App State claimed an 18-12 victory at Campbell on Thursday in Gore Arena to improve to 6-3 overall and 4-0 in SoCon competition.
Wins by Angel Najar (5-3 decision at 157 pounds), Forrest Przybysz (13-11 decision at 174), Alan Clothier (8-2 decision at 184) and Randall Diabe (2-0 decision at 197) gave the Mountaineers a 12-3 lead after five matches. Redshirt freshman Codi Russell's 10-8 decision by sudden victory against 25th-ranked Nathan Boston pushed App State ahead 15-9, and it was in front 15-12 before Gavin Londoff wrapped up the dual meet with a 5-4 decision against Zach Barnes at 149 pounds.
Appalachian and Chattanooga (4-0 SoCon) are now the only two teams left with no SoCon losses, as Campbell dropped to 1-1 in league competition.
"A lot of emotions going -- it was a hard-fought battle," App State head coach JohnMark Bentley said. "The whole night was just close match after close match. I thought our guys showed a lot of poise tonight in a difficult environment with a difficult opponent. There were a lot of swing matches, and I think the biggest thing was we found a way to get the wins in those matches."
Barnes led 3-1 entering the third period against Londoff. He gained a point with a quick escape from the down position, took a 4-3 lead on a takedown with 1:20 remaining and reached a minute advantage in riding time with 20 seconds left.
Barnes pulled even at 4-4 on an escape in the closing seconds, but the riding-time advantage gave Londoff the clinching win in a matchup of the 2017 regular-season champions and 2017 tournament champions.
"At the end of the first period, I get my wind and I'm ready to go," Londoff said. "I wasn't tired at all, so I was ready to battle. That, and the team needing me, is what got me to push through it and get the win.
"Coach preaches to us to not be the audience. You have to be the audience or the competitor, so I push the (team) score aside, barely watch the matches and zone into my match -- what I'm good at, what I'm going to do."
Boston took a 14-8 record into his match against Russell, who trailed 7-4 in the third period before receiving a point for an escape and executing a tying takedown with 25 seconds remaining.
Boston made the first move in the sudden-victory period, and Russell won the match 28 seconds into the period by locking Boston's ankle from an over-the-top position.
"We work extremely hard as a team, so I knew I wasn't going to get tired and I could probably go for a long time," Russell said of his comeback. "He got in on my leg (in overtime) and was pretty deep. Going through my head, it was just sprawl hard and try to get a quick takedown."
App State built its lead before Campbell cut its deficit to 12-9 thanks to back-to-back victories from 29th-ranked heavyweight Jere Heino (3-2 decision against 32nd-ranked Cary Miller) and 23rd-ranked Korbin Meink (8-6 decision against freshman De'Andre Swinson-Barr at 125 pounds).
Najar established a 3-0 lead in his match-opening victory against Austin Kraisser at 157 pounds, and 27th-ranked Quentin Perez of Campbell pulled out an 8-6 decision against Thomas Flitz at 165.
The 15th-ranked Przybysz trailed 7-4 in the second period of his match against 29th-ranked Andrew Morgan, who was still ahead 8-7 entering the third period. Przybysz used a two-point reversal and two-point near fall in rapid succession to move in front 11-8. Morgan briefly tied the match with a takedown, but Przybysz broke the tie with a late escape and received a point for his advantage in riding time.
After Clothier secured an 8-2 decision against Luke Funck in one of only two matches decided by more than two points -- the other was Jonathan Ryan's 10-5 decision against App State's Irvin Enriquez to set up Londoff's clinching win -- Diabe followed Clothier's effort with a 2-0 decision against Chris Kober.
Diabe used a second-period escape to take a 1-0 lead into the third period, which began with Kober holding a 21-second advantage in riding time. Diabe didn't allow Kober to escape from the down position in the final period, swinging the riding-time advantage to a minute in his favor with 37 seconds left in the match.
"I'm proud of the guys and the way they battled on the road, in a tough environment against a tough opponent," Bentley said. "Like I've said, this team is still getting better."
The Mountaineers host the Appalachian Open on Saturday, resume their SoCon schedule against VMI in Boone on Jan. 31 and visit Chattanooga on Feb. 4.
Results:
157: Angel Najar (APP) def. Austin Kraisser (CU), 5-3 dec. (3-0)
165: #27 Quentin Perez (CU) def. Thomas Flitz (APP), 8-6 dec. (3-3)
174: #15 Forrest Przybysz (APP) def. #29 Andrew Morgan (CU), 13-11 dec. (6-3)
184: #25 Alan Clothier (APP) def. Luke Funck (CU), 8-2 dec. (9-3)
197: Randall Diabe (APP) def. Chris Kober (CU), 2-0 dec. (12-3)
HWT: #29 Jere Heino (CU def. #32 Cary Miller (APP), 3-2 dec. (12-6)
125: #23 Korbin Meink (CU) def. De'Andre Swinson-Barr (APP), 8-6 dec. (12-9)
133: Codi Russell (APP) def. #25 Nathan Boston (CU), 10-8 dec. (SV) (15-9)
141: Jonathan Ryan (CU) def. Irvin Enriquez (APP), 10-5 dec. (15-12)
149: Gavin Londoff (APP) def. Zach Barnes (CU), 5-4 dec. (18-12)
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