After the Bulldogs took the first two matches to take an 8-0 lead, the Keydets rallied back with three consecutive wins, two by pin, to take a 15-8 lead at the halfway point. But a GWU pin in the next bout and a decision to follow it up gave the Bulldogs 17-15 advantage with three matches to go, before VMI claimed two of the final three to clinch the victory.
�It was a wild, back-and-forth kind of match,� said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. �By no means did we wrestle up to our potential, but a win�s a win, and it�s good to get one under our belt. We had a couple of huge pins by Sam (Alvarenga) and Tommy (Cunningham), and Corry�s (Murray) major decision at 184 turned out to be big. It was a good way to wrap up the first semester, but we need to keep getting better and better and build from this.�
With the match beginning at 125, GWU�s Cortney Roberts used a strong third period to post an 18-2 technical fall over VMI�s Jeremy Adams. At 133, VMI�s Tyler Anthony scored an early two points on GWU�s Rob Tate, but Tate pulled an escape move in the closing seconds of the first period to trail just 2-1 entering the second period. Starting the second period in the down position, Tate used an escape move to tie the match with 1:25 left in the period. A two-point near fall with 1:10 remaining in the match gave Tate a 4-2 lead he would not relinquish, and GWU moved ahead 8-0.
The momentum shifted for the Keydets In the 141 lb. weight class, as VMI�s Brandon Franklin did battle with Charles Franz. Franklin scored two consecutive two-point near falls as time expired in the first period, while Franz recorded an escape in the second to make it 4-1. But Franklin countered with a two-point reversal for a 6-1 lead. Franz again scored an escape with 35 seconds left in the second to make it 6-2 in favor of Franklin. The Keydet tacked on a point in the third with an escape for the 7-2 win, putting the Keydets� first points on the board to cut the margin to 8-3.
The Keydets moved ahead with pins at 149 and 157. Keydet senior Sam Alvarenga, ranked 18th nationally by Intermat at 149, pinned GWU freshman Garmonyou Neplo at the 2:30 mark to give VMI a 9-8 advantage, extending his match winning streak to 13 and his overall record to 18-2. Tommy Cunningham needed only 1:38 to do the same to David Pelsang and Tommy Cunningham giving the Keydets a 15-8 lead.
But the tide turned at 165, where Matthias Piasecki pinned VMI senior John Burton only 1:34 in, cutting the margin to a single point. The 174-pound match then matched GWU�s Chad Davis and VMI�s Dustin McCabe. Davis jumped out to a 2-0 advantage a minute into the dual thanks to a takedown. McCabe tallied a point with an escape to make it 2-1 at the end of the first period. Davis garnered another point due to a hand violation on McCabe. He made the score 4-1 with an escape with just over a minute remaining in the second period. The two battled to a stalemate in the final period as Davis won 5-1 after riding time was factored in, handing the lead back over to the hosts at 17-15.
But VMI senior Corry Murray stopped the bleeding with his major decision at 184. Facing off with Brandon Beach, Murray recorded the first two points of the match as the seconds wound down in the first period, taking a 2-0 lead into the second. He added on two more for a 4-0 advantage 13 seconds into the second frame. Beach got on the board with an escape, trimming the deficit to three at 4-1. Murray gained a 5-1 lead due to a technical violation on Beach and went up 6-1 seconds into the third with an escape. Murray, who held a 9-2 lead with eight seconds remaining, scored two points in the closing seconds to gain a major decision victory, 11-2.
In the 197-pound match, GWU�s Dustin Porter saw the Keydets send out Kyle Elgert, normally a competitor at 174. Porter gained a 2-0 lead only to see Elgert score a point with an escape. However, Porter recorded two more points in the first for a 4-1 lead heading into the second frame. Starting in the down position, Porter made the score 5-1 with an escape of his own. Porter tacked on two more points with 10 seconds remaining in the second to hold a 7-1 lead going into the final period. A late escape by Elgert made the final score 8-2 in favor of Porter due to riding time, as Elgert, wrestling up two weight classes, held the Bulldogs to only a three-point victory, making the score 20-19 in favor of the hosts.
In the final bout of the night, GWU�s Nick Roehrick took on VMI senior Scott Buhman at heavyweight. An escape by Buhman to start the third period and two more points gave him a 3-0 cushion with just 49 seconds remaining. Roehrick cut the deficit to 3-1 with an escape, but only 32 seconds remained in the match. Roehrick could not overcome the deficit and with riding time factored in, fell 5-1.
The Keydets will now break for exams before returning to the mats for the Southern Scuffle, to be held Dec. 29 & 30 Greensboro, N.C.
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