Grapplers Reverse Brown, 17-15

Heavyweight, Bob Panoff came through with a final-bout 9-5 decision against Brown's Don Curtin on Saturday to pul out a 17-15 victory for Harvard, its firs this season in Ivy League wrestling.

Panoff entered the match with Harvard trailing in the meet, 15-14. But the junior reversed Curtin in the second period and nailed him for a near-pin and a predicament to salt away the win for himself and the Crimson.

The final margin of victory was the result of sophomore Paul Catinella (137)'s 6:40 pin over Brown's Steve Schmidt. Harvard and Brown split the meet's 10 matches but all of Brown's victories were by points. Harvard received two extra team points for Catinella's pin.

After Harvard lost five of the first six matches, Howie Chatterton (167) led a comeback with a 4-2 win over Pete Gottert. Chatterton entered the third period trailing, 1-0, on Gottert's second-period escape, but escaped quickly himself and took down Gottert for two more points. Gottert escaped again and Chatterton got a point for riding time to make the final score.

Paul Padlak took the 177-pound match for Harvard, breaking a 3-3 third-period tie with Brown's Bob Christin with an escape, take-down, and three-point near-pin. Padlak won the match, 9-4.

At 191, sophomore Jim Abbott put Harvard in range with a 4-2, riding-time decision over Brown co-captain Mal Shookner. Abbott rode Shookner for the entire second-period to pile up his riding time. In the third period, Abbott escaped, was taken down, and escaped again to end the match in a 2-2 tie. The two points for riding time gave him the decision, and allowed Panoff to win it for Harvard.

The win left Harvard 1-4 in the Ivy League, and 2-7 overall. It faces Yale in its final meet this Saturday in the IAB.