Mount Olive, N.C. - After suffering their first conference loss since November against Lander, the Newberry Wrestling Team bounced right back Wednesday evening as they won eight out of ten bouts on the evening to cruise to a 31-8 win over the Mount Olive Trojans in their final SACC dual of the season. The Wolves conclude the dual season at 9-5 overall and 6-3 in SACC competition.
The Wolves opened up with a bang as Zach Shupp earned a dominant 16-4 major decision at 125 and Timothy Decatur used an early four back points to follow that up with a 12-0 major decision at 133 to give the Wolves an early 8-0 lead.
The Trojans would get on the board at 141 as a late stalling point and takedown were not enough for
Devan Moore as he fell to a 9-6 decision. But
Isiah Royal would have his teammate's back as he would continue his dominant form with an 18-3 technical fall to remain perfect since his return to the Newberry lineup. Those five points would give the Wolves the 13-3 lead after four bouts
The Trojans would score their last points at 157 as Trevor Mansfield would lose via technical fall to cut the lead to 13-8. However, that would be the last time that Mount Olive would light up the scoreboard as the Wolves would rally off five straight wins to put the Trojans away.
The run started off at 165 where Nolan Wheeler would fall just short of a major decision with a 9-2 scoreline to make it 16-8 Newberry. Caleb Spears continued his torrid run since the turn of the new year with a gritty 10-6 decision to increase the lead to 19-8 and put Mount Olive in must-win territory for the rest of the bout. Armando Acosta would end any hopes of a miraculous comeback as he would follow that up with a 7-0 decision of his own to make it 22-8 and seal the win for the Wolves. At 197, Kaleb Haven would use a second period take down and pin Jonathan Clark in 4:52 to pad the Wolves lead to 28-8. Devon Rice would end the match with a gritty 2-0 decision where he refused to concede the escape point after starting on top in the third period with a 1-0 lead.
"I am very pleased with our performance tonight as a whole," said Head Coach Deral Brown. "I look forward to us riding this momentum from this dominant victory into the Super Region tournament and eventually the NCAA Championships in St. Louis"
The Wolves will have one last time to compete before the Super Region II Tournament as they will host the Newberry Open on Sunday in Eleazer Arena. After that all of the attention turns to the Super Region tournament in Lumberton, N.C. on February 26th.
