The Citadel 24, VMI 15
LEXINGTON, Va.- VMI junior heavyweight Scott Buhman kept Keydet hopes alive with his pin at 285 lbs., but back-to-back wins by The Citadel’s Anthony Easter and Billy Bullwinkel in the night’s final two matches secured the 24-15 victory for the Bulldogs in Southern Conference wrestling action in front of a fervent crowd of 1,013 at the Thunderdome on Thursday evening.
The Citadel (5-8, 1-2 SoCon) claimed bonus points in three of the six matches they won, taking a pair of major decisions in their first two wins and a pin at 197. The Keydets (1-7-1, 0-2-1 SoCon) could only manage four victories on the evening, with Buhman’s pin as the only extra points of the match for the hosts.
“We wrestled a lot better tonight,” said VMI head coach John Trudgeon. “We’re getting better technically, and we definitely wrestled hard. The corps was fantastic tonight, and a lot of the community came out to watch a very good collegiate wrestling match. We had our opportunities, but The Citadel wrestled well and deserved to win. We wrestled better, but we still have a lot of technical work to do.”
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead in the night’s first match, as Sean Markey improved to 21-3 with a 14-2 major decision over David Metzler at 141 lbs. The Keydets then rallied back to take their only lead of the night, claiming the next two matches at 149 and 157. Keydet junior Sam Alvarenga improved to 17-7 overall and 2-1 in the SoCon with a 14-7 decision over Nick Orio, while sophomore Tommy Cunningham got back on the winning side with a 5-2 victory at 157 to give VMI the 6-4 advantage.
But The Citadel would answer immediately, as Dan Thompson went to 3-0 in the conference with his 13-4 major decision victory at 165, followed by Darius Caldwell’s 5-3 sudden victory at 174 over VMI’s Dustin McCabe.
With the Bulldogs leading 11-6, Keydet junior Corry Murray ran his record to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the SoCon with his 8-2 decision over John Dickerson at 184 lbs. In the night’s seventh contest, Bulldog senior Mark Thompson won his 22nd match of the season, pinning freshman Kyle Elgert at the 1:33 mark of the match, giving the visitors a sizable 17-9 advantage.
With his team down eight points, Buhman took the mat against John Buck. In a low-scoring dual, Buhman finally saw an opening late in the third period, pinning Buck with only 12 seconds remaining in the match, setting the Keydet fans into a frenzy and cutting the Bulldog advantage to 17-15.
The match then went back to the lightweights, as Easter guaranteed at least a tie for The Citadel with his 15-6 major decision victory at 125 before Bullwinkel secured the win with a late flurry to defeat Brandon Stillo 8-5 at 133.
The Keydets and Bulldogs will now head north, as they will join several service academies and military colleges at the 20th Annual All-Academy Championships, to be held Saturday at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. The Keydets wrestle their final home dual match of the season next Friday evening, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m., when they host SoCon foe Chattanooga.
The Citadel 24, VMI 15
141- Sean Markey (C) maj. dec. David Metzler (V), 14-2; CIT 4-0
149- Sam Alvarenga (V) dec. Nick Orio (C), 14-7; CIT 4-3
157- Tom Cunningham (V) dec. Chris Humphries (C), 5-2; VMI 6-4
165- Dan Thompson (C) maj. dec. Chris Hardy (V), 13-4; CIT 8-6
174- Darius Caldwell (C) dec. Dustin McCabe (V), 5-3 (sv); CIT 11-6
184- Corry Murray (V) dec. John Dickerson (C), 8-2; CIT 11-9
197- Mark Thompson (C) pin Kyle Elgert (V), 1:33; CIT 17-9
285- Scott Buhman (V) pin John Buck (C), 6:48; CIT 17-15
125- Anthony Easter (C) maj. dec. Lam Ly (V), 15-6; CIT 21-15
133- Billy Bullwinkel (C) dec. Brandon Stillo (V), 8-5; CIT 24-15
Attendance- 1,013