Unsung Heroes and Grace Hall Magic
By Austin Sommer, EIWA Sports Information Director
With Cornell and the Ivy League schools leaving the EIWA after the season, the final in-conference EIWA match-up between Lehigh and Cornell was worth the price of admission. 28th -ranked Lehigh pulled out an upset in dramatic fashion at home once again in a thrilling 17-16 victory. Lehigh has beaten the higher-ranked Big Red squad the last three outings in Bethlehem, and four of the last five meetings dating back to 2019.
What gives Lehigh the extra boost at home, especially against Cornell – where they seem to wrestle above their standard. There's no doubt the "Snake Pit" gives the Mountain Hawks a special advantage. I asked Coach Pat Santoro about the legendary venue. 'Well, the crowd is literally on top of you. The metal rafters, and the shape of the place makes it a special place." He continued, "There is no bad seat in the house, which makes it a great venue for wrestling. It always has been." Growing up in the Lehigh Valley, coach recalls going to matches and loving the environment. It only holds approximately 2,000 people – which is not very many. The venue used to hold more, but recent renovations in the past two decades took away some seats to help modernize it.
This weekend's dual started at 133lbs, which was the decision by Lehigh after winning the coin flip at weigh-ins. Of course, there is no better weight class to start at if you are the Mountain Hawks. Coach Santoro and the staff discussed a few different options of where to start, if given the chance. "We knew Vito (Arujau) was not wrestling, so 133 made sense to give Ryan a chance to start the dual with momentum. It was thrown around that maybe we'd start at 197 to let Beard get things going. I need to give credit to Coach Rey for the 133lbs idea. It made too much sense."
Top-ranked Ryan Crookham got the crowd into it with a second period technical fall using a takedown clinic. The match everyone across the nation wanted to see did not happen, as Vito Arujau is nursing an injury, so Crookham did what he had to. Crookham and Vito will square off at EIWAs in March.
The first toss-up match of the night was at 141lbs, when #16 Malyke Hines of Lehigh took a loss to #17 Vince Cornella. These two are now 1-1 head-to-head in their careers. Much of the Lehigh faithful believed Lehigh needed to win this one in order to win the dual, as Cornell was just getting to the heart of their line-up. At 149lbs, Cornell's 25th ranked Ethan Fernandes kept the crowd at bay with a win for the Big Red. Lehigh's Kelvin Griffin chose top in the third and ended the match with a ride-out, showing promise in the top position. Coach Santoro agreed about needing 141lbs to go their way, "That was key. Losing that one forced others to step up bigtime. I thought we had a slim chance at 149." The next bout was an example of someone stepping up – well almost.
In another ranked match-up at 157lbs, Cornell's Meyer Shapiro (#14) defeated #24 Max Brignola. Brignola was in on the leg late for what would have been the winning takedown, but Shapiro managed to scramble out and earn the takedown of his own in an exciting match. Coach Santoro had fantastic things to say about Max, stating he may be "the best 24th ranked wrestler in the country". The next bout was all Cornell as 3rd ranked Julian Ramirez secured a vital bonus point win via major decision over Jake Logan of Lehigh. This made the team score 13-5 in favor of Cornell after a 5-0 Lehigh lead to start it off. At this point, the crowd was not much of a factor. They knew the odds were against them at this point – unless someone stepped up.
The 174lbs match was the spark that Lehigh and its crowd needed to get back into the match. Local product, Conner Herceg came out with a win 10-4 over Cornell's Benny Baker, making the team score 13-8 in favor of Cornell. Herceg was definitely an "unsung hero" as he's typically at 165lbs, but was thrown in at 174lbs – where Lehigh is still looking for a permanent starter at the weight. "Connor Herceg is 'team first kind of guy'" Santoro explained. "Being a Nazareth guy, that's obvious. The culture there is team-oriented." If you follow wrestling, you know how special a team like Nazareth is. They are one of the top teams in the state every year located in the hotbed of District 11.
Possibly, the most important performance of the day for Lehigh came in a match they did not win. In fact, Lehigh was about to give up a tech fall for five team points for Cornell. The Big Red's returning All-American, and 8th ranked, Chris Foca was in dominating control over Lehigh's Jack Wilt during the first two periods. There was a potential pin by Foca in the first period, but credit to Wilt for fighting off his back. The third period was all Wilt, using a couple takedowns to decrease an eleven-point deficit down to seven – keeping his loss to a regular decision. This all-important two-point swing was the difference in the overall dual meet. If Wilt does not finish the match the way he did, Cornell wins the dual – plain and simple. With Foca's decision, Cornell's lead was 16-8 with three bouts to go. Lehigh needed to win the final three bouts to come away with the victory.
Santoro was spot on when he said "Looking at the boxscore, Wilt does not get credit for his contribution." The Lehigh faithful knew how important Wilt's third period was – potentially changing the outcome entirely. That turned out to be the case. Santoto continued, "He really jumpstarted the momentum for the last three bouts. We all felt the tides turning. It was an example of a total team effort. Before the match, I told the team someone could be a hero today." Sometimes, heroes are the ones we least expect. The crowd was really getting into again once they gave Wilt a standing ovation for his efforts. They had a good feeling about the next three bouts.
