Brayden Zuercher was scrambling around with Easton’s Justin Cosover during Wednesday’s 189-pound bout when it looked like a stalemate was coming.
But the Nazareth senior felt a slight movement from Cosover that he was able to take advantage of. It turned into a seven-point move that busted open the matchup, and Zuercher produced a pivotal 14-1 major decision.
“I felt his positioning,” Zuercher said. “I was able to get a quick hop in me, drive over him. It was something I’ve been rolling around in the wrestling room and experimenting with it. I found out it works pretty good when they’re not expecting it.
“I decided there was no better time to try it than now. I ripped it.”
Zuercher’s major gave the Blue Eagles a seven-point advantage and provided teammate Elijah Simak with a chance to clinch the 100th meeting against the rival Red Rovers.
Simak, giving up more than 40 pounds for the second dual meet in a row to start the season, came up with his second consecutive stellar performance with a 10-3 win over Alonzo Parker at 215 to secure Nazareth’s third consecutive win in the series, 32-25, at Easton’s 25th Street Gym.
“I was super excited, me securing the team win,” Simak said. “I knew I needed to get this. My brain just flipped the switch. [Parker] was a little bigger, little taller, but it’s nothing I haven’t done in wrestling room.
“I’m not going to run away from [the pressure]. I thought I was going to wrestle Cosover. I was excited for that, but then I was wrestling 215. I did it for the team.”
Easton was the aggressor from the start, scoring the first takedown in the first eight bouts. Coach Corey Keener’s club led 22-13 after Ethan Krazer’s technical fall at 152.
But Nazareth took control when Cade Campbell locked up a fall at 160 and Dominick Tunison secured the cradle at 172. That gave the Blue Eagles the lead for good.
Zuercher and Simak followed with their victories to move Nazareth to 2-0 this season.
The Blue Eagles stayed within striking distance thanks largely to freshman Jack Dressler’s comeback, sudden-victory decision at 107 and a self pin at 127 when Juan Diaz was losing 10-1.
“I’ve seen it before,” Nazareth coach Dave Crowell said of the self pin that was called by referee Tony Phillips. “It ends up being the difference in the match.
“Arguably, who is the better team now?”
Keener was not disappointed with the effort put forth by any of his wrestlers, but concurred with Crowell about the pivotal point in the match.
“Obviously, the defensive pin, that call certainly changes it,” he said. “It goes from being a major to giving up six. That’s potentially a 10-point swing. There was another period to wrestle, so you never know what is going to happen.”
Easton nearly got points back it lost at 127 when Wyatt Snyder had Cooper Wenrich in trouble a couple times before Wenrich recovered for a 16-8 major at 145.
That came after returning state champion Nick Salamone beat Nazareth standout freshman Caleb Kosko 8-3 at 133 and Easton teammate Noah Fenner put together a 16-0 technical fall at 139.
But Nazareth’s four consecutive wins from 160 to 215 were enough to win for the 14th time in the last 16 meetings. Easton has a 60-37-3 series edge.
“Obviously, [Zuercher] is a really tough wrestler,” Crowell said. “He’s gotten really good at that. But I think back to two years ago in a big match, he would have been much more conservative. Now, he’s unfazed by any situation. He just goes out, wrestles hard, doesn’t even know who he’s wrestling. That’s what you want to do, but it’s not an easy place to get to. His maturity, being able to compete is really amazing.
“Simak, he’s a gamer. He’s amazing. I don’t know how he does it [giving up more than 40 pounds]. I’m really glad we have those two guys there in the end.”
Zuercher was named the inaugural Darwin Brodt Award winner as the match’s outstanding wrestler. Brodt was a 1974 state champion at Easton and later taught and coached at Nazareth.
Kurtis Crossman made his season debut at 285 for Easton. He missed time with a broken right hand suffered during football season, but he managed to hang on for a 2-1 decision over Nazareth’s Austin Christine.
“He’s certainly not where he usually would be, not 100%, not anywhere close it,” Keener said. “But I think it being the last time he’s wrestling Nazareth in our home gym, it was good for him. He battled some adversity, got chin whipped to his back, fly through air, bounce off, whew! He shook the rust off, got back to it.”
Nazareth 32, Easton 25
107: Jack Dressler (N) dec. Michael Rambone, 11-6 SV
114: Brayden Abrams (E) pinned Jace Nelligan, 3:07
121: Tanner Milburn (E) dec. Derek Fulmer, 9-2
127: Juan Diaz (N) pinned Jack Famularo, 3:59
133: Nick Salamone (E) dec. Caleb Kosko, 8-3
139: Noah Fenner (E) tech. fall Michael Good, 16-0, 3:06
145: Cooper Wenrich (N) maj. dec. Wyatt Snyder, 16-8
152: Ethan Krazer (E) tech. fall Chase Brown, 21-3, 5:23
160: Cade Campbell (N) pinned Logan Young, 3:35
172: Dominick Tunison (N) pinned Mike Zamora, 3:53
189: Brayden Zuercher (N) maj. dec. Justin Cosover, 14-1
215: Elijah Simak (N) dec. Alonzo Parker, 10-3
285: Kurtis Crossman (E) dec. Austin Christine, 2-1
Referee: Tony Phillips
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
