Rutgers Drops Wrestlers, 19-17, On Forfeit of Kopecki's Match

With captain Andy Kopecki out of the lineup because of an appendectomy in the morning, Harvard's wrestling team fell to Rutgers, 19-17, Wednesday night in the IAB.

The Crimson was forced to forfeit the opening 123-pound match which Kopecki would normally have wrestled. The forfeit was especially painful because the Rutgers 123-pounder, Bob Ray, was 0-7 on the season going into this meet. A Kopecki victory would have been a sure thing and Harvard would have won the meet.

But as it was, heavyweight Bob Panoff's 3:09 pin over Rutgers' Maurice Hill could only bring the Crimson close in a losing cause. Panoff's pin was the fourth of four straight victories for the Harvard heavyweights that pulled the team back from a 19-3 deficit after the 160-pound bout.

At 167, Howie Chatterton decisioned Terry Murphy, 6-3; at 177, Paul Padlak handily beat Ken Brinzer, 8-1; and at 191, sophomore Jim Abbott defeated Jim Minno, 4-2. Paul Catinella got Harvard's only other win at 132 with a 7-2 decision over Bill Kelly.

In addition to the five team points it lost on the Kopecki forfeit, Harvard suffered through Joe Moss (130)'s pin defeat to Mike Yacco, Jeff Seder (145)'s 6-2 loss to Mike Brown, Dave Stern (152)'s 4-3 loss to Bob Sheetz on riding time, and Dick Low (160)'s 9-2 loss to George Bellino.