Wearing new gold and black Nike singlets, App State claimed a 21-17 victory against Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night, giving head coach JohnMark Bentley's program its sixth win against a Power Five Conference team in the last four seasons.
The Mountaineers' six wins Thursday came from Angel Najar, Alan Clothier, Randall Diabe, Cary Miller, De'Andre Swinson-Barr and Codi Russell, with a comeback in Swinson-Barr's 8-4 decision against Arien Leigh at 125 pounds occurring at a critical time. The four nationally ranked Finesilver brothers, made up of two sets of twins, accounted for all of the Blue Devils' victories.
App State (6-6) trailed 10-3 before it rattled off five straight wins, capped by Russell's six-point forfeit at 133 pounds to give the Mountaineers a 21-10 advantage with two matches remaining against the Blue Devils (2-6). The streak began with decisions from Clothier (9-3 against Kaden Russell at 184 pounds), Diabe (10-3 against Alec Schenk at 197 pounds) and Miller (6-2 against Araad Fisher at 285 pounds).
With the Mountaineers moving ahead 12-10 on Miller's win, Swinson-Barr's match had the potential to be a dual-deciding one with six points guaranteed at 133 points and two ranked Finesilver brothers taking the mat in the final two matches.
Swinson-Barr trailed 4-1 in the first period before executing an escape and a tying takedown. He took the lead with a second-period escape and takedown.
Duke needed a pair of pins in the last two matches to pull off a comeback win, but 30th-ranked Josh Finesilver won a 6-2 decision against Irvin Enriquez and sixth-ranked Mitch Finesilver posted a 14-3 major decision against Matt Zovistoski.
Najar got App State off to a strong start with a 13-6 decision against Benjamin Anderson at 157 pounds. Najar had five takedowns, including two apiece in the first and third periods.
Zach Finesilver's pin at 165 pounds and Matt Finesilver's major decision at 174 pounds gave Duke a 10-3 lead before Clothier began the rally with his win. He pushed his lead to 6-1 with a takedown and two near-fall points as the first period ended.
App State returns to action Tuesday with a Southern Conference dual at Davidson.
Results:
157: Angel Najar (APP) def. Benjamin Anderson (DU), 13-6 dec.
165: #25 Zach Finesilver (DU) def. #32 Michael Elliott (APP), fall, 2:13
174: #16 Matt Finesilver (DU) def. Thomas Flitz (APP), 10-2 maj. dec.
184: #32 Alan Clothier (APP) def. Kaden Russell (DU), 9-3 dec.
197: #17 Randall Diabe (APP) def. Alec Schenk (DU), 10-3 dec.
HWT: #26 Cary Miller (APP) def. Araad Fisher (DU), 6-2 dec.
125: De'Andre Swinson-Barr (APP) def. Arien Leigh (DU), 8-4 dec.
133: #31 Codi Russell (APP) won by forfeit
141: #30 Josh Finesilver (DU) def. Irvin Enriquez (APP), 6-2 dec.
149: #6 Mitch Finesilver (DU) def. #25 Matt Zovistoski (APP), 14-3 maj. dec.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now