Sal D 'agostino split time between 177 and 190 last winter and was the team's best wrestler with a 12-1 record and 10 pins. He settles into the heavier of the two slots this time, pushing Fred Smith (2-7-1) out of his starting job. Sal's only loss last season came at the hands of Yale's Joe Cooper when the Crimson grappler was forced by the team score to gamble for a pin.
New Heavyweight
D'agostino must face both Cooper and Princeton's Keith Ely, who beat the Harvard matman in a post-season tournament. The two did not face each other in the regular season.
Craig Beling, a starting linebacker on the football team, inherits the heavyweight spot. Beling was good enough to start last year, but gave way to Kip Smith's experience. Lee expects him to be one of New England's finest heavyweights.
The Crimson matmen got an upset victory from John Franklin (167 lbs.) in last night's season opener, but the last two wrestlers in the Harvard lineup wilted as B.U. gained a come-from-behind victory, 19-17.
It was the fifth meeting between the Crimson and the Terriers, and for the fifth straight time the Comm Ave. grapplers came away with a close decision. "You'd think sometime the breaks would go the other way," Harvard coach Johnny Lee said last night.
Franklin trailed in his match, 8-2, but rallied for a 10-8 triumph which gave his team a 15-11 advantage with only three matches remaining.
The first of those three battles featured a pair of freshmen, Harvard's Tony Cimmarusti (177 lbs.) and B.U.'s Bill Peglarro, and ended in a scoreless tie.
Sal D'agostino trotted out next to face a foe he had beaten each of the last two years by a single point. This time, however, he suffered a slight concussion in the first period and went down to a 6-4 defeat that ended his hopes for an undefeated season before they even got off the ground. D'agostino lost only once last year.
Harvard still led, 17-16, but heavyweight Craig Beling has been practicing less than two weeks after spending the fall on the gridiron, and the rustiness showed. The Crimson grappler quickly found himself in a hole, down 6-1. He just missed pinning his opponent in the final period, but ended up losing a wild one, 16-10.
The late charge gave the Terriers the victory, 19-17.
Harvard's Ray Dominquez (118 lbs.) dropped the first match of the evening, 16-13, but Crimson freshman Rick Kief (126 lbs.) forced home a pin in his first varsity start.
After Keith Oberg (134 lbs.), another yardling starter, bowed to the experience and prowess of B.U. co-captain Jeff Madden, 4-1, Crimson seniors Bob Cusumano (142 lbs.) and Tom Bixby (150 lbs.) notched back-to-back wins to put Harvard ahead, 12-8.
The other Terrier co-captain, Cliff Whalen (158 lbs.), edged senior Jim Corcoran for the third straight year, 8-5. In the next match, Franklin's surprising win apparently put the Crimson in the driver's seat, but that was before the roof fell in.