Kates Gym was lit up for the Eagle’s final home dual of the season as the fans all wore glow sticks in support of the team and the seniors as they defeated the No. 15 ranked Dragons tonight 21-8.

“We knew coming in it was going to be tough,” said head coach Josh Hutchens. “We also knew how we matched up and that there were going to be a lot of really close matches.”

AU had a very strong start after redshirt freshman Sebastian Vidika defeated sophomore Giuseppe Penzone in a major decision 14-9. Vidika set the tone for the Eagles after coming back from a 6-1 deficient.

Freshman Chandler Minnard continued the momentum as he defeated Lawrence Blackful III in a 14-0 decision.

The next match between redshirt junior Bobby Mason and Tiffin sophomore Travis Slayer ended in an Eagle victory 3-1 after a technical violation by the Dragons. The violation made the overall score of the meet ten to negative one.

The next match also ended with a point deduction, but this time on the Eagle’s side after redshirt junior Brent Fickel fell to Tiffin’s Mike Screptock in a 3-1 decision, although committed unsportsmanlike conduct. Following this matchup, the over all score still kept the Eagle’s ahead 9-2.

Senior Zeb Beam turned it back around for the Eagles after defeating Tiffin senior Sam Viengnamy in a 5-4 decision.

The success for AU continued as freshman Christian Price won in a 6-4 decision versus Tiffin junior Jett Hurt. Junior Jordan Murphy also won in a decision over Dragon Chris Baker 5-2.

Junior Brandon O’Neil fell in a sudden overtime death to junior Jared Chambers 3-1.

Still ranked third in the nation, senior Joe Brant did not disappoint, adding another victory to his record in a 9-7 decision over Tiffin senior Jake Cramer.

Brant, (No. 1) and Cramer (No. 2) are the top two wrestlers in the 197-weight class in Super Region II, which showed in their very equal performance tonight.

“That is the kind of wrestling you want to see,” said Hutchens. “Joe works harder than anyone else and anyone in the country. He felt him (Cramer) ware down and the longer the match goes, the more Joe scores because he just gets tired.”

The final match of the night saw senior Nigel Cross fall to junior Garrett Gray in a 1-0.

The Eagles will compete next at the NCAA Super Region II Meet in Indianapolis, Ind. on Feb. 26 and 27.  Head coach Josh Hutchens says the team has the goal of getting six athletes to qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships at this meet. 

“There are a lot of things that we are going to need to do right to do well at the Regional Tournament, but we have two weeks of no competition where will practice and practice and hopefully that will help get guys there,” said Hutchens.