The Dragons jumped on Navy early and closed the Midshipmen's late window into a comeback. Tanner Shoap earned the 16-0 technical fall at 125 pounds to begin the night on the mat, tallying near fall points while showing an impressive ground game. Kevin Devoy Jr., who is ranked No. 17 in the country by Intermat Wrestling, won by fall at 133 pounds just 57 seconds into the first period to improve to 9-0 on the early season.
Up 11-0 in the early going, 141 and 149 pounds remained important weight classes for the Dragons to take control. At 141 pounds, David Pearce did the job, winning a 6-1 decision. The sophomore from Illinois held a 3-1 lead in the third period, scoring a late takedown to put away the opposing Midshipman. Following at 149 pounds, Matt Cimato extended the Dragons lead to 18-0 after a major 12-0 decision where he jumped out to a lead early in the first and never let his opponent in the match.
Noel Blanco, wrestling at 157 pounds, grinded out a 4-1 decision to extend the Dragons lead to 21-0 at the halfway point of the match.
"That's the kind of product we want Drexel Wrestling to be," head coach Matt Azevedo said. "We came out and we were aggressive and we went after them. We knew that the first five matches would be important, and it was huge to jump on them the way we did.
"Especially coming off of finals week where some guys weren't able to practice every day, they came out ferocious. They attacked, and we scored riding time at almost every weight class. That's exactly what we want Drexel Wrestling to be."
At the start of the second half of the match, Navy began to go on a scoring run. At 165 pounds was freshman Nick Elmer, who dropped a tough 7-1 decision to the No. 15 ranked wrestler at the weight class, Peyton Walsh. Following at 174 pounds, another freshman, Stephen Loiseau fell in a major decision, 12-3. Alex DeCiantis was tied 3-3 with his opponent heading into the third, but lost by fall at the 1:30 mark in the final period.
With the team score at 21-13, Joshua Murphy took the mat at 197 pounds with a chance to close Navy's chance at a comeback. The freshman from Brecksville, Ohio, down 3-1 in the third, scored a late takedown to even the score at 3-3, but could not score another after his opponent took a 4-3 lead.
Joey Goodhart took the mat at heavyweight needing to avoid a technical fall or a pin to secure a Dragons win. He did just that, scoring an escape and a takedown in the final minute to win the 4-3 decision as Drexel took the dual 24-16. Drexel improve to 2-3 on the season and 1-0 in the EIWA.
The Dragons return to the mat when the head to the Grapple at the Garden held at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 21. They will wrestle Northern Iowa at 10 a.m. followed by George Mason at 12 p.m.
Results:
125: Tanner Shoap (DREX) TF Brant Leadbeter (Navy), 16-0
133: No. 17 Kevin Devoy Jr. (DREX) WBF Colton Rasche (Navy), @0:57
141: David Pearce (DREX) DEC Patrick Prada (Navy), 6-1
149: Matthew Cimato (DREX) MAJ Corey Wilding (Navy), 12-0
157: Noel Blanco (DREX) DEC Drew Daniels (Navy), 4-1
165: No. 15 Peyton Walsh (Navy) DEC Nick Elmer (DREX), 7-1
174: Jadaen Bernstein (Navy) MAJ Stephen Loiseau (DREX), 12-3
184: Michael Woulfe WBF Alex DeCiantis (DREX), @ 7:30
197: Paul Rands (Navy) DEC Joshua Murphy (DREX), 4-3
285: Joey Goodhart (DREX) DEC Colynn Cook (Navy), 4-3
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