Wrestling team wins thriller against Heidelberg, 20-19

In a battle of two nationally-ranked teams, the #16 Olivet College wrestling team defeated #18 Heidelberg College, 20-19, tonight at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet. The outcome was not decided until the final match when junior Nick Leon (Sterling Heights/Henry Ford II) got a takedown with 8.7 seconds left in overtime.

Using a random draw, the night's match began at 157 pounds where senior Jason Brew (Sparta), beat Zach Mizer, 8-1. The Student Princes grabbed a 6-3 lead in the team score when Matt Curley recorded a pin in the closing seconds of the first period.

At 174 pounds, senior Kyle Vanderhyde (Sparta) led 10-3 after one period, 17-5 after two period and used the riding time point at the end of the match to win by technical fall, 22-7. Heidelberg grabbed the lead back at 9-8 with a 4-1 win at 184 pounds.

At 197 pounds, junior Joe Yurisich (Battle Creek/Harper Creek) pinned Brad Rice with 23 seconds remaining in the second period and Olivet took a 14-9 lead in the team score. The Student Princes came back to take a 19-14 lead with a three straight wins at 285 pounds (3-0), 125 pounds (14-5) and 133 pounds (6-5).

Sophomore Vince Tucker (Clio) posted an 8-6 victory at 141 pounds. He never trailed in the match, but used a two-point near fall in the third period to seal the win.

The result of the night's match came down to 149 pounds between Leon and Heidelberg's Josh Levy. Levy took a 2-0 lead but Leon was able to escape to trail only 2-1 after one period. Leon went down to start the second period and escaped to tie the match at 2-2. A takedown for Levy later in the second period made the score 4-2. Leon got a reversal to tie the match at 4-4 after two periods. There was no scoring in the third period. In the overtime period, the two wrestlers battled before Leon recorded the takedown to win the match and also give the Comets the victory.

The Comets return to action Saturday when they host seven other schools for the annual Comet Duals. Action from inside The Cutler Event Center begins at 8:30 a.m. Olivet's first match is against Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) College.