LEXINGTON, Va.- Senior Josh Wine ended his Thunder Dome career with a bang, pinning UNCG heavyweight Mike Gregory in his final home match on a night where the Keydets honored their four seniors, John Pope, Mike Long, Ronnie Ellsworth and Wine as the Keydets were downed 22-12 by SoCon opponent UNC Greensboro Thurs., Feb. 17 at VMI's Cocke Hall. The match featured a pair of overtime matches, as freshman Ted Gottwald won the first home dual of his career in the third overtime period.
“The seniors have spent a lot of time in this building, not only during competition but also during practice, and we appreciate the sacrifices they made to be wrestlers here at VM,” said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. “We are very proud of them and we hope that they can finish this year and their careers on a strong note.”
VMI (4-9, 1-3 SoCon) began the night with the first of its three seniors on the mat, as redshirt-senior John Pope squared off against UNCG's Manny Ramirez at 125 lbs. Pope led the match 2-1 after one period, but Ramirez outscored the VMI 125 pounder 5-1 in the second and and 7-4 in the third to earn a 13-7 decision as UNCG took an early 3-0 lead.
After UNCG (6-11, 4-1 SoCon) extended its lead to 7-0 on a Jamel Johnson major-decision over Keydet junior Luke Todd by an 18-5 count at 141 lbs., another junior, David Yost, took on UNC Greensboro's Angel Garcia at 149 lbs. Garcia held a 4-2 lead after one period, but Yost quickly closed the margin 1:07 into the second to knot the score at 4-4 heading into the third and final period of the bout.
Garcia earned an escape in the opening moments of the final frame, but Yost took the lead for good with 52 ticks left on a takedown and added a riding point to win the matchup 7-5 and put VMI on the board, cutting the Spartan advantage 7-3.
The matchup at 149 pounds featured VMI junior Ryan Goodsell against UNC Greensboro's Mike Crowley. After a scoreless first period. Crowley got on the board first in the second period 23 seconds into the second. After a Goodsell escape late in the second, Crowley took the lead on a takedown with 11 seconds left to win the match 4-2 and send the score to 9-3 in favor of the Spartans.
At 157 lbs., sophomore Mike Burnett had a stiff test against UNCG's Ivan Lopouchanski, who carried a 33-8 record into the match. Burnett was able to keep the bout within striking distance after the first period at 2-1, but a Lopouchanski takedown with 57 seconds left in the second coupled with an escape later in the period gave the UNCG grappler a 5-1 lead. Lopouchanski went on to take the match 7-2 and bring the team score to 13-3 in favor of the Spartans.
Facing a steep team-score deficit, VMI freshman Ted Gottwald took on UNCG's Justin Rice at 165 lbs. Trailing 3-2 after one period, Rice was able to extend the lead to 4-2 only nine seconds into the second. Gottwald was able to knot the score at 4-4 near the midway point of the third. After two scoreless overtime periods, Gottwald earned the deciding point of the match with 10 seconds left in the third overtime, winning his first home dual match of his career by 5-4 score to bring VMI within striking distance at 13-6.
174 lbs. featured a stellar matchup with VMI junior Matt Brock (17-11) taking on UNCG's Byron Sigmon (20-13). With the score 1-0 heading into the third period. Only 30 seconds into the final period, Brock took a momentary 2-1 lead on a reversal. Thirteen seconds later, Sigmon brought the score back to 2-2 on an escape point, sending the match into overtime. After a scoreless first-overtime, Sigmon earned an escape point with 24 seconds remaining to capture the 5-4 victory.
Facing a virtual must win at 184 lbs., sophomore John Dommert faced off against Elijah Williams of UNCG. Adams held a 6-4 lead heading into the third frame. The two wrestlers exchanged points in th opening 30 seconds, with Adams earning a reversal and Dommert an escape to send the score to 8-5. A Dommert takedown in the waning moments of the bout brought the score to 8-7, but he was unable to earn a takedown on a last second shot attempt as Adams took the 8-7 win.
A familiar face returned to the VMI lineup at 197 lbs. for the first time since mid-January, as senior Ronnie Ellsworth took on UNCG's Caylor Williams. After two periods, Ellsworth found himself in a 3-0 hole, and dropped his final home match, 5-0 to bring the score to 22-6 in favor of the Spartans.
At heavyweight, Josh Wine went out with a pinfall, facing off against Gregory. After a scoreless first period, Wine earned a reversal to take a 2-0 lead eight seconds into the second frame. At the 3:38 mark of the match, Wine earned his third pin of the season, tossing Gregory to his back to secure the win.
“Lot of close matches tonight,” said Trudgeon. “We didn't do a good job defending their leg attacks, and we need to get better at that. I'm pleased with the effort, and we had a lot of close matches, one-point matches. It was a nice win for Josh in his final match at home, and David Yost had a nice comeback win.”
VMI will take part in its final SoCon dual of the season Sun., Feb. 20 as the squad travels to Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on the University of Chattanooga. Match time is slated for 2 p.m.
2/17/2011
VMI - 12
UNCG - 22
Individual Matches
Wt Winning Wrestler (School) WinType Losing Wrestler (School) Score
125 Manuel Ramirez (UNCG) DEC Johnathan Pope (VMI) 13 - 7
133 Jamel Johnson (UNCG) MD Luke Todd (VMI) 18 - 5
141 David Yost (VMI) DEC Angel Garcia (UNCG) 7 - 5
149 Michael Crowley (UNCG) DEC Ryan Goodsell (VMI) 4 - 2
157 Ivan Lopouchanski (UNCG) DEC Michael Burnett (VMI) 7 - 2
165 Edward Gottwald (VMI) DEC Justin Rice (UNCG) 5 - 4
174 Byron Sigmon (UNCG) DEC Matthew Brock (VMI) 4 - 3
184 Elijah Adams (UNCG) DEC John Dommert (VMI) 8 - 7
197 Caylor Williams (UNCG) DEC Ronald Ellsworth (VMI) 6 - 0
285 Joshua Wine (VMI) FALL Gregory, Michael (UNCG) (3:38)
