College Wrestling
Purdue University 24, Rider University 18
LAWRENCEVILLE?Two years is a long time. Due to a Colonial Athletic Association rule, that is how long Ed Bordas had to sit out when he transferred from Binghamton University to Rider. The long wait is over, and everyone is happy about that. “Now that I'm back, the two-year wait was worth it,” said heavyweight Ed Bordas (Montgomery, N.Y./Valley Central), “but to be honest I was doubting myself at times.”
On Friday Bordas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period and won 7-1 in Rider's loss to Purdue. “I got a little winded in the third period because I'm not in compete match shape yet,” Bordas said. “No matter how much you practice it is different in a match. It feels good to get my first win here. I didn't want to disappoint the fans.”
“It's nice to have him in the line-up,” said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. “Ed is very competitive, he doesn't like to lose, and he's a heavyweight who is tough on top. Any heavyweight who is tough on top usually does well. It has been a while since we've had a heavyweight who could consistently win the conference title, and I think Ed could do that.”
Bordas was 6-3 as a freshman in his first semester at Binghamton before leaving school and coming to Rider. “Waiting two years, it was pretty tough,” Bordas said. “I got pretty aggravated with it last year, feeling like I wasn't contributing, and my grades started to dip. This year I've got my grades back up about 3.5 and now I feel pretty good.”
After his two year hiatus, he wore the Rider singlet for the first time last week at the prestigious Midlands tournament and won two of four bouts. His first match was against the eighth seed, former collegiate star Nik Fekete of the Hawk Wrestling Club.
“The first match I got beat up pretty good (17-4),” Bordas remembers. “He was about 27 years old, on the Olympic circuit. He was way more ready than I was for my first match coming back. I was nervous and he took it to me.” After that Bordas defeated Mike Sprigg of Army 7-4 and defeated Dustin Bauman of Northern Iowa 2-0 in the consolations before losing to Dave Benner of Northern Illinois 5-2. “Beating the Army kid felt good and the Northern Iowa kid was pretty tough,” Bordas said. “In the fourth match of the day I felt I could have beaten the Illinois wrestler.” “Not bad for his first time out,” Taylor said. “He's been out for two years and the people he lost to are pretty good.”
Bordas is already the top ranked heavyweight in the CAA. “The top seed surprised me a little bit,” Bordas said. “There are some good heavyweights in the CAA. But that is my goal this year, to win the weight class at the CAA championships and win a match or two at Nationals. I beat the eventual CAA Champ from Drexel and the Hofstra kid when I was at Binghamton, so I guess that carried some weight. I'm a lot bigger now and better on my feat. I was smaller and quicker back then.”
Another transfer, junior 165 Jason Lapham (West Chazy, N.Y./Beekmantown), won in his Alumni Gymnasium debut. A transfer from Penn State, Lapham won by fall. “It is nice to have Jason and Ed in the line up,” Taylor said.
However, with three starters out of the line up due to injuries, the Broncs lost to Purdue Friday. “I knew it was going to be tough with 125, 133 and 184 out, particularly 184,” Taylor said. “Their 184 is real tough and Doug (nationally ranked junior Doug Umbehauer of Shamong, N.J. who was sidelined with a concussion) had already beaten him this year. To beat good teams you have to be able to beat some of their best people.”
Rider senior T.J. Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) also won by fall, and sophomore Fred Rodgers (Perkiomenville, Pa./Boyertown) won at 141 to get Rider on the board. “Freddie is a real competitive kid,” Taylor said. “Being a Pennsylvania State runner-up in high school, he is used to being competitive and fighting hard. He's just going to keep getting better.”
Last week Rider placed a best-ever 12th of 50 teams at the Midlands tournament, where Purdue (3-2) placed eighth.
Rider travels to Boyertown (PA) High School January 8 to take on Bloomsburg.
125 Akif Eren-P dec. Ilyass Elmsaouri ?R 6-2 3-0
133 Sean Schmaltz-P major dec. Dustin Renelt-R 10-2 7-0
141 Fred Rodgers-R dec. Matt Redmond-P 9-2 7-3
149 Jake Patacsil-P tech fall Don Fisch-R 18-2 12-3
157 Sam Patacsil-P dec. Rob Morrison-R 6-2 15-3
165 Jason Lapham-R wbf Luke Manuel-P 5:29 15-9
174 Nick Corpe-P dec. Mike Miller-R 8-3 18-9
184 A.J. Kissel-P wbf Mike Darling-R 2:05 24-9
197 T. J. Morrison-R wbf Logan Brown-P 6:04 24-15
285 Ed Bordas-R dec. Chris Kasten-P 7-1 24-18
-RU-
