Hoffman wins, Clark loses in first round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships
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By Jon Gremmels | Friday, March 21, 2008 |
ST. LOUIS – Quad-City wrestlers Eric Hoffman and Tyler Clark had much different fates in first-round matches at 125 pounds of the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center.
Davenport’s Hoffman, a senior at North Dakota State, opened with a five-point move off a counter shot and led the rest of the way as he defeated Joey Fio of Oklahoma 12-6. Bettendorf’s Clark, a freshman at Iowa State, lost 4-3 in an overtime tiebreaker match against Central Michigan’s Luke Smith.
Smith rode out Clark in the first 30-second tiebreaker and then scored the winning point on an escape just before time expired in the second tiebreaker. Smith forced overtime when he earned a point for 1 minute, 12 seconds of riding time in regulation.
But Smith’s rides in regulation and overtime were controversial. In each of the periods, he clung to Clark’s ankle as Clark dragged Smith and tried to crawl and kick free with the wrestlers back to back on two occasions. Smith was warned for stalling with 18 seconds left when he did it in the third period, but was not warned in the overtime.
The loss dropped Clark into Thursday night’s consolations.
“He’s got to bounce back,” Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson said. “He’s got to keep his head up.”
Hoffman countered a leg shot by Fio in the opening minute of their match and took down Fio to his back for five points.
“That’s a move I look for, something I count on,” Hoffman said. “It’s a counter tilt and something funky. I don’t have a name for it.
“With a 5-0 lead, I don’t think there are too many guys who can come back on me.
Hoffman added a takedown with 1:06 left in the opening period for a 7-1 lead. Fio pulled within 11-6 in the second period, but Hoffman rode him out in the final two-minute period and got a point for riding time for the final margin.
The win set him up for a second-round match against top-seeded Angel Escobedo of Indiana on Thursday night.
Jon Gremmels can be contacted at (563) 383-2294 or at jgremmels@qctimes.com.
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