The Brockport Golden Eagles wrestling team hosted their first of two home meets this season. Brockport faced the Oswego State Lakers, Penn College Wolverines and the Niagra Community College Thunder Wolves.
The first match for the Golden Eagles was against the Thunder Wolves. Brockport earned two forfeit victories putting them ahead early. The Thunder Wolves managed to close the distance with a pinfall victory at 157 to make the score at the halfway point 16-9. The Golden Eagles finished hard with three tech falls and a major decision to top NCCC 36 –14.
Brockport Head Coach Sam Recco wanted to see more from his squad.
“I’ll be honest—I don’t think our team wrestled at our maximum effort, at the talent that I think we have. I think the success can roll over in these next dual meets. It’s just starts by people doing their job,” Recco said.
Heading into their second meet of the day against Oswego, the morale for the Golden Eagles was sky-high. Liam Bullock recorded a first-period pinfall to open the meet strong for Brockport. The Golden Eagles then dropped four straight matches at 133, 141, 149 and 157 pounds, one technical fall and three major decisions. Max Ebanks got the Golden Eagles back in the fight with his second win of the day by pinfall. The Golden Eagles losing skid cost them greatly as Brockport would drop three more matches with their final win coming from heavyweight Nick Franco but drop the meet to Oswego 30-18.
Ebanks saw his chance during his match and pounced on the opportunity to close it.
“He took a shot on me, and I read him like a book, turned into a slide by I put both my legs in that’s my main go-to riding legs,” Ebanks said. “Then, I hit him with a bar tilt and then you’re just rolling around he’s trying to get out and I caught him on his back and pinned him.”
Entering its final meet of the day, Brockport faced off against Penn College who were 2-0 on the day. Once again to start the party early was Bullock sticking his opponent early in the first period to record his ninth pin of the season. The Golden Eagles went on to lose the next nine out of 10 matches, losing the meet 39-12.
A positive for the Golden Eagles as Bullock went 3-0 on the day. Prior to today, Bullock received honorable mentions in the top 20 poll for 125-pounders.
“Just keep climbing the rankings but at end of the day, what matters is what I do at the end of the season. I just have to keep getting better, keep improving,” Bullock said. “Put my best foot forward every single day. That’s what it takes you must be the best you can be to be on the podium at the end of the year.”
Recco was disappointed dropping back-to-back but laid out the blueprint for what his team needs to improve on.
“Very simple, more intensity, especially on our feet, get physical leg attacks and more urgency on bottom. Those are the biggest things,” Recco said.
The Golden Eagles dual meet record drops to 1-5 on the season. Next week, Brockport travels to RIT on Nov. 18 at 10 a.m.
