MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The Millersville Marauders split dual meets with No. 18 Pitt-Johnstown and Seton Hill Saturday. Pitt-Johnstown was able to edge Millersville 22–11 but the Marauders rebounded with a 35–6 win over the Griffins. The Marauders battled in both duals and expressed gratitude to the seven seniors recognized for their years of experience and development within the program.
Millersville did not obtain the result they were looking for against Pitt-Johnstown, but every Marauder fought hard for three periods to keep the dual close. Millersville went down after the first two matches 7–0. Nick Cottone fought to keep the match close. He controlled the pace early securing two takedowns. This was followed by a second-period show earning seven near-fall points and another takedown. He earned a 19–2 technical fall in the third period to close the gap, 7–5.
Chase Bish (165) and Andrew Vogelbacher (174) both secured back-to-back decision wins and earned six more points for the Marauders. They helped cut the deficit to 13–11.
Marcus Gable (157), Bruce Vaughan (197), and Bishop McCoy (285) lost their respective matches but wrestled to their peak ability against nationally ranked opponents. All three Marauders battled to the end and almost secured the upset, but kept their ranked opponents on their toes and made them settle for decision wins.
Not dwelling on the loss to Pitt-Johnstown, Millersville channeled their energy into a commanding win over Seton Hill.
Millersville won the first four matches to create a massive 15–0 gap for the Griffins to try and crawl back from. The two bonus point wins came from Taylor Robinson (133) with a 23–6 technical fall over Jacob Braun and Daniel Sinclair (149) reigning an 11–1 major decision win over Luke Potts.
The Marauders dropped the 157-pound match but snapped back with five more wins, three decision wins, one technical fall, and one fall.
Cole Dubois (184) rallied for a 19–3 technical fall win over Camryn Higgins. Dubois combined for five takedowns, two near-fall points, and riding time to record his second technical fall of the season.
Bishop McCoy prevailed in his last match in Pucillo Gymnasium with a fall in 2:27 over Jeremiah Erickson. McCoy had five takedowns and a near fall to set himself up to record his ninth pin on the season.
The Marauders concluded the remainder of their home duals in Pucillo Gymnasium for the 2024-25 season. They have two more duals and one more open to compete in before the Super Region 1 takes place. Millersville is set to compete with the Kutztown Golden Bears on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.
THOUGHTS FROM HEAD COACH JERRY BOLAND:
- Overall thoughts on the day: "I was super proud of how we wrestled today. Our effort was there all day. We just continue to wrestle hard in every phase. We grinded and it was a great team effort."
- Some adjustments you can make or learn from going forward after the UPJ dual: "It's just continue doing what we're doing. Guys are starting to believe in themselves. They believe in how we train and believe in each other. That stuff doesn't happen overnight. To become a program that is established, it takes hard work and tough guys in the lineup all the time, and the growth takes time. Some of them are really young and we just have to continue to believe in ourselves."
- The team bounced back in the Seton Hill win, how does that speak on the resiliency: "They laid it all on the line against Pitt-Johnstown and it didn't go our way and that could leave room for a letdown, but again we talk about it. We train this way every day about just, you know, we train at a high level. We try to keep everything at a high level and when you have that mentality, the letdowns are few and far between. We just had a quick pep talk after the match and talked about how proud I was of them and how hard they work to do everything at a high level. They went out and got the job done."
- Message to the seniors for their time and dedication to the program: "It's been a pleasure coaching those guys. All seven of them mean something to me and the rest of the coaching staff and the guys that they've wrestled with for the past four or five years. They've built special relationships and it was nice to see a lot of them get a win here for the last match in Pucillo, but again, I'm just proud of all of them and I just wish them all the best."
Pitt-Johnstown 22, Millersville 11
Millersville 35, Seton Hill 6
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