Rutgers' Brandon Paetzell seconds before getting caught in a cement mixer by Lehigh's Darian Cruz.
Heartbreak at Leeman Turner for Rutgers Scarlet Knights Wrestling Team
Bethlehem, Pa Staff Writer,
When twelfth ranked Rutgers made the trip west on interstate 78 to Lehigh University for its’ National Coaches Wrestling Association Championship match Friday night they probably felt quite confident of upending the host Mountainhawks. After all, the Knights had turned the trick last year in handing the Hawks a close setback inside the friendly confine of the RAC, Rutgers’ all everything arena. You can also bet that the swath of Scarlet Knight wrestling fans who also made the trip west on route 78 and venturing into South Bethlehem probably felt the same exact way. But Lehigh is never an easy out come post season time, and Leeman –Turner (otherwise known as Grace Hall)is never an easy place to win in, just ask the scarlet and white throng of fans who witnessed firsthand the dismantling of the nation’s twelfth ranked team against a Lehigh squad that came to wrastle, not wrestle. In winning seven of the ten bouts, including five of the first six, tossups included, the Hawks left no doubt as to the who the number three team is in Eastern wrestling barring Penn state and Cornell. In a match that included nationally ranked wrestlers on both sides of the mat there’s just one of them that stood out the most and that was at 157 pounds. Here unranked Drew Longo, a second stringer if any status could applied here because the of Mountainhawks depth, was inserted into the lineup against Rutgers John Van Brill, the nation’s seventeenth ranked wrestler.
Fighting with every ounce of energy remaining in his body Longo reversed Van Brill just seconds inside regulation and held on for the victory. Always wrestling to a sold out venue at Grace, Longo used the energy from the crowd to reward them with what they have become accustomed to, a never say die effort and a stellar performance in preventing Van Brill from escaping at the buzzer and forcing overtime. So close was the call that officials had to use the replay to review whether or not Van Brill had made it, and awarded Longo the win once the replay conclusively showed Longo the winner giving Lehigh a comfortable lead 13 – 3 with five bouts remaining. One of the evenings most exciting bouts came right at the onset of the match between light weights Darian Cruz a two time Pennsylvania High School State Champion from Lehigh, and true freshman Brandon Paetzell, Rutger’s 125 pound star formerly out of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Cruz tagged a major decision on Paetzell winning by a score of 18 – 4 but not before Paetzell showed what he was made of by getting caught in the vaunted Lehigh Valley favorite, “cement mixer” and fought his way off his back to avoid getting pinned. Being from Phillipsburg, which is just across the river from Pennsylvania, and its’ feared legend of “cement mixers, concrete specials and cement jobs”, only a true native of the area would know how to survive getting caught in one. Paetzell did.
But if you want a little bit more perspective just ask Lehigh’s 2012 National Champion Rob Rohn’s opponent, Oklahoma’s Josh Lambrecht. Lambrecht one of the country’s most feared wrestler at the time had bloodied and beaten Rohn up pretty good throughout their bout in a live televised national championship final. Lambrecht, winning by a score of 14-3 at the time seemed destined to be crowned a national champion up until the second he got caught in a cement job that Rohns’ uncle, living legend Don Rohn from Northampton Pennsylvania invented. It took less than four seconds for Rohn to have his hand raised after catching Lambrecht thus stunning millions of viewers and the entire wrestling world. I watched the bout and I don’t believe Lambrecht even had enough time to react to what had actually happened to him. So how tough is Paetzell? He was almost flat on his back…against the nation’s number five ranked wrestler, and a former two time Big School champion from Pennsylvania. I would say pretty damned tough. Wouldn’t you?
Here’s what the rest of it looked like;
125: Darian Cruz (L) major dec. Brandon Paetzell 18-4.
133: Scott Parker (L) dec. Scott DelVecchio 3-2.
141: Anthony Ashnault (R) dec. Randy Cruz 4-0.
149: Laike Gardner (L) dec. Ken Theobold 7-3.
157: Drew Longo (L) dec. John Van Brill 2-1.
165: Mitch Minotti (L) major dec. Willie Scott 13-5.
174: Jordan Pagano (R) dec. Ryan Preisch 10-4.
184: Andrew Price (L) dec. Phillip Bakuckas 2-1 (OT rideout).
197: Nicholas Gravina (R) major dec. Thomas Murray 11-2.
285: Doug Vollaro (L) dec. Razohnn Gross 3-1 (OT).
