Wrestling Falls in Close Battle with App State on Senior Night 22-12

Wrestling VMIKeydets.com

Wrestling Falls in Close Battle with App State on Senior Night 22-12

LEXINGTON, Va. -- It was another close Southern Conference match for the Virginia Military Institute wrestling team in Cocke Hall. Despite four wins against visiting Appalachian State University, the Keydets dropped their home finale 22-12.

Prior to the match, head coach John Trudgeon and his staff of Chris Skretkowicz and Ben Sprunger, honored the team's two seniors, John Dommert and Ryan Goodsell, both of whom were joined by their respective parents.

The night started off well for the Keydets, who collected wins in the first pair of bouts, 149 pounds and 157 pounds, but Appalachian State (7-6, 3-2) rallied for wins in the next four matches to snare a 15-6 advantage. VMI pulled back within six points after the heavyweight bout, but another set of back-to-back wins for the Mountaineers put the match out of reach for VMI, despite a win at the final weight of the evening.

Zeb Stewart kicked things off for the Keydets in the night's first weight class, 149 pounds, besting Appalachian State's Zach Kechter 7-2. Stewart held a narrow 3-2 edge at the end of the first period, thanks to an escape and takedown. Neither grappler scored in the second, but Stewart scored another escape in the third, followed by another takedown, giving the Keydet a 6-2 lead. Stewart had picked three and half minutes of riding time, giving him an extra point for the 7-2 victory.

At 149 pounds, Ted Gottwald notched his second shutout in his last five matches with a 6-0 decision over Collins Creech. Coincidently, Gottwald's 6-0 win gave VMI a 6-0 lead in the match. Gottwald started his evening with a takedown with only 55 seconds left in the first period. Once again, the second period went scoreless and Gottwald elected take bottom at the start of the third.

Just 16 seconds into the final period, Gottwald escaped and extended his lead to 3-0. Under the one minute mark, he scored his second takedown of the bout to go up 5-0. Gottwald posted 3:25 in riding time, almost all of which came during the second period as Gottwald rode the entire stanza.

But the Mountaineers reeled off four straight wins, two of which came with bonus points, including a technical fall at 165 pounds.

In the 184-pound bout, Jonathan Jones suffered another close decision after last week's 3-1 sudden death loss against The Citadel. Jones was edged out Wednesday night by Jake Johnson 3-2. Jones and Johnson were tied 1-1 after the first period as Johnson took Jones down, but the Keydet escaped shortly thereafter.

With 47 seconds left in the middle stanza, Appalachian State's head coach JohnMark Bentley challenged the ruling on a takedown for his man. The official review showed that Johnson had taken Jones down, giving the Mountaineer a 3-0 lead. Jones hit an escape with 1:26 left in the match, but could not take Johnson down to the mat to tie the score.

The heavyweight bout was another exciting match as Michael LaPrade logged his second Southern Conference win of the year, best Joe Cummings 3-1. Things were slow early on as neither wrestler scored in the first period, but Cummings scored first, escaping 13 seconds into the second period after choosing down. That would be the lone point of the second stanza.

Trailing 1-0, LaPrade elected to take bottom. Needing an escape to tie the match at one, LaPrade did just that, and more importantly, did so with enough time on the clock for a chance at a takedown in regulation. Once again, LaPrade came up big, taking Cummings down with 54 seconds on the clock. The Keydet took home the win 3-1, his first win of the year in front of the home crowd.

It was a fitting end to Senior Night as Goodsell stepped onto the mat one final time in The Thunderdome, squaring off with Chris Johnson. Goodsell utilized a takedown midway through the first period to snag a 2-0 lead. His lead was sliced in half as Johnson escaped with 54 seconds left in the first. Johnson took bottom to begin the second and escaped with 1:19 in the period, tying the match 2-2.

But in the waning moments of the second, Goodsell logged his second takedown of the match and redoubled his lead 4-2 with 16 seconds left. The Keydet's lead would stand up as both grapplers were held off the board in the third.

VMI will head to Chattanooga, Tenn. for its final set of dual matches in 2012-13. The Keydets will face University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the Mocs' Maclellan Court. That match will be at noon while the Keydets will open the day with the Cougars of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at 10 a.m.

Agate:
Wednesday, Feb. 20 at VMI - Cocke Hall - Lexington, Va.
Appalachian State (7-6, 3-2 SoCon) 22
VMI (1-14, 1-4 SoCon) 12
Weight: Winner (School) Type Loser (School) Result - Running Score (ASU-VMI)
149: Zeb Stewart (VMI) DEC Zach Kechter (ASU) 7-2 (0-3)
157: Ted Gottwald (VMI) DEC Collins Creech (ASU) 6-0 (0-6)
165: Zack Strickland (ASU) TECH FALL Mike Logan (VMI) 17-0 (4:17) (5-6)
174: Colin Hedash (ASU) MAJ DEC John Dommert (VMI) 14-6 (9-6)
184: Jake Johnson (ASU) DEC Jonathan Jones (VMI) 3-2 (12-6)
197: Paul Weiss (ASU) DEC Urayoan Garcia (VMI) 6-2 (15-6)
285: Michael LaPrade (VMI) DEC Joe Cummings (ASU) 3-1 (15-9)
125: Dominic Parisi (ASU) MAJ DEC Armando Herrera (VMI) 10-0 (19-9)
133: Brett Boston (ASU) DEC Andriy Onufriyenko (VMI) 6-0 (22-9)
141: Ryan Goodsell (VMI) DEC Chris Johnson (ASU) 4-2 (22-12)
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

John Dommert

John Dommert

Senior
Urayoan Garcia

Urayoan Garcia

Sophomore
Ryan Goodsell

Ryan Goodsell

Senior
Ted Gottwald

Ted Gottwald

Junior
Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Jones

Sophomore
Andriy Onufriyenko

Andriy Onufriyenko

Freshman
Zeb Stewart

Zeb Stewart

Sophomore

Players Mentioned

John Dommert

John Dommert

Senior
Urayoan Garcia

Urayoan Garcia

Sophomore
Ryan Goodsell

Ryan Goodsell

Senior
Ted Gottwald

Ted Gottwald

Junior
Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Jones

Sophomore
Andriy Onufriyenko

Andriy Onufriyenko

Freshman
Zeb Stewart

Zeb Stewart

Sophomore