EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ wrestling team overcame an early deficit and treated the home faithful to an impressive victory over York (Pa.) in Friday night's home opener.

Reid Colella notched a technical fall at 174 for the Lions, who moved to 2-0 with the 32-6 non-conference triumph over a strong Spartans side.

York, competing in its first dual of the season, got off to a quick start with a pair of nail-biting decisions. Nick Denora held a 2-0 lead after one period at 125, but Jared Kuhns rallied to seize the lead with a takedown and managed to see out the entirety of the third frame for a 3-2 decision.

The 133-pound bout pitted two of the region's finest against each other, with TCNJ's Jake Giordano (No. 2 NWCA, No. 5 D3wrestle.com) and York's Dalton Rohrbaugh (No. 9 D3wrestle.com) each carrying national rankings. The match played out as advertised.

Giordano secured a 2-0 lead through two periods, but Rorhbaugh spent the entire second stanza on top and accrued a sizeable riding time advantage. He started the third with an escape and a reverse to snatch a 3-2 edge with 1:44 remaining, only for Giordano to level it with an escape at the 22-second mark. With Rorhbaugh holding over a minute of riding time, Giordano needed a takedown but was unable to get one, and the Spartan escaped with a 4-3 decision.
After that, it was all Lions.

Domenic Difrancescantonio grabbed six points right back with a victory by medical forfeit at 141, where he had jumped out to a 5-0 lead before his opponent was forced to retire due to injury.

Mike Conklin followed with a dominating effort at 149, cruising to a 13-0 victory over Jared Bair to put the Lions on top to stay.

Matt Sacco used a second-period takedown to spring his way to a 5-0 shutout at 157, and Matt Surich posted four takedowns en route to a 9-5 victory over Timmy Sparks in the 165-pound bout.

Colella followed with a scintillating effort at 174, racking up 12 points' worth of near falls and clinching the tilt with the third and final four-pointer with just under a minute remaining in the second period.

Dan Surich had six near-fall points on the way to a 12-0 blanking of T.J. Quelet at 184.

Quinn Haddad, ranked 9^th in the country by the NWCA, engaged Camden Farrow, who won individual titles at each of his first two tournaments, in one of the matches of the night at 197. Heading into the third deadlocked at 5-5, the Lions' standout went ahead for good with a takedown at the 1:12 mark of the third. Farrow, labeled a "contender" in the d3wrestle.com rankings, cut the lead to 7-6 with just under a minute to go, but Haddad successfully avoided a takedown and picked up a significant early-season result.

Thomas Marretta capped the night in style with a 13-2 major decision over Brock Hofler at heavyweight, four takedowns and a near fall in the process.
The Lions head to Penn College tomorrow for the Wildcat Invitational.

TCNJ 32, York (Pa.) 6
125 - Jared Kuhns (Y) dec. Nick Denora, 3-2 (0-3)
133 - Dalton Rohrbaugh (Y) dec. Jake Giordano, 4-3 (0-6)
141 - Domenic Difrancescantonio (T) def. Blake Shalbert by medical forfeit (6-6)
149 - Mike Conklin (T) maj. dec. Jared Bair, 13-0 (10-6)
157 - Matt Sacco (T) dec. Nicholas Paolucci, 5-0 (13-6)
165 - Matt Surich (T) dec. Timmy Sparks, 9-5 (16-6)
174 - Reid Collela (T) tech fall Robbie Fleming, 18-0 (4:05) (21-6)
184 - Dan Surich (T) maj. dec. T.J. Quelet, 12-0 (25-6)
197 - Quinn Haddad (T) dec. Camden Farrow, 7-6 (28-6)
285 - Thomas Marretta (T) maj. dec. Brock Hofler, 13-2 (32-6)