Edinboro finished third at the NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- It was a historical night, albeit bittersweet, for the Edinboro wrestling team as the 2015 NCAA Division I National Championships wrapped up at the Scottrade Center. The Fighting Scots would wrap up their best showing ever at the Division I Nationals, coming in third.
Unfortunately, after an outstanding morning session in which A.J. Schopp and Vic Avery each won twice to finish third at 133 and 184 lbs., respectively, Dave Habat and Mitchell Port had to settle for runner-up showings in their quest to become Edinboro's fifth Division I national champion.
Habat suffered a 3-1 loss in sudden victory to Drake Houdashelt of Missouri in the 149 lb. championship match. Port, hampered by a knee injury suffered late in the first period, dropped an 11-5 decision to Logan Stieber of Ohio State in the marquee match of the night at 141 lbs.
Edinboro finished third in the final team standings with 75.5 points. It marked the highest finish in school history at the Division I championships, bettering last year's fifth place showing. Ohio State, with former Edinboro All-American and assistant coach Lou Rosselli serving as associate head coach, won its first national championship.
The Buckeyes finished with 102 points, bettering Iowa's 84 points. Missouri finished fourth with 73.5 points and Cornell rounded out the top five with 71.5 points.
Head coach Tim Flynn's squad leaves St. Louis with four All-Americans – a pair of second place finishes and two third places. The 1988 squad was the only other Edinboro team with four All-Americans. In addition, the only other time Edinboro had two wrestlers in the finals was in 2009. In addition, Schopp won the Manuel Gorrarian Award for most pins in the least time.
While disappointed at how the evening transpired, Flynn was pleased with the three-day showing of his Fighting Scots. "It's awesome. It's something that has culminated for years and years of work and these kids together. They worked. They did what we asked of them."
Habat got the evening started as the 149 lb. championship match was the first of the ten championship matches. A scoreless first period saw Habat the aggressor, with a pair of solid shots defended by Houdashelt (41-1). The first, midway through the period, was close enough to be called a takedown by the ESPN announcers, before the two rolled out of bounds.
Houdashelt chose bottom to start the second period, with Habat riding for 35 seconds before Houdashelt escaped for a 1-0 lead. The two wrestlers exchanged shots in the final minutes without any scores.
Habat started down in the third period and would escape at 1 minute, 17 seconds for a 1-1 tie. The escape was a notable accomplishment since Houdashelt had not allowed a point in his previous three matches. Both shot almost simultaneously with 27 seconds left and they went out of bounds. A Habat shot at 23 seconds was answered by one by Houdashelt with 15 seconds, but Habat was able to fend it off to send the match into overtime.
Houdashelt would register the match's lone takedown and win the national title midway through the one-minute overtime period. He blocked a shot by Habat, in the process knocking Habat backwards and off balance. He jumped in at Habat's waist for the winning takedown with 28 seconds left.
"Dave put himself into position to win," related head coach Tim Flynn. "He had a little trouble getting out of the collar tie, but it is a one-takedown game. Hats off to Houdashelt, he got the takedown."
Habat finished the year with a 36-3 record and wraps up his career with a 134-27 career record. That is good for fifth in career victories.
The Port-Stieber matchup was one of only two one-versus-two meetings in the finals. Port, seeded second, stood in the way of Stieber becoming the fourth four-time Division I national champion. The two met once before in February, with Steiber handing Port his lone loss of the season 6-3. Port was making his second appearance in the 141 lb. finals in the last three years, losing in the 2013 finals.
Stieber opened the scoring with a takedown on a single-leg shot at 2:06 of the first period, with Port escaping at 1:51. Stieber completed a double-leg takedown with 1:20 left for a 4-1 advantage. With Port maneuvering to escape, he yelled out in pain with 16 seconds left after injuring his left knee.
The injury gave Stieber the option of top or bottom on the restart, and would take the bottom and escape with four seconds showing for a 5-1 lead after one period.
A game Port would limp noticeably over the final two periods but continued to battle. Port chose down to start the second and would escape with 1:05 left in the period to cut the margin to 5-2. Stieber added a single-leg takedown for a 7-2 lead with 32 seconds to go.
Stieber began the third period with an escape at 1:40 to make it 8-2 and extended the lead to 10-2 with a takedown at the 1:25 mark. Port, showing the heart of a champion while wrestling on one leg, rallied with an escape at 1:08, and took Steiber down with 40 seconds left. He would end the match riding Stieber but was unable to turn him for near fall points.
Flynn commented afterwards, "Logan Stieber is a four-time national champion. He is a great wrestler. You've got to be healthy for sure to battle him. Him twisting his kneecap there didn't help the cause."
With the win Stieber recorded his 51st straight victory and ended the year at 29-0.
Port concluded a brilliant career as one of eight Edinboro wrestlers to earn All-American honors three times. He finished second in 2013 and 2015 and third in 2014 at 149 lbs. The redshirt senior ended the year with a 36-2 record and concluded his career with a 132-17 ledger. He finishes tied for eighth in career victories and is third in career winning percentage at .886.
The senior trio of Habat (134), Schopp (133), and Port (132) ended up ranking fifth, tied for sixth, and tied for eighth, respectively in career wins while combining for 399 wins. They won eight All-American medals. Add in Kory Mines, the fourth part of Edinboro's Murderer's Row, and the foursome finished with 487 career victories. Schopp ends up second in career winning percentage (.887).
"We've got a team trophy. Those kids, they're quality wrestlers, better kids and are going to be hard to replace," surmised Flynn.
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