The Alma College wrestling squad opened their third season of play on Friday evening by traveling east to take on Wheeling (WV) Jesuit University. The Scots got the 2013-14 campaign off to a good start with a thrilling 22-21 victory in the dual match.

Friday night also marked the Cardinals' first-ever wrestling match, so the atmosphere was electric throughout the evening.

"We had a barnburner of a dual match tonight in front of an amazing crowd for Wheeling Jesuit's first-ever home dual," said Alma Head Coach Todd Hibbs. "The came out hard and got ahead of us by a score of 15-3 heading into the 20 minute intermission. However, our guys bounced back with great character and our leaders stepped up like we knew they would to bring us back for the victory."

The only Alma victory before intermission came at 125, when Jr. Tyler Foley (New Hudson/South Lyon East) won on a decision. Even with that win, the Scots trailed by 12 points at the break.

Sr. Matt Tuttle (Reading/Reading) came out of the break and won on a pin to cut the Scots' deficit to 15-9. The match of the evening came next as So. Jamie Jakes (Dearborn/Divine Child) won in two overtimes in what proved to be the key match of the night.

Then, Jr. Jared Groeneveld (Allendale/Allendale) gutted out a win on a fall and So. Trevor Maresh (Northville/Northville) won at 197, securing the win for the visiting Scots.

Alma continues their early road trip by participating in the Washington and Jefferson (PA) Invitational on Saturday.