Jan. 29, 2011
Photo Gallery 
• Navy vs. Rutgers - Complete Play-By-Play
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The ninth-ranked Rutgers wrestling team won five of the first six matches to build a 17-3 lead en route to securing a 23-9 victory over Navy Saturday evening at Halsey Field House in Annapolis. While the Midshipmen dropped to 4-3 on the year in what was its final home dual of the season, the Scarlet Knights improved to a red-hot 19-1 mark.
"Overall our effort was better than last night, but we have some areas that we need to fix real quick," said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "You can see which wrestlers are engaged and who is not, which wrestlers are giving their best effort and who is not, who is focused on the mat and who is not. Bottom line is that if you have your head on the mat, you aren't going to get out of a hold and you aren't going to win. And I'm going to see to it that we are putting wrestlers on that mat that want to fight, want to scrap, want to win."
Fresh off a victory over North Carolina's Pat Owens on Friday that gave Navy the match win, it seemed only fitting that senior 133-pound Allen Stein (Portland, Maine) would get the Mids on the board first in his match against Mike DeMarco. Stein trailed DeMarco, 3-1, heading into the final period, but chipped away right after action began. His escape trimmed DeMarco's lead to 3-2 and with 41 seconds remaining, Stein scored a takedown to take a one-point advantage. DeMarco, however, knotted the match at four all with an escape with 32 seconds remaining. With time running out, Stein was awarded a takedown with just nine seconds to go to earn a 6-4 match win for the Mids.
Rutgers tied the match at 3-3 when 141-pound Trevor Melde earned a 6-1 victory over Navy junior Dustin Haislip (Inwood, W.Va.), before taking the lead for good on a major decision by fourth-ranked Mario Mason over Navy 149-pound Collin Leadbeter (Owings, Md.).
The surprise match of the night came at 157 pounds where Navy senior team captain Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) dropped his first dual match of the year. Rutgers senior Daryl Cocozzo, ranked 16th, scored the go-ahead takedown against sixth-ranked Saddoris with just a minute to go in the match. Saddoris would get free with just under 40 seconds to go to trim the lead to one, 3-2. Although Saddoris would get to Cocozzo's legs and appeared to have the takedown, he was not awarded the two points he needed and Cocozzo scored the upset victory. The loss was the first by Saddoris since the Southern Scuffle on Dec. 30.
"It's unfortunate for Bryce," said Burnett. "He was able to get to the kid's legs, but I guess he just couldn't finish it off. With the way the match went, he was forced to take a risk. He tried, but wasn't rewarded."
Rutgers extended its lead further with ranked wrestlers capturing wins at 165 and 174 pounds. Sixth-ranked Scott Winston claimed a 9-3 win over Navy sophomore Mason Bailey (Fairmont, W.Va.), while 18th-ranked Alex Caruso overpowered second-year standout Oscar Huntley (Stafford, Va.) for an 11-2 major decision.
At 184 pounds, 11th-ranked Luke Rebertus (Gloucester, Va.) of Navy and Rutgers' Dan Rinaldi provided the more than 500 fans in attendance with an amazing match. After seven minutes of regulation action, the two wrestlers would engage in an astounding eight minutes of overtime action. After a scoreless four minutes of sudden victory periods and three tie breakers, the match was finally decided in the fourth tie breaker.
No points were scored until the second tie breaker when Rinaldi struck with an escape with 19 seconds to go in the period. In near equal time, Rebertus then managed to get his escape in the following period to keep the score knotted at 2-2.
After a scoreless third sudden victory, third tie breaker and fourth sudden victory, Rinaldi had choice to start the fourth tie breaker and selected the down position. Unable to break free, he opened the door for Rebertus. After the two battled into a stalemate, there were just a handful of ticks remaining for Rebertus to make a move. Though both wrestlers were gassed, Rebertus found enough energy to scamper away and with just one second left in the bout, the official awarded Rebertus the escape to take the match, 3-2.
"I'm extremely happy with the effort that Luke gave us tonight," added Burnett. "He created all the action in the match and in the end, he won. He fought for it and in the end it paid dividends."
The win by Rebertus was a temporary bump in the road for the Scarlet Knights, as they regrouped and won both the 197 pound and heavyweight bouts. Rutgers freshman Mike Wagner dealt Navy senior Greg Prioleau (Poway, Calif.) a 6-1 loss, while Navy senior Mike Landis (Hershey, Pa.) gave a solid effort but came up short in his quest to upset the nation's third-ranked heavyweight DJ Russo who won, 3-1.
Navy, however, closed out the evening by winnning the final bout. Junior Aaron Kalil (Salem, N.H.) pounced on Rutgers sophomore Joe Langel, scoring four takedowns before scoring the 10-4 win for the Midshipmen.
Navy will take a break from dual action next weekend when it heads to Charleston, S.C. to take part in the All-Academy Championship hosted by The Citadel. Last year, six Mids won individual crowns, while four others placed second as Navy scored its ninth All-Academy Championship team title.
#9 Rutgers 23, Navy 9
Jan. 29, 2011 • Halsey Field House • Annapolis, Md.
133 - Allen Stein (N) win by dec Mike DeMarco (R), 6-4
141 - Trevor Melde (R) win by dec Dustin Haislip (R), 6-1
149 - #4 Mario Mason (R) win by major Collin Leadbeter (N), 10-2
157 - #16 Daryl Cocozzo (R) win by dec #6 Bryce Saddoris (N), 3-2
165 - #6 Scott Winston (R) win by dec Mason Bailey (N), 9-3
174 - #18 Alex Caruso (R) wins by major Oscar Huntley (N), 11-2
184 - #11 Luke Rebertus (N) wins by dec Dan Rinaldi (R), 3-2 TB4
197 - Mike Wagner (R) wins by dec Greg Prioleau (N), 6-1
HWT - #3 DJ Russo (R) wins by dec Mike Landis (N), 3-1
125 - Aaron Kalil (N) wins by dec Joe Langel (R), 10-4
### Go Navy ###
