Cardinals Celebrate First Senior Class, Griffins Edge Team Win
February 10, 2017
WHEELING, W.Va. – On a festive evening, the Cardinals honored its first Senior Night class. In the mat action, Seton Hill claimed the opening four bouts and held off Wheeling Jesuit wrestling, 23-17, for the team win.
WJU (12-6) celebrated the first part of its inaugural founding wrestlers before the evening match of Jacob Haynes, Dustin Kuhlwein, Cody Eggers, Corey Siegfried, Nic Skonieczny, Dominick Nania and Maxwell Lacey.
After trailing 17-0, the Cardinals won five of the final six bouts, but they fell just short of the victory. Greg Brusco (157) started the comeback attempt with a 12-3 major decision and Lacey (285) finished it with another major. Skonieczny (165), Reyse Wallbrown (174) and Terrance Fanning (197) added decision wins.
"It was great to see a nice crowd to send these guys off. It was all emotional for Max (Lacey) and Dom (Nania) as they take a ton of pride in the program," said WJU head coach Sean Doyle.
Brusco had a good win over a kid who has been to the (national) tournament. Nic and Reyse did their jobs. The 133 match was a bit disappointing and Seton Hill's 141 and 149 wrestlers were very good and we knew that coming in. T.J. (Smith) wrestled up two weight classes again, which is always tough," added the Cardinals coach.
After Jacob Donahue was held out of the Cardinals lineup at 125 to give the Griffins a forfeit to start the night, Tyler Kenney registered a takedown with 1:08 left in the 133-pound match and held on for the 3-2 win.
The region's top-ranked 141-class Joey Alessandro put seven points on the second-period scoreboard and rode it to the win over Daniel Romero.
Seton Hill added a fourth win in a row when Ty Lydic scored a mild upset over the region's top-rated 149 pounder Nania. Lydic went out to an 8-0 opening period, before he finished a 13-2 major decision.
Trailing 2-1 after two minutes, Brusco took down Seton Hill's Voytek with 51 seconds on the clock for a 3-2 lead. The WJU freshman never trailed the rest of the way. He outscored Voytek 8-1 in the third period and gave the Cardinals a 12-3 major.
Skonieczny ground out a 3-2 win via a takedown 27 seconds in the 165-pound match and added a second-period escape. At 174, Wallbrown scored a takedown with 47 seconds remaining and an eventual 7-5 to pull the Cardinals within 17-10.
Billy Bowlen clinched the Griffins upset win with a late fall over Smith in 6:01 to make it 23-10.
Fanning continued his late-season surge with a 7-0 shutout over Seton Hill's Morris Lawson.
Lacey was in control the entire heavyweight match and posted a solid 10-2 major in his final McDonough Center appearance.
WJU has two weeks off before it tries to set a new program standard for the third year in a row at the NCAA Division II Super Region I Championships on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25. For the second year in a row, Mercyhurst University serves as the host in Erie, Pa.
Seton Hill 23 Wheeling Jesuit 17
125 – Alan Diltz (SH) forfeit –– SH 6-0
133 – Tyler Kenney (SH) dec. Dustin Warner (WJU), 3-2 –– SH 9-0
141 – Joey Alessandro (SH) maj. dec. Daniel Romero (WJU), 12-1 –– SH 13-0
149 – Ty Lydic (SH) maj. dec. Dominick Nania (WJU), 13-2 –– SH 17-0
157 – Greg Brusco (WJU) maj. dec. Zach Voytek (SH), 12-3 –– SH 17-4
165 – Nic Skonieczny (WJU) dec. Tanner Druck (SH), 3-2 –– SH 17-7
174 – Reyse Wallbrown (WJU) dec. Zach Mattucci (SH), 7-5 –– SH 17-10
184 – Billy Bowlen (SH) fall Anthony Smith (WJU), 6:01 –– SH 23-10
197 – Terrance Fanning (WJU) dec. Morris Lawson (SH), 7-0 –– SH 23-13
285 – Maxwell Lacey (WJU) maj. dec. Lou Maser (SH), 10-2 –– SH 23-17
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