By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR
Pride wrestling accomplished a task that they haven’t done all season long, win a dual meet.
The Hofstra Pride wrestling team hosted the Hofstra Alumni Duals at the Mack Physical Education Center Sunday afternoon and won back-to-back matches against Virginia Military Academy (25-18) and Bloomsburg (27-12) after a 0-5 start.
“We could be proud, which we are, and not be happy at the same time and that’s how I feel,” Hofstra head coach Dennis Papadatos said after the doubleheader. “We needed a spark plug [and] today was the first day I saw a sparkplug and Corey Damiana was our sparkplug … [he] fired everyone up.”
Hofstra came back from early deficits in both dual meets to pull off the wins. Their constant, top performers – Mike Hughes, Frank Affronti and Jamel Hudson – went 6-0 and set the foundation for other wrestlers to make a splash.
Corey Damiana stepped up in both matches to become the spark plug the Pride needed to win. He went 2-0 in his respective matches which he forced a fall and a tech. fall to produce total 11 points for his team.
The first matchup for the Hofstra Pride was against VMI and they dug themselves a huge hole. The Pride trailed 18-3 after the first six matchups.
Jamel Hudson was the only Pride wrestler to put points on the board early on to combat the bombardment. Otherwise, Hofstra’s Bryan Damon (3-0 decision) lost the 125 weight division, Marcus Begay (9-0 major decision) lost the 133, Ryan Burkert (6-2 decision) lost the 149, Jahlani Callender (21-8 major decision) lost the 157 and Jermaine John (8-0 major decision)lost the 165.
Just as the dual meet seemed it would end up Hofstra’s sixth straight loss to start the season, the comeback came in full force.
First, Affronti turned the tides and won an 11-3 major decision over Mark Derr in the 174 which cut VMI’s 18-3 lead to 18-7.
Then, Damiana toppled Derek Thurman in the 184, pinning him at the 1:50 mark and slashed VMI’s lead to 18-13.
Followed by a VMI forfeit at the 197 which granted six points for the Pride and their first lead (19-18) of the match.
Lastly, it was up to Hughes to deliver at the final matchup in the dual meet and he passed with flying colors. He pinned his opponent Sivaatasi Mathias at the: 36 mark and secured Hofstra’s first win this season.
After an approximate 30-minute break, the Pride geared up again versus the Bloomsburg Huskies. Before the match between Hofstra and VMI, Bloomsburg battled and won against VMI 20-18.
It was a battle for perfection on the day and the Pride fought from behind again to succeed.
After a 9-0 hole dug from Damon and Begay, a forfeit at the 141 gave Hudson six points and put Hofstra quickly back into contention. Then, Hofstra’s Kyle Krasavage matched Hudson’s six points, pinning Ryan Snow at the 6:02 mark.
The Pride took their first lead against Bloomsburg and never trailed again.
Despite a Callander’s 5-2 decision loss tied the dual meet at 12-12, Bobby Fehr, Affronti and Damiana nearly put the match out of sight for the Huskies.
At the 165, Fehr won an 8-2 decision over Matthew Carr to re-establish Hofstra’s lead 15-12. Then, Affronti extended their lead to 18-12 with a 2-1 decision against Casey Glunt.
Damiana put the match nearly out of reach with a 16-1 tech. fall decision over Kyle Wojtaszek to push the Pride’s lead to 23-12.
At this point, Bloomsburg needed back-to-back pins in order to win or at least a tech. fall and a pin to tie.
Even though Huskies’ wrestler Dominic Carfagno defeated Omar Haddad by a 12-4 major-decision win at the 197, Hofstra clinched the win with a 23-16 lead and one matchup left.
Hughes ended things on high note with a 9-0 major decision at the 285 and finished the dual meet with an 11-point victory.
The Pride is now 2-5 overall and they’ll travel down to the Pittsburgh Duals. Hofstra will compete in a doubleheader on Jan. 9, the first matchup will be against NC State at 9 a.m. followed by a 1 p.m. matchup against Davidson College.
