The Hofstra wrestling team completed its historic 2019-20 season on Feb. 22 with a 38-3 victory over Sacred Heart University at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. The Pride finishes the season 11-5, its most wins since the 2011-12 season, including 7-0 in conference, their most conference wins since joining the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) and their first undefeated conference record since going 7-0 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play back in the 2006-07 season.
“The EIWA, right now, is the second-toughest conference in the country,” said head coach Dennis Papadatos, “We wrestled seven of the 17 teams in the conference and we beat all seven. We’re excited about it.”
Saturday’s dual meet began in the 141-pound weight class with Vinny Vespa who was trying to snap a five-match losing streak. He went up against Gerard Daly for Sacred Heart and Vespa started the meet off on a high note with an 8-6 win to pull his overall record to 8-12.
Nick Palumbo tied the score for Sacred Heart (8-5, 3-5 EIWA), defeating freshman Reece Heller 6-2 in the 149-pound match. Heller was given multiple injury timeouts in the first period of that one.
“I thought Reece even finishing the match was an adverse situation was a moral victory,” Papadatos said.
Heller finishes his first season 19-11.
It was all Pride after that, beginning with Holden Heller. He grabbed his fourth fall of the season with a pin over Shaun Williams just over two minutes into the 157-pound bout. That made the score 9-3 in favor of Hofstra and gave Holden an 11-13 overall record.
Ricky Stamm followed it up by extending his win streak to six matches. He picked up a close 6-5 win over Brandon Levesque thanks to a late takedown. Stamm recently returned to the national rankings thanks to a 32nd ranked nod from Wrestlestat. He finishes the regular season at 18-8.
Sage Heller followed on a seven-match win streak at 174 pounds. He grabbed a close 3-2 win over Joe Accousti with the tie-breaking point coming by way of the riding time bonus. Sacred Heart challenged a call with no time left that Accousti got an escape but the ruling was upheld, giving Heller the win. He finishes the season 17-6.
Next up was Charles Small facing the only ranked Pioneer in Kyle Davis who is ranked 32nd at 184 pounds by Wrestlestat and Ratings Percentage Index. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Small was taken down a couple of times to go down 4-3. He would grab a takedown with one second left to take back a 5-4 lead but an unsportsmanlike penalty for clapping at the Sacred Heart bench gave Davis a point, sending the match to overtime. Small composed himself and grabbed the sudden-death takedown to win 7-5.
“I don’t fully disagree that the ref hit him for a point,” Papadatos said, “but then he got his composure together and got the takedown again against a good kid.” Small ends an up-and-down regular season at 8-14 on a four-match win streak.
Small was followed by Trey Rogers who racked up 21 points in a 10-point major decision win over Nick Fierro. Nine of Fierro’s 11 points came from escapes that Rogers allowed to give him a chance at another takedown. The Hofstra sophomore ended his regular season with a 14-7 overall record.
The heavyweight bout between Zachary Knighton-Ward and Dante DelBonis was another in a long line of dominant victories. Knighton-Ward built up over two minutes of riding time in the first period alone en route to an 11-3 major decision. Rating Percentage Index’s 24th ranked wrestler in the country completes his season at 19-11.
The next match didn’t take long as Hofstra’s 125-pounder Dylan Ryder got a pin on Sacred Heart’s Sean Faraon just 2:38 into their match. Ryder ends a 13-4 regular season riding an eight-match win streak that includes four major decisions and a tech fall.
Freshman Justin Hoyle was scheduled to wrestle at 133 pounds but Sacred Heart forfeited to end the dual meet. Hoyle, 19-7, has made a strong case to start over redshirt junior Garrett Lambert, 2-8, at the EIWA championships. “We’ll deal with it this week,” Papadatos said, “We wanted to get through this match and then have some conversations.”
Next up for the Pride is the conference tournament hosted by Lehigh University on March 6 and 7. Hofstra expects to send every wrestler who participated in Saturday’s dual meet with the only question mark being at 133 pounds.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
