Brandon Paetzell showed a lot of Phillipsburg when he made his Grace Hall wrestling debut Friday night.
No, the 2016 Stateliner graduate now wrestling 125 pounds as a true freshman for Rutgers did not emerge triumphant from his encounter with Lehigh junior and Bethlehem Catholic graduate Darian Cruz in the NWCA National Duals series meeting between the two former EIWA rivals.
In fact, Paetzell dropped an 18-4 major decision to the returning Mountain Hawk All-American. That may have been more points scored in seven minutes against Paetzell than in seven years around Phillipsburg.
But the Stateliner deep inside Paetzell came out in how hard he fought for his team in the third period.
Cruz, ranked No. 5 by Intermat, turned Paetzell to his back seeking a pin to start the match off in style for Lehigh, and when Cruz gets a foe facing the ceiling it’s usually six points for the Mountain Hawks.
But Paetzell fought with everything he had and got off his back.
Denied the pin, Cruz then went shooting – rather literally – for the technical fall, needing just one takedown with his riding time edge to post the tech-fall.
But Paetzell, who had been taken down five times in the bout, refused to let it be six and kept Cruz at bay and forcing to settle for the major.
The team points he saved Rutgers didn’t turn out to matter in the end as Lehigh, ranked No. 11 by Intermat, posted a rousing 23-10 win over the Scarlet Knights, ranked No. 12. But, given that this was a three-point match in 2016 and another close one was anticipated Friday, at the time, it seemed as if every point mattered.
They certainly did to Paetzell.
“That was a lot of what I took away from Phillipsburg – never give up,” he said. “I knew how important it was for me to get off my back, and it was the same when he was going for the tech fall. I was not going to give it up and I fought as hard as I possibly could.”
Paetzell’s fight came in his first competition at Lehigh’s legendary wrestling haven, a night he had been anticipating since the National Duals matchups came out.
“I was excited to compete here,” Paetzell said. “I always wanted to wrestle here and this was a great atmosphere. With all the Phillipsburg people who came to see me it felt like home.”
If that was true, Cruz was not the world’s most gracious host, but the Mountain Hawk said he’d prepared with a good bout in mind.
“Brandon is a really tough kid and I had to be ready for him,” Cruz said.
Paetzell knew what he was up against.
“I have known Damian my whole career and I knew he was going to be one of the best kids I had wrestled and I was excited for it,” Paetzell said. “I knew it would be a tough test. He and (Penn State’s) Nick Suriano are the two toughest kids I have wrestled so far.”
Friday was one of the rougher nights of Paetzell’s freshman season. He’s 14-8 overall and, as he put it, “have beaten too many state champions to count,” a point of pride to the two-time NJSIAA runner-up. He scored a last-second takedown of Illinois’ Travis Piotrowski for a 3-2 decision that proved key a 19-17 defeat of the Illini.
Paetzell’s progress can be seen in two matches with Northwestern’s Anthony Rubinetti. He lost to the Wildcat 19-10 in December at the Midlands and beat him 4-2 in a dual Feb. 12. Encouraging, but he knows there’s a long way to go.
“It’s a big jump between high school and the Big 10,” he said. “I have to get a lot better, especially on the mat. And I have to get stronger. The Michigan State kid (Logan Griffin) who pinned me just overpowered me.”
Paetzell said he’s adjusting to college’s various demands pretty well (an above-3 GPA in the first semester), even if wrestling has demanded even more time after his redshirt was pulled and he became a dual-meet starter.
And exposure to the grind that is collegiate wrestling has adjusted his season goals as well.
“My plan was to be an All-American,” said Paetzell; if he did so he would be just the second P’burg alum to be an All-American. “But maybe now I’m thinking my goal is just to get to nationals (Mar. 16-18 in St. Louis). Once you realize how tough it is, how every point matters, just qualifying for nationals would be great. And once you get there, anything can happen.”
And maybe a little bit of Phillipsburg would help there, too.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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