App State wrestling hosted and defeated The Citadel Military School of South Carolina Bulldogs Sunday by a score of 23-13. It was a matchup of the two remaining undefeated teams in Southern Conference play.
Redshirt sophomore 141-pounder Aldo Hernandez and heavyweight sophomore Stephen Monchery gave the Mountaineers an early lead after giving the team 6 and 5 points respectively, with Hernandez producing a tech fall and Mochery winning on a third-period pin.
“I try to keep everything the same,” Hernandez said. “Going into the match, I knew it was going to be a big match, conference title on the line, but I keep everything the same and our coach preaches on the next match is the most important one, this happened to be the next one.”
Early success continued for App State, with 197-pound redshirt sophomore Logan Eller taking down The Citadel’s Adam Ortega with a reversal in the final seconds.
“I was actively trying to get to my feet, he threw a leg in at the end, and I just felt myself able to hop over and get the reversal,” Eller said.
Hernandez followed up his early performance giving the Black and Gold a 20-3 lead, and redshirt junior Kaden Keiser, ranked at No. 30 in the coaches poll for 149 pounds, defeated fellow ranked wrestler Carson DesRosier to win the duel.
“Body and mind feel great, the energy has been the best it’s ever been all year, and our culture is the best it’s been all year,” Hernandez said.
The Bulldogs only scored one win in the first seven matches, but were able to take the final three of the match.
Regardless, it was not enough to mount a comeback, and the Mountaineers took it 23-13.
“I thought that the crowd was great today,” head coach JohnMark Bentley said. “They were vocal, they were loud, they obviously gave us some momentum, gave us a homefield advantage. Our guys fed off of it, obviously we got the good start, winning six of the first seven, which is a big deal.”
App State wrestling looks to stay ahead of the pack in the SoCon standings, with just three matches to play before the conference tournament. The next match will be on the road at Davidson College on Friday. The match will start at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on FloSports.
