Schumm sparks rally against Embry-Riddle

Thursday, January 4th, 2007 Bakersfield Californian news article

After two matches, Cal State Bakersfield found itself in a hole.

But when his team needed a lift, senior Matt Schumm provided one. Schumm, the 20th-ranked wrestler in the nation at 141 pounds, beat Gordo Villaescusa 8-3, leading the Roadrunners to a 33-9 victory over Embry-Riddle Thursday at the Icardo Center.

"This whole season, he's just been one of the leaders on this team," junior Daniel Atondo said of Schumm. "He gets us going. We can always count on Schumm to wrestle tough."

Schumm is currently ranked No. 4 in the Pac-10 after winning 14 of his last 17 matches.

"We needed to get the ball rolling," said senior Brandon Doyle. "As soon as he won, I knew we had to keep it going. It was the crucial part of the meet."

Embry-Riddle, the No. 2-ranked school in NAIA, proved it can wrestle with Division I competition, as Richard Bryd (125) and Franky Villaescusa (133) beat Zack Bigboy and John Cardenas respectively to open the meet.

Doyle continued to help the 'Runners regain the momentum, following Schumm with a 11-0 major decision over Jason Mendez.

"I think overall we kind of got back in there and started slugging it out again," Bakersfield coach T.J. Kerr said. "They have some good kids. They're tough wrestlers. I know he's going to have a good program."

For the second meet in a row, Jeremy Doyle went up against a bigger opponent and, once again, he battled. However, Hayden Harrison is ranked No. 1 in the nation and pulled away in the third period for a 21-17 decision.

Atondo provided the most dominant effort of Bakersfield's night with an impressive 20-5 technical fall at the 6 minute, 57 second mark of the match.

"I'm not necessarily the most technical wrestler, so what I've got to do, I've just got to go out there and bang and pound and, hopefully, that guy doesn't train as hard as I do and they get tired before I do," Atondo said.

Brandon Ceremello beat Joffre Lander in the final match of the night 8-4 at 184, after the 'Runners received the benefit of three forfeits, one coming during Garth Wara's match against Nicolas Walden.

Bakersfield completes its week of home meets Sunday when Columbia and San Francisco State travel to the Icardo Center.