SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton wrestling team closed out the regular season in style with a trio of victories over King's (24-22), Keystone (42-12) and Bergen College (44-12) in a quad match on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.
With the victories, the Royals finish off the year at 10-5 in dual meets, while Keystone sits at 8-10 and King's is 2-15.
Scranton 24, King's 22
Scranton jumped out to a very quick 12-0 lead to start the day with pin fall victories from freshman Matthew DiGennaro (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional) and senior Matthew Murawski (Harrington Park, N.J./Northern Valley - Old Tappan) at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. From there, the Monarchs rallied to take a 14-12 lead before junior Jeremiah Oakes (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) pinned Jackson Mercantonio in 1:15 at 165 to regain the lead for the Royals.
Following a 7-0 decision from graduate student William Laughlin (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) at 174 pounds, Scranton led 21-14, but King's recorded consecutive major decisions to hold a 22-21 edge heading into the heavyweight match which brought the match to a thrilling finish.
Things were even at one apiece in the waning seconds of the heavyweight match when Scranton senior John Murphy (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) registered a takedown of Dave White for two points and a 3-1 victory for the Royals in the match.
Scranton 44, Bergen 12
DiGennaro registered his second pin fall victory of the day at 125 pounds to get things rolling for the Royals and senior Brandon Judge (Eynon, Pa./Valley View) notched a technical fall over the Bulldogs' Ye Chan Kim at 141 for an early 17-0 advantage in the match.
Bergen sliced into the deficit with consecutive pin fall victories, but Oakes got Scranton back on track at 165 pounds with an impressive overtime decision (10-8) against Ty Pfeifer. The Royals took the final four matches via forfeit for the eventual 44-12 win.
Scranton 42, Keystone 12
The pin fall theme continued for the Royals in their final match of the day as Murawski and Judge helped open up an 18-0 lead following the 141 pound match with consecutive pins in under two minutes.
Oakes remained unbeaten on the day at 165 as he pinned Keystone's Christian Micikas in just 0:33 for a 27-6 advantage and Laughlin followed at 174 with a pin fall victory of his own. Senior Justin Weimer (Leonardo, N.J./Middletown South) notched the final win of the day at 197 pounds for Scranton with a decision over the Giants' Brandon Crusen.
Prior to the match, the Royals honored the seven members of the 2021-22 senior class: Murawski, Murphy, Weimer, Peter Amicucci (Poughquag, N.Y./Arlington), Anthony Clarizio (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove), William Fauerbach (Verona, N.J./Verona) and Stephen Murphy (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell).
The University of Scranton wrestling team returns to the mat for the NCAA Mideast Regionals that will be hosted by Elizabethtown on Feb. 26 & 27.
--ROYALS--
