For the AU wrestling team, Sunday’s dual matches against Virginia Military Institute and Harvard were all about redemption.
The Eagles rallied Jan. 11 to earn back-to-back victories against the Keydets and the Crimson with scores of 31-13 and 22-19, respectively after losing to University of Oklahoma on Jan. 8.
“Ultimately, these guys came out wanting to get these wins,” Moore said. “We were really upset with how OU went as a team, and they took that to heart and came out and they changed that today. I’m very happy.”
No. 18 ranked David Terao Jr. started the afternoon strong for the Eagles in his first match, earning a technical fall with a 16-1 win over VMI sophomore Dalton Henderson. Freshman Josh Terao followed his brother’s success with a technical fall of his own in the 133-pound weight class, taking down VMI freshman Hunter Starner 16-0. Sophomore Tom Page and junior captain John Boyle also pinned their opponents in the 149- and 157-pound weight class respectively.
The Eagles built off their momentum against the Keydets and progressed through their second match against Harvard with early wins.
The Crimson sacrificed an early six points when they declared a forfeit in the 125-pound weight class, and Josh Terao expanded AU’s lead with a 10-1 win over Harvard senior Ryan Osleeb.
“In the Harvard match again we came out with the same fight and vigor, but unfortunately, in some of our later matches, we started trying to hold on, and we got through it, but we need to learn from that, and I think we will.”
Page earned his second win of the day when he took down Harvard junior Patrick Hogan in 6-0 fashion. He initiated attacks and wrestled aggressively en route to his victory, and Moore praised Page’s ability to recover from his loss against University of Oklahoma on Jan. 8.
“Tom’s young, but we just haven’t had the consistency when he stepped on the mat, and today he rocked that in both his matches,” Moore said. “So he fought the little positions and that’s really what we’ve been focusing on. If Tom was in a bad place in the past, he wasn’t going to fight out of it, and today he fought through it.”
Boyle also brought the Eagles a win after pinning his opponent in 10 seconds.
“John Boyle, he’s our captain, he’s our leader and they guys look to him, and he brought a fire out,” Moore said. “He was really upset with the OU match…and really he didn’t wrestle to his potential, and that really lit a fire in him.”
Boyle, who was named Ameritel Corporation Wrestler of the Match, took a more offensive approach in his matches against VMI and Harvard than he did on Thursday night versus Oklahoma, and his aggressive tactics helped guide him to victory.
“From Thursday, during that match, I wasn’t very offensive, so Teague, Kyle and Coach Perry focused on just get to my shots and take an offensive position the whole time,” Boyle said. “The past couple days we’ve just been working on firing off shots.”
Harvard earned wins in the 165-pound weight class and the 174-pound weight class, but AU sophomore Jason Grimes ended the Crimson streak by defeating junior Michael Mocco in a tightly-fought 6-5 battle.
The Eagles lost the final two matches of the night, as No.11 senior James Fox and senior David Ng claimed victory in the 197 and heavyweight divisions.
AU returns to the mat on Jan. 16 when they battle Navy in Annapolis, Maryland at 7:00 p.m.
“We’ve got navy on the road, and [they’re] always going to bring a tough squad, and then Sunday were coming back in our gym, so we just take this one match at a time and one athlete at a time, and we’ve got some great things that we can work on from this weekend and today’s matches so we’re back to work tomorrow,” Moore said.
