Wrestling Downs Fresno State, 23-13

Friday, November 15

Fresno, CA

10 PM

Rutgers University

Fresno State

Nov 16 | Wrestling

Scarlet Knights earn 6-4 split Friday night in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. – Rutgers wrestling (4-0) used six individual wins, including a pin from Nicolas Aguilar (125) in his home state and major decisions from No. 11 Sammy Alvarez (133) and No. 19 Christian Colucci (HWT) to secure a 23-13 victory over Fresno State (0-4) on Friday night at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.

With the Scarlet Knights leading the Bulldogs just 17-13 with two bouts to go, Billy Janzer (184) and No. 15 Jordan Pagano (197) used back-to-back decisions to put the dual out of reach. Michael Van Brill (157) also collected a victory for RU, as the program moved to 2-0 all-time against Fresno State and 7-1 all-time against opponents from the Golden State.

Notables
• First Varsity Dual Win (1): Nicolas Aguilar (125)
• Pins (1): Nicolas Aguilar (125)
• Major Decisions (2): Christian Colucci (HWT), Sammy Alvarez (133)

What to Know
• The dual started at heavyweight, with Colucci landing the first takedown of the night courtesy of a single leg on Randy Gonzalez with 1:40 left in the first period. Starting on top in period two, Colucci put Gonzalez on his back for two near-fall points, and followed with an escape, takedown and the riding time point for an 8-0 major decision. The win pushed Colucci to 4-0 on the season and was his third victory by bonus.
• Growing up just over two hours away in Gilroy, Aguilar followed against Robert Garcia IV. Garcia was the aggressor to start the match, but Aguilar swung around on back-to-back shots from Garcia IV for a 4-1 lead with 35 seconds in the opening period. Aguilar then caught Garcia IV in a cradle on the far side of the mat for the first-period fall (2:49). It marked his first varsity victory in dual action.
• Alvarez faced his third ranked foe on the young season in No. 23 Gary Joint, a 2019 NCAA qualifier, and quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Alvarez earned an escape point and added another takedown in the second period before collecting two more points on the near fall along with 2:03 of riding time for the 9-1 major. Alvarez is 3-0 against ranked foes this season, having defeated No. 7 D.J. Fehlman (Lock Haven) and No. 17 Anthony Madrigal (Oklahoma) last weekend.
• No. 24 JoJo Aragona (141) and Gerard Angelo (149) dropped back-to-back matches to the Bulldogs as the dual score stood at 14-7 in favor of RU at intermission.
• Van Brill controlled his bout with Jacob Wright through, as he record a takedown 1:30 into the match and followed with another escape and takedown for the 5-0 lead after the second period. Wright, who appears as high as No. 25 in the country according to TrackWrestling, landed a takedown late before Van Brill exited with a 7-4 decision.
• Back-to-back losses from Brett Donner (165) and Willie Scott (174) made it just a 17-13 dual, but it would never get closer. Janzer took down Dominic Kinkaid with 1:15 to go in the first period of his match and rode Kinkaid out for the majority of the bout for a 4-0 decision. Pagano's escape in the second period proved to be the difference in a 1-0 decision over Ryan Reyes as Rutgers left the Save Mart Arena with a 23-13 dual win.

Rutgers 23, Fresno State 13
HWT: No. 19/21/NR Christian Colucci (RU) over Randy Gonzalez (FSU) by major decision, 8-0; RU leads, 4-0
125: Nicolas Aguilar (RU) over Robert Garcia IV (FSU) by fall (2:49); RU leads, 10-0
133: No. 20/11/11 Sammy Alvarez (RU) over NR/23/NR Gary Joint (FSU) by major decision, 9-1; RU leads, 14-0
141: DJ Llehman (FSU) over NR/24/NR JoJo Aragona (RU) by decision, 4-2; RU leads, 14-3
149: No. NR/22/NR Greg Gaxiola (FSU) over Gerard Angelo (RU) by major decision, 15-4; RU leads, 14-7
157: Michael Van Brill (RU) over Jacob Wright (FSU) by decision, 7-4; RU leads, 17-7
165: Adam Kemp (FSU) over Brett Donner (RU) by decision, 5-4; RU leads, 17-10
174: No. 15/16/18 Jackson Hemauer (FSU) over Willie Scott (RU) by decision, 5-0; RU leads, 17-13
184: Billy Janzer (RU) over Dominic Kinkaid (FSU) by decision, 4-0; RU leads, 20-13
197: No. 15/14/13 Jordan Pagano (RU) over Ryan Reyes (FSU), 1-0; RU wins, 23-13

UP NEXT
Rutgers closes out its road trip on Saturday against Cal State Bakersfield at 6:30 p.m. ET in Bakersfield, California.

Rutgers Wrestling is presented by Eat Clean Bro, an Official Partner of Rutgers Athletics.

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