PHILADELPHIA - The Rider Wrestling Team battled throughout and Ryan Cloud's (Brookville, OH/Northmont) victory in the final match of the night clinched a 19-15 victory over the University of Pennsylvania Friday night. The Broncs were victorious in six of the 10 matches wrestled.

The dual started off strong for the Rider Wrestlers, with J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, VA/Christiansburg) winning by 13-5 major decision. After a loss at 133 pounds, Tyson Dippery (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) defeated Marc Mastropietro by the score of 9-4. B.J. Clagon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River HS South), Chad Walsh (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic), and Dean Sherry (Brick, NJ/Brick Township) each won by decision to pull the Broncs out to a 16-9 lead.

The Broncs would then suffer losses at 184 and 197 pounds, leading to a winner-take-all matchup at 285 with the score at 16-15 in favor of Rider. Cloud would bring home the team and individual victory, defeating Patrick Garren by a score of 10-4 for a final match score of 19-15 in favor of Rider.

Quotes & Notes

"Our team effort was good tonight. Anytime you're without one of your starters, it always adds pressure to the rest of the team."

"We are also still trying to finalize our lineup moving forward, which is why we wrestled a different lineup again tonight." - Rider Head Coach John Hangey

- This was the second-straight year the Broncs defeated Quakers.

- The Broncs now begin a prolonged break with their next competition coming at the South Beach Duals on December 29th and 30th.

- Ethan Laird's (Waterford, PA/General McLane) hard-fought 4-2 loss was at the hands of the 12th-ranked 197 pound wrestler in the nation, Frank Mattiace.

- Clagon's decision over Velliquette avenged one of two blemishes on the redshirt senior's record this season. Clagon had to take an injury default against Velliquette in the Keystone Classic less than two weeks ago.

Results

125: J.R. Wert (RIDER) over Daniel Planta (PENN) (MD 13-5)

133: Giovanni Ghione (PENN) over Jonathon Tropea (RIDER) (Fall 0:34)

141: Tyson Dippery (RIDER) over Marc Mastropietro (PENN) (Dec 9-4)

149: Joe Oliva (PENN) over Gary Dinmore (RIDER) (Dec 6-3)

157: B.J. Clagon (RIDER) over Joseph Velliquette (PENN) (Dec 5-2)

165: Chad Walsh (RIDER) over May Bethea (PENN) (Dec 6-2)

174: Dean Sherry (RIDER) over Khamari Whimper (PENN) (Dec 12-8)

184: Joe Heyob (PENN) over Michale Fagg-Daves (RIDER) (Dec 7-3)

197: Frank Mattiace (PENN) over Ethan Laird (RIDER) (Dec 4-2)

285: Ryan Cloud (RIDER) over Patrik Garren (PENN) (Dec 10-4)