GREENWOOD - The second-ranked Lander Wrestling team capped off their second-straight undefeated conference season on Friday evening as they took down the King Tornado, 39-10, on Senior Night inside Horne Arena.
Lander concludes the regular season at 15-3, a perfect 10-0 in Conference Carolinas action, and a perfect 6-0 in the West Division, giving the Bearcats the outright West Division Title. As the top seed out of the west, Lander will face Newberry on Sunday, February 18th in the Conference Carolinas Tournament Semifinals. The Bearcats and Wolves did not face each other this year and Lander is currently on a two-match win streak against the team from up Highway 34.
King concludes the regular season at 9-5 overall, 6-3 in Conference Carolinas action, and 5-1 in the West Division. The Tornado will take the second seed from the Division and will face the UNC Pembroke Braves, the East Division Champions, in the semifinals.
Before the match, Kaiden Fisher (Lake Norman, N.C.), Brandon Matthews (Venetia, PA), Jack Bond (O'Fallon, Ill.), Jack Tangen (Glenview, Ill.), Anthony Yacovetti (Bridgeport, Pa.), Juan Edmond-Holmes (Goose Creek, S.C.), and Zeth Brower (Medford, Ore.) were each honored prior to taking to the mat for their final dual in Horne Arena.
However, it was three underclassmen that got the night started; each with a bonus point win.
James Joplin (Greensboro, N.C.) recorded his second pin of the week to start the match off, once again in the first period, to give Lander a 6-0 lead.
Elijah Lusk (Merritt Island, Fla.) then followed that up with a 19-7 major decision which saw him on the precipice of a tech fall before a seven-point play from Franky Medina of King cut Lusk's lead in half. Despite that, the Merritt Island, Fla. native was not perturbed as he got a quick reversal and got a four-point nearfall in the third to secure the win and make it 10-0, lander.
Isham Peace (Okatie, S.C.) was next up and he used a trio of takedowns as well as a three and four-point nearfall to dominate to a 17-0 tech fall, the redshirt sophomore's sixth of the season, to add five more points to Lander's total.
Brower was the first senior to take to the mat and although he came very close to pinning King's Brennan Watkins, he couldn't quite get both shoulders to the mat and came away with a 15-0 tech fall of his own to make it 20-0.
Jack Tangen made it five straight bonus point wins for Lander to open the match as he secured his fourth major decision of the year with a 13-2 win to make it 24-0 at the halfway mark
The shock of the night came at 165 as David Hunsberger (Duncan, S.C.) saw his perfect season end as he got caught in a cradle and was pinned in 2:32 for his first loss since NCAAs last season and get the Tornado on the board at 24-6
Matthews had his teammate's back as he got his fourth pin of the year at 174 to make it 30-6, Lander.
After the Tornado got on the board again with a major decision at 184, Yacovetti continued his dominant run at 197 with his nation-leading 16th pin of the season and Edmond-Holmes earned a scrappy 8-3 decision to give Lander the 29-point win.
In an exhibition bout, Kaiden Fisher earned a 18-2 technical fall in the final match of his career.
Lander concludes their conference slate with a record of 66-7 in conference dual matches and an overall regular season bout record of 112-21.
The Bearcats will take part in the inaugural Conference Carolinas Wrestling Championship on Sunday the 18th before resting up to host the NCAA Division II Super Region II Championships in Horne Arena on March 2nd.
