Bonus points help Sacred Heart rally to beat Davidson for first win

Sacred Heart snapped a 19-match losing streak with a 20-18 win over Davidson on Saturday at the Pitt Center in Fairfield (Nicholas Bosticco photo courtesy Sacred Heart athletics)

The Sacred Heart men’s wrestling team won three of their final four matches to earn their first win of the season Saturday with a 20-18 win over Davidson College in Fairfield at the Pitt Center.

The win snaps a 19-match losing streak for the Pioneers dating back to last November.

Sacred Heart trailed by nine points after six matches but had a pair of wins by technical fall and a major decision to secure five bonus points, which enabled the Pioneers (1-2) to win. Braxton Fries-Appello (133) won by major decision to give Sacred Heart four team points, instead of three for a victory.

John Hildebrand (141) and Felix Lettini (157) each won by technical fall to give the Pioneers five team points.

Davidson (0-2) won the first three matches to take a 9-0 lead but Sacred Heart’s Chris DeLena (184) slipped by Daniel Elyash, 3-2 and Brendan Gilchrist (275) of Norwalk earned a 4-1 decision in overtime to get the Pioneers back in the match, cutting the Davidson lead to 9-6.

Sacred Heart improves to 9-2 against Davidson. The two programs began competing against each other in 2011. Sacred Heart returns to action next week at the Big Red Invitational at Cornell.

Sacred Heart 20, Davidson College 18
At Fairfield
165: Tanner Peake (D) dec. AJ Falcone, 4-1
174: Marc Koch (D) dec. Aidan Hunter, 5-4
184: Cody Kirck (D) dec. Hunter Perez, 7-2
197: Chris DeLena (SH) dec. Daniel Elyash, 3-2
285: Brendan Gilchrist (SH) dec. DJ Spring, 4-1, OT
125: Brady Joling (D) pin Tyler Hildebrand, 2:51
133: Braxton Fries-Appello (SH) dec. Luke Passarelli, 10-1
141: John Hildebrand (SH) tech fall Kiyan Simon, 16-1, 4:00
149: Anderson Heap (D) dec. Dakota Asuncion, 8-3
157: Felix Lettini (SH) tech fall Marley Washington, 16-1, 5:42
Records: Sacred Heart 1-2, Davidson 0-2

Weekend results

Wesleyan 27, Trinity 14
Wrestling against a crosstown rival in Trinity on Saturday afternoon, the Cardinals landed a couple of pins to defeat the Bantams, 27-14, in an early season dual match. Wesleyan went 6-4 on the day in bouts, winning two by pins, one tech fall, one major decision, and two decision victories.

Wesleyan’s Chris Hong (125) opened the match with a convincing 9-2 win pin Alex Schaeublin, who placed at last season’s NCAA Division III Northeast Regional meet and is currently ranked No. 3 in the Northeast Region.

Wesleyan’s Hayden Myers landed a pin at 144, needing 4:33 minutes to land the six-point win and swing momentum back in favor of the Cardinals. Ike Guttentag followed that up with a 9-5 victory pin Ty Trickle at 149 to make it 12-4 in the team scoring in favor of the Cardinals.

Easily the most-dramatic bout of the day saw first-year Wynton Bowers take Luke Hutton into overtime at 197. Then 1:03 into the extra session, it was Bowers who landed a thrilling pin on Hutton to clinch the match victory for the Cardinals.

Wesleyan 27, Trinity 14
At Hartford
125: Chris Hong (W) dec. Alexander Schaeublin, 9-2
133: Matthew Carrozza (T) dec. Taylor Tan, 12-3
141: Hayden Myers (W) pin Daniel Echeverria, 4:33
149: Ike Guttentag (W) dec. Ty Trickle, 9-5
157: Andrew Pratt (T) dec. Kellen Horst, 8-2
165: Akiva Lind (W) dec. Austin Edwards, 25-15
174: John Lagana (T) dec. Rinaldo DiGiacopo, 13-4
184: Roman Martinez (W) tech fall Tucker Vician, 18-2, 5:20
197: Wynton Bowers (W) pin Luke Hutton, 8:03
285: Nicholas Ebrahimi (T) dec. Michael DiOrio, 13-7
Records: Wesleyan 1-0, Trinity 0-1

Weekend results

WOMEN’S WRESTLING
Bridgeport is third at Millersville Open
At the Millersville Open in Pennsylvania, Bridgeport turned in another strong outing on Sunday, collecting 18 total wins highlighted by three individual championships and a fourth-place finish. Sophomore Lindsey Rywolt continued her dominant season by rolling to the 124-pound title with four straight 10-0 tech falls, improving her record to 12-1 this year with five pins and seven tech falls. Kanyah McCarthy (138) and Hoshena Gemme (160) also claimed titles after perfect 3-0 efforts in their respective brackets.