Home Cooking Sparks Grapplers on Weekend Set

For the first time this season, the Crimson wrestlers (4-10, 1-2 Ivy) competed at home. In front of supportive and enthusiastic Harvard fans, the squad took on tough opponents in American International College, Brown and Wagner.

On Friday night, Harvard recorded a decisive victory over AIC, winning eight of nine matches and outscoring the Yellow Jackets, 34-3. The following afternoon, Harvard wrestled well against Brown, winning five of eight matches. But despite strong performances the Crimson fell to the Bears 25-16, largely due to two forfeits. Only a few hours after wrestling Brown on Saturday afternoon, the Harvard wrestlers rallied against Wagner, defeating the Seahawks, 33-10, and winning six of nine matches contested.

Harvard coach Jay Weiss said that the weekend had ups and downs for the team. “I thought we did okay,” said Weiss after the final match on Saturday.

“We have been in our heavy training part of the season with tough practices the past week.”

The Crimson have also suffered from critical absences, with heavyweight wrestlers Spencer DeSena and Andrew Knapp missing with staff infections, as well as Corey Jantzen (141 lbs.), who remains out with an injury.

Harvard knew going into this weekend that individuals would have to step up and have stellar performances in order to compensate for the absence of these grapplers. As they have all season, Harvard’s junior co-captains No. 10 Louis Caputo (184) and No. 3 J.P. O’Connor (157) led the Crimson on the mat, with undefeated weekends.

“I can’t say enough about [the captains],” Weiss said. “I think they are the best in the country in their weights.”

HARVARD 33, WAGNER 10

Harvard hosted Wagner at the Malkin Athletic Center on Saturday evening to complete its three-match weekend. Both teams forfeited the 125 weight class, and Wagner jumped to a 7-0 lead with wins at 133 and 141.

The Crimson responded by taking five of the next six matches, with the most impressive performance coming from freshman Walter Peppelman (149), who pinned his opponent in only 9 seconds. O’Connor (24-2) followed suit, pinning his opposition in 55 seconds, Harvard extended its lead to 18-9 when Andy Olsen (174) earned a pin of his own in 2:40.

Caputo (24-4) and rookie Sean Murphy (3-13) both wrestled up a weight class and still managed to close the door on the Seahawks. Caputo wrestled at 197 lbs. and pinned his opponent in 41 seconds, while Murphy won by fall in 1:20.

BROWN 25, HARVARD 19

In the Saturday afternoon session, the Crimson gave the Bears a 12-point advantage by forfeiting two matches at 125 and 285 pounds. Although Harvard claimed the majority of bouts, the early deficit proved insurmountable.

“I think we outwrestled them,” O’Connor said. “We went out there and fought and I think it was pretty obvious that we were the better team. If circumstances [were changed], the match would have turned out differently.”

O’Connor, Caputo, and Peppelman (12-7) led the charge with two major decisions and a technical fall, giving the Crimson 13 critical points. Olsen fought through a tough bout to earn a 5-2 decision, and senior Tommy Picarsic (133) extended his winning streak to four bouts, but Harvard came up just short with losses at 141, 165, and 197.

In bouts wrestled, the Crimson held a 19-13 edge over the Bears.

HARVARD 34, AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE 3

In Friday’s contest, the Crimson dominated the Yellow Jackets (7-18), winning eight of nine matches in its return to the MAC.

Harvard has not wrestled at home in over a year, and cheers and chants from “team Louis” seemed to energize the grapplers in front of an excited home crowd.

“I love ‘team Louis,’” said Caputo in reference to the purple-clad section of fans. “I wrestle so much better when everyone comes.”

Peppelman and the co-captains began their undefeated weekend campaigns with convincing wins, while freshman Bryan Panzano (1-7) and senior Patrick Ziemnik picked up close decisions, 1-0 and 3-0 respectively.

Freshman Johnny Motley (2-8) scored his second collegiate victory in stunning fashion with a 14-4 major decision over Gonzalo Carazo, joining Picarsic (7-2) and classmate Murphy in the win column.