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SJSU Wrestling Archives The Spartan Daily 2-10-84 |
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Wrestlers To Face Cardinal |
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by Joe Roderick |
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| What had the looks of a pretty tight battle, may now turn into an ugly beating. To beat SJSU's wrestling team, Stanford needed no slippage and a few prayers. But without their top wrestlers, Flint Bulskamp and Ed Katz, the Cardinal will take what they can get. "We have no expectations of beating them," Stanford coach Chris Horpel said. "We might even get shutout. I just hope our people do the best they can." Spartan coach T.J. Kerr, playing the role of the humanitarian, isn't going to pack his lineup with its usual lethal punch but he isn't bringing in the clowns either. "We're not going to roll over for them or anything," Kerr said. "We're not really interested in blowing them out, We're just interested in staying alive." A blowout may be inevitable when SJSU, 13-1 and ranked ninth in the nation, faces beleaguered Stanford, 5-13 in duals, at Maples Pavilion at 7:00. The Cardinal had a chance with 190-pounder Bulskamp and Katz, a pair of Pac-10 champions,in the lineup. Combined with 142-pounder Scott Wiggen (18-4-1) and 177-pounder Jeff Wilson (21-4), Horpel was hoping for four wins, maybe five. "The way i look at it, against a good team like San Jose, if you can win five matches, you're in the running," Horpel said. There's trouble elsewhere for Stanford. Bert Fukanaga (118) will miss Friday's meet win an ankle injury. Horpel has no backups at 118, and will have to forfeit that weight class Friday. The Cardinal have a legitimate shot at winning just two of the remaining nine matches. The match of the night may be at 177, where the Spartans' Marvin Jones, returning from a thumb injury, faces Wilson. Jones is 23-4 and ranked fifth in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News. "Wilson beat the hell out of our Chris Atkinson in the Biola Invitational," Kerr said. "He's tough." Another Cardinal toughie is Wiggen, who'll battle David Barnes (26-5) Friday. More than a week has passed since the Spartans' 24-17 loss to Cal State Bakersfield, certainly long enough cooling off period for Kerr. But this wasn't your everyday 7 point loss. Kerr hadn't lost since the spring of 1983, having reeled off 10 straight dual meet wins in 1983-84, Kerr, though, still had the post-Bakersfield blues. "It's been tough," Kerr said. "We'll finish 16-1 this year, but 16-1 isn't as nice as 17-0. Personally, i wanted that undefeated season." Kerr wasn't exactly interested in talking about the undefeated season that might have been. He still had to get the Bakersfield loss off his chest. "We weren't just tough enough to beat Bakersfield and the official," Kerr said. "I'm not saying we lost because of the official, but Bakersfield and the official were just too much to overcome." Bakersfield head coach Joe Seay disagreed. "I don't think there was a problem with the official. I just think we out-wrestled San Jose." Officiating Thursday's match was Frank Kirby, a veteran referee who lives in Fresno. "He's officiated a lot of our big matches," Seay said of Kirby. "We don't really have a good referee in Bakersfield. I don't see why he should be biased, he's from Fresno." Said Kerr: "I don't know why he's biased towards Bakersfield." "We were penalized 8 points. Bakersfield was penalized three," Kerr continued. "We were warned first (for infractions) in five of six matches. I think that's significant." |
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