields left it 2-2 after two. In the third, Shields rode McPherson and nearly turned him several times, but regulation ended in a 2-2 tie.
Just before the buzzer, McPherson had stood and broken free, but Shields
"I was a little worried at first, because I thought he was pretty good," Shields said, "but I felt him gassing a little. I knew I couldn't tie up because he was stronger. I had to hang back a little to stay away from the headlock."
On their feet for overtime, Shields hit a high crotch single shot, then switched to a double when McPherson countered, and he was able to bring McPherson to the mat for a 4-2 win.
G-A coach Fred Yelton said, "That was a real good match. Bobby came within a couple of inches of getting that escape at the end and he was close to a takedown in overtime, too."
At 140, the Blue Devils' Tanner Maloy turned three takedowns into an 8-4 win over Grant Speer to bring his team to within 33-30.
At that point, a decision for G-A in the final bout would have tied the score 33-33 and the Devils would have been given a point for having won eight bouts to six for Shippensburg.
So it was left to Ruquet versus Greencastle's Chris Kinsey.
"I knew I had to win or Greencastle would win," Ruquet said. "That just gave me more desire."
After a scoreless first period, Ruquet escaped in the second for a 1-0 lead. Kinsey took just seven seconds to tie it up in the third. In the final 20 seconds of regulation, each wrestler got close to scoring a winning takedown but failed to connect.
In OT, Ruquet quickly went for a headlock. Kinsey countered, but Ruquet dropped down and brought Kinsey to the mat for a takedown, a 3-1 win and the match.
Gray said, "We're pretty young, but we had some young kids step up and deliver tonight."
Shields is a freshman, Ruquet a sophomore and the other huge win came at 215 when Ship freshman Cary Hess rallied from a 5-2 deficit to pin Dustin Maynard in 3:30.
Although the Blue Devils lost the match, Yelton wasn't unhappy with their effort.
"From our match last Thursday, through the tournament over the weekend and tonight, we couldn't have wrestled much better," Yelton said. "We got the matchups and we had our chances."
Gray said, "I thought Greencastle was brilliant. They wrestled smart and hit some good moves."
Notes: Consecutive pins by Tyler Ezolt (160), Dylan Schaeffer (171) and Todd DeWalt (189) gave G-A an 18-6 lead early and a hard-fought 3-1 win by Denton Ensminger over Tyler Fairchild at 285 made it 21-12 ... Other Greencastle winners were Rusty Pine (112) and Jake Heure (119) ... For Ship, Taran Hockenberry (152) notched a pin.
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Ed Gotwals may be reached at 262-4755 and egotwals@publicopinionnews.com.
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Shippensburg 36
Greencastle-Antrim 30
152 -- Taran Hockenberry (S) p Brennen Bickford, 3:27
160 -- Tyler Ezolt (GA) p Preston Thomas, 0:57
171 -- Dylan Schaeffer (GA) p Jeremy Smith, 1:14
189 -- Todd DeWalt (GA) p Trevor Shauf, 1:37
215 -- Cary Hess (S) p Dustin Maynard, 3:30
285 -- Denton Ensminger (GA) d Tyler Fairchild, 3-1
103 -- Jared Furry (S) won by forfeit
112 -- Rusty Pine (GA) d Devon Bentley, 5-2
119 -- Jake Heure (GA) d Nathan Coldsmith, 9-3
125 -- Ben McCurdy (S) won by forfeit
130 -- Hunter Kyner (S) won by forfeit
135 -- Kaleb Shields (S) d Bobby McPherson, 4-2 OT
140 -- Tanner Maloy (GA) d Grant Speer, 8-4
145 -- Alex Ruquet (S) d Chris Kinsey, 3-1 OT
Jr. high: Shippensburg 48, Greencastle 41.
