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Grantham, PA - Almost one year ago to the day, Messiah dropped a dual match to Johns Hopkins 19-24. Coming into this year's match-up of the two rivals, you could say the Falcons were looking for some revenge.
On Friday night in Messiah's Brubaker Auditoriu, the Falcons got just that.
Riding pins of freshman
Kaleb Loht and senior
Matt Cross, the Falcons defeated the Blue Jays 22-16 to move to 11-6 on the season.
"This was a really exciting dual," said Messiah head coach
Bryan Brunk. "Coming in, we knew it could be a real battle for both teams, and that's exactly what it was."
The "battle" looked mostly one-sided for JHU at the beginning, as they took four of the first five matches. Messiah's lone highlight was a pin by freshman standout
Kaleb Loht. His pin, even with Messiah down 13-6, proved to be valuable points in the closely-contested dual.
The Falcons would climb back into the match with a 13-6 decision by sophomore
Ricardo Plummer. Senior
Matt Cross followed with a pin of Travis Laska in the 174, with the six points being collected just 36 seconds into the bout.
A major decision by senior
Tim Stewart continued the Falcons' momentum, and put the home team on top by a score of 19-13.
In the 197 class, JHU's Reid Mosquera earned a hotly-contested 5-4 decision to move the Blue Jays within 19-16.
WIth JHU clinging to the hope of regaining the lead, Messiah's
Russell Jones delivered a thrilling 8-2 victory over Evan Johnson to seal their own come-from-behind victory.
With the loss, JHU falls to 4-12. Messiah moves to 11-6 on the season. The team will have just the evening to celebrate before taking on PSU-Beaver, Gettysburg, and King's College at Gettysburg on Saturday, February 4.
Messiah 22, JHU 16
125 Paul Bewak, JHU, dec.
Danny Lethbridge, MESS, 1-3
133 Kaleb Loht, MESS, pinned Michael Koren, JHU, 5:02
141 Paul Marcello, JHU, dec.
Victor Bracey, MESS, 2-5
149 Henry Stauber, maj. dec.
Chris Williamson, MESS, 2-10
157 Matt Fusaro, dec.
Chris Hardenberg, MESS, 0-6
165 Ricardo Plummer, MESS, dec. Joseph Gowen, JHU, 13-6
174 Matt Cross, MESS, pinned Travis Laska, JHU, 0:36
184 Tim Stewart, MESS, maj. dec. Ben Finelli, JHU, 12-3
197 Reid Mosquera, JHU, dec.
Travis Ebersole, MESS, 4-5
285 Russell Jones, MESS, dec. Evan Johnson, JHU, 8-2
