Cal Poly Wrestling Falls to American University, 25-13

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A fall at 133 pounds clinched No. 10 American’s 25-13 non-conference dual meet victory over No. 19 Cal Poly on Friday night inside Mott Gym.

Coach Brendan Buckley’s Mustangs trailed the visiting Eagles 15-10 but 133-pounder Brandan Rocha had a 10-5 lead over American’s Corey Borshoff heading into the final period and two-time NCAA All-American Boris Novachkov was standing on deck.

Borshoff, however, scored an early takedown in the third period and pinned Rocha with 1 minute, 31 seconds remaining in their bout, giving American a nearly insurmountable 21-10 advantage.

Novachkov, ranked No. 4 by InterMat, earned a 3-2 decision over No. 14 Matt Mariacher at 141 pounds, but it was too little, too late for Cal Poly, which fell to 2-2 in duals.

American, now 3-4 with back-to-back wins over Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly on its three-match swing through California (the Eagles wrestle at Stanford on Sunday), won six of the 10 bouts, including a fall, technical fall and two major decisions.

American jumped to a 9-0 lead with a technical fall by No. 4 Ganbayar Sanjaa at 157 pounds and a major decision by Mark Cirello at 165.

Cal Poly rallied with three straight wins for a 10-9 lead.

Dominic Kastl posted an 8-3 decision at 174, Ryan DesRoches moved to 18-0 on the year with a 13-4 major decision at 184 and Ryan Smith, attempting to work his way back into the national rankings at 197, edged No. 14 Daniel Mitchell.

But American regained the upper hand with three consecutive victories of its own.

Blake Herrin decisioned Atticus Disney 3-1 at 285 pounds, Thomas Williams was a 3-0 winner over Michael Clemmensen at 125 and Borshoff capped the run with his fall over Rocha at 133.

Rocha scored four takedowns in the first period for an 8-3 lead and added another takedown in the second period for a 10-5 cushion. Rocha chose the neutral position for the final period and Borshoff quickly scored his first takedown of the match and the deciding pin.

Kastl scored scored a pair of takedowns in the first period and led all the way for his win over Phillip Barreiro at 174.

DesRoches, wrestling up one weight class, scored five takedowns, one escape, one penalty point for stalling and amassed 4:34 in riding time en route to his victory at 184.

Smith earned an escape in the second period after a scoreless opening period. Mitchell tied the match with an escape early in the third, but Smith scored a takedown with a minute to go and held on for the 3-2 win.

Novachkov scored a takedown in the first period, gave up escapes in the first and second periods and recorded the deciding escape early in the final period for his 3-2 triumph over Mariacher.

Cal Poly hosts Boise State on Sunday for a Pac-12 match at 1 p.m. inside Mott Gym.

American (25) at Cal Poly (13):
157 – Ganbayar Sanjaa (A) tech. fall over Gianpier Yanez (CP) 17-2, 5:22
165 — Mark Cirello (A) maj. dec. Paul Woodman (CP) 11-3
174 — Dominic Kastl (CP) dec. Phillip Barreiro (A) 8-3
184 — Ryan DesRoches (CP) maj. dec. Thomas Barreiro (A) 13-4
197 — Ryan Smith (CP) dec. Daniel Mitchell (A) 3-2
285 — Blake Herrin (A) dec. Atticus Disney (CP) 3-1
125 — Thomas Williams (A) dec. Michael Clemmensen (CP) 3-0
133 — Corey Borshoff (A) pinned Brandan Rocha (CP) 5:29
141 — Boris Novachkov (CP) dec. Matthew Mariacher (A) 3-2
149 — Kevin Tao (A) maj. dec. Kyle Chene (CP) 9-0