The final three bouts were considered toss-ups, in most people's opinion. Lehigh's Michael Beard came into the weekend ranked 9th, while Cornell's Jacob Cardenas was 7th. They split their previous two match-ups last season, but Cardenas won the final meeting in the EIWA finals before earning All-American honors at NCAAs. Beard fell one match short of the podium at NCAAs. Beard gave up the first takedown, but then rolled to a 10-3 decision with ten unanswered points. The crowd was thriving, as they understood the circumstances. They needed to win the next two in order to win the match.
First, we need to discuss the weekend Beard had. He defeated All-American Lou DePrez of Binghamton the night before. His win over Cardenas (who won a world bronze medal this summer in the U23 age group) shows how much Beard has jumped levels. Coach kept repeating that Michael has done a better job of "being present in the moment." He further elaborated, "I'd say 95% of the time when a wrestler gets tired in a match, it's either a bad weight cut or something with nerves or anxiety." Coach Santoro gave much credit to Zach Rey and LVWC athlete, Jordan Wood, on working with Beard this season - as he is much improved in the mental aspect.
It didn't take long at heavyweight for Lehigh's Nathan Taylor to get on the score board as the 10th ranked wrestler put Cornell's Lewis Fernandes (#19) on his back for six points in the first period. This helped him cruise to a 6-2 win. His win brought the Mountain Hawks within striking distance, trailing by two points with one bout to go. The lead for Cornell was 16-14.
The entire arena had a sense of what was coming, and they were confident in the true freshman Lehigh was about to send out. Luke Stanich, from Roxbury, NJ, who was recently crowned champion at the Midlands during the Christmas break. His opponent, Brett Ungar, was a Bethlehem product in high school, who finished in the top 12 at NCAAs last season. His current ranking is 14th this season. Stanich came out of the tunnel calm and collected but seemed to have as much confidence in himself as the crowd had in him. A gigantic individual match-up for the true freshman, with a huge upset on the line for his team, in front of the home crowd – he didn't seem phased at all. Interestingly, Stanich defeated Ungar at his own game using a riding time point, a stall point, and an escape point to win the dual 3-0.
The story on Stanich is an interesting one. He is still able to redshirt this season. With the new NCAA rule, true freshmen can have five dates to wrestle for the team and still maintain their redshirt status. With four dates used up now, he seems to be an All-American contender already. Typically, a redshirt season is utilized to help a wrestler prepare for the college level. But, Stanich has shown he is ready, solely on his track record this year. His 10-1 record includes a win over Eric Barnett of Wisconsin, who is a two-time All-American. So why the hesitation on assuming Stanich will man the spot moving forward?
Coach Santoro and staff do not publicize their future plans often, but when it comes to Luke Stanich – so many people want to know, including me. "He's been great all year. We're really excited about where he's at right now." Santoro's next statement was a heck of a compliment. He claims "He (Stanich) is one of the mentally toughest kids I've ever coached." That's quite a statement coming the head coach of Lehigh, whose tradition in the sport of wrestling is top notch in all of NCAA wrestling. This mental toughness was evident when Stanich entered the mat. "He seemed like a vet out there. Many times, freshmen get caught up in the moment and exhaust themselves early on."
Stanich has one more date left and still be able to redshirt. Lehigh is confident in both Stanich and Seymour. Expect to see both of them in the future. Once we see Stanich wrestle two more times, the redshirt will "come off." All Lehigh fans should be monitoring results closely to see if, or when, that redshirt gets removed from his name. For the record, Lehigh's terminology for redshirt is "deferring eligibility." So, when fans see that term used, just know there is no difference between them.
With Stanich in the line-up, Lehigh may have the best one-two punch in the nation with him and Crookham. With both being freshman, the future is bright in Bethlehem for the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh. Plus, the addition of some high-quality recruits will only improve this team over the next couple of years. Having an experienced veteran like Michael Beard in the line-up, who has another year remaining, can help excel this team into the top 10 very quickly. The line-up Lehigh used to defeat #8 Cornell this weekend has no seniors and will return all ten starters next season. Another promising sign that this team is still molding into its final form.
This was Lehigh's second win of the season. Before this weekend, they were 0-3 with losses to #17 Pitt, #1 Penn State, and #7 Oklahoma State. Discussing this weekend's wins over Binghamton and Cornell, Santoro mentioned being "relatively healthy" compared to the first semester. "We know we are a better tournament team, but this weekend we proved we can be a good dual meet team." He was impressed with how the team performed in both dual meets after back-to-back weigh-ins. "We knew we couldn't overlook Binghamton. We all talked about Binghamton AND Cornell last week," Santoro stated. The Binghamton bout could have easily been a trap loss for them if the sole focus was on Cornell. Regarding Binghamton, Santoro explained, "I love what they are doing up there, they have a very solid program no one should overlook."
The future of the EIWA still has some questions when it comes to scheduling. Will Lehigh keep Cornell on their schedule? As a fan, yes please! Santoro agreed, "We would like to keep wrestling Cornell in the future. Maybe two Ivy League schools every year." The amount of respect coach had for the Cornell program was evident – "Heck, they won a trophy last year at NCAAs!" The Lehigh-Cornell rivalry has proven to be a great one over the last two decades or so. Every match is close, and some are down to the wire like we just witnessed. Continuing this rivalry into the future will not only keep the tradition alive, but nearly guarantee a high-quality dual every time they toe the line.