GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah wrestling team handed the Averett Cougars their first loss of the 2021 season on Saturday afternoon by a 24-21 final score in a thrilling final dual of the season. Messiah earned a trio of falls on the afternoon with
Garret Cornell (149 lbs.),
Nick Barnhart (157 lbs.), and
Brian Shermeyer (174 lbs.) all earning key pins to lift the Falcons to victory.
Dan Swarr (184 lbs.) and
David Stevens (197 lbs.) delivered key decisions late in the dual to ice the match and give Messiah their fifth win of the season.
Averett entered Saturday's dual 10-0 on the season with an average margin of victory of 32.5 points in their first 10 duals of the year.
Messiah will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Reading for a Round Robin with Alvernia.
Averett Starts on Top
The Cougars started off strong thanks in part to a technical fall from the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 125 lbs., Sam Braswell. Averett followed up the tech fall with a major decision by Joseph Jones at 133 lbs. and a tight 5-2 decision by Brandon Woody at 141 lbs.
Those three victories opened up a 12-0 lead for the Cougars as the dual turned to 149 lbs.
Falcons Fall Even
Messiah needed just under five minutes to level the score with
Garret Cornell and
Nick Barnhart both picking up first-period falls at 149 lbs. and 157 lbs., respectively. After a quiet opening minute of his match at 149 lbs,
Garret Cornell earned a takedown of Tony Blackman midway through the period. Just 30 seconds later, Cornell locked up his cradle and earned the fall with 34 seconds left in the first period.
Nick Barnhart followed a similar path to his fall at 157 lbs., picking up an early takedown of Landon Childress just 30 seconds into the match. After an escape, Barnhart earned a second takedown midway through the period before working a number of pinning combinations en route to the fall in 2:24.
The two falls tied the dual at 12-12.
Key Wins Clinch Dual
A tight battle at 165 lbs. favored the Cougars with Alex Turley edging
Matt Pangle by a 5-2 final. The decision put Averett back in front in the team score 15-12, but the Falcons would come back. Three-straight victories started with a fall by
Brian Shermeyer at 174 lbs. Shermeyer did not concede a single point to George Moseley, finishing the match with a fall in 6:37. A first-period takedown put Shermeyer in the driver's seat and he took that lead into the third period. After an escape to start the period, a takedown midway through the third made it 5-0 before bullying Moseley to his back for the fall.
Dan Swarr was up next at 184 lbs., wrestling against Zion Carpenter. Swarr earned the first points of the bout, with a takedown one minute in. After riding him for nearly two minutes, Carpenter earned a reversal to level the score at 2-2 after the first period. In the second it was Swarr's turn to claim a reversal, earning it midway through the period to take a 4-2 lead. In the final seconds of the period, Swarr claimed a pair of nearfall points. Those near fall points turned out to be the difference as Carpenter claimed a third-period takedown, but it was not enough to overtake Swarr, who claimed the 6-4 decision.
Swarr's decision gave Messiah a six-point lead, meaning if
David Stevens could earn a victory up a weight class at 197 lbs., the Falcons would clinch the dual. Stevens did just that, defeating Billy Baldwin 9-4. Stevens was not taken down during the match, claiming four total takedowns and an escape to claim the decision and earn the dual victory for the Falcons.
Averett's Trent Ragland claimed a fall in the first minute of the heavyweight bout to get to the final score of 24-21 in favor of the Falcons.
Exhibitions
The Falcons and Cougars contested a total of eight exhibitions after the dual. Messiah claimed five of the eight bouts with
Nick Nunez highlighting the effort with a thrilling third-period fall over Kyle Sanders at 141 lbs. By the middle of the third period, Nunez had been shutout and had been battling injury throughout the match, but he locked up a cradle after a scramble with 45 seconds remaining. Putting Sanders to his back, Nunez earned the fall just seconds later in 6:32.
Jake Coniglio also earned a fall in the exhibition matches against Tommy Baldwin, doing so in less dramatic fashion. Coniglio earned the pin in 3:39, midway through the second period.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will wrap up the regular season against Alvernia on Saturday afternoon with a round robin competition. The wrestling is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. in Reading.
Messiah defeats Averett - 24-21
125 - Sam Braswell (A) tech fall (20-5, 7:00) over
Asa Brunk (M)
133 - Joseph Jones (A) maj. Dec. (11-2) over
Hunter Rinehart (M)
141 - Brandon Woody (A) dec. (5-2) over
Dalton Daugherty (M)
149 -
Garret Cornell (M) fall (2:26) over Tony Blackman (A)
157 -
Nick Barnhart (M) fall (2:24) over Landon Childress (A)
165 - Alex Turley (A) dec. (5-2) over
Matt Pangle (M)
174 -
Brian Shermeyer (M) fall (6:37) over George Moseley (A)
184 -
Dan Swarr (M) dec. (6-4) over Zion Carpenter (A)
197 -
David Stevens (M) dec. (9-4) over Billy Baldwin (A)
285 - Trent Ragland (A) fall (0:49) over
Carter Urich (M)
