Ephs Take 5th at NEWA Duals

Springfield, MA – The Springfield College Pride hosted Williams and 14 other programs for the the New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Duals today. The Ephs had a strong showing, going 3-1 on the day en route to 5^th place. Adding to the occasion was the induction of alum Corey Paulish '11 to the NEWA Hall of Fame.
 
Williams began the day with a round of 16 matchup with the Golden Bears of Western New England where they prevailed by a comfortable 13-point margin with a 30-17 victory. Lucas Johnson and Jack Napeloni got the Ephs off to a flying start, delivering a major decision and pin respectively to establish a 10-point lead. After a setback at 141, the Ephs did the double at 149 and 157 courtesy of the freshmen duo of Caleb Seyfried and Peter Kane, bringing the Ephs total to 21 with five bouts to go. The rest of the Ephs' nine points were scored by juniors Dante Gutbrod and William Smith who came away with wins at 174 and 184.
 
Next up for the Ephs was familiar foe Castleton in a high-stakes quarterfinal showdown. Unfortunately, the Spartans had the Ephs' number on this occasion and were able to win at each weight class besides 157 where Kane delivered an 8-0 major decision win. 
 
Following this setback, Williams was placed into a consolation bracket of four teams with 5^th place on the line. In the first match of this section of the tournament, the Ephs were paired with the Southern Maine Huskies and they responded resolutely with a 24-21 victory in a narrowly contested, back-and-forth affair. Williams found themselves in a 15-9-hole heading into the final four bouts. Fortunately, Gutbrod and Smith took matters into their own hands, producing back-to-back pins and a dozen points for the Ephs, flipping a six-point deficit into an advantage. Tommy Goodwin sealed the deal at 197, tacking on three more points to put the match out of reach for the Huskies.Goodwin was named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
This win over the Huskies booked the Ephs a fifth-place contest with the Trinity Bantams who they had bested in a home dual in December. Williams was able to complete the double over Trinity with a 28-20 win. 
 
Reflecting on an action-packed day of wrestling, Head Coach Scott Honecker had this to share: "Today was a great day for Williams wrestling. It is impossible to single anyone out because everyone is wrestling their butts off. And I'll tell you what, it starts in the practice room.  These guys bring a level of professionalism and intensity to our development and preparation that is going to be hard for the opposition to match. We just need to stay on the upward trajectory and continue bringing that intensity to our growth as a team. I'm excited to have next weekend off so we can really dig into the film and the individual sessions this week— there's still a lot of progress to be made.  If that happens, it will spill over onto the competition days, as it did today. I was especially proud to see the guys wrestle so well with Corey Paulish '11 in attendance. He was a great wrestler for us and it was awesome to see him inducted into the NEWA hall of fame today. Hopefully we made him proud!"
 
The Ephs return to the mats Saturday, February 4^th in Middletown, CT for a quad meet hosted by Little Three rival Wesleyan.
 
Below are the full results for the Ephs from today's bouts.
 

Weight	Williams	Western New England	Result	Score
125	Lucas Johnson	Clayton O'Connor	11-2 major decision	4-0 Williams
133	Jack Napeloni	Nick Faraci	2:28 fall	10-0 Williams
141	Donnie Morton	Colby Reilly	7-1 decision	10-3 Williams
149	Caleb Seyfried	James Barrett	20-4 tech fall	15-3 Williams
157	Peter Kane	Keon Ayala	1:53 fall	21-3 Williams
165	Eamon Garrity-Rokous	Sean Montiero	6-1 decision	21-6 Williams
174	Dante Gutbrod	Jaylen Hawkins	2:54 fall	27-6 Williams
184	Will Smith	Griffin Ostrom	5-4 decision	30-6 Williams
197	Elias Chen	Darby McLaughlin	1:56 fall	30-12 Williams
285	Tim Brown	Spencer Dickinson	11-1 major decision	30-17 Williams

Weight	Williams	Castleton	Result	Score
125	Lucas Johnson	Kaya Bogle	2:14 fall	6-0 Castleton
133	Jack Napeloni	Michael Gonyea	8-5 decision	9-0 Castleton
141	Donnie Morton	James Rodriguez	22-7 tech fall	14-0 Castleton
149	Caleb Seyfried	Nick Roeger	5:51 fall	20-0 Castleton
157	Peter Kane	Elijah Cyr	8-0 major decision	20-4 Castleton
165	Eamon Garrity-Rokous	Jashon Holmes	7-2 decision	23-4 Castleton
174	Dante Gutbrod	Cooper Fleming	4-0 decision	26-4 Castleton
184	Will Smith	Josh Negron	7-0 decision	29-4 Castleton
197	Elias Chen	Sampson Wilkins	2:51 fall	35-4 Castleton
285	Tim Brown	Shea Garand	0:41 fall	41-4 Castleton

Weight	Williams	Southern Maine	Result	Score
125	David Yeh	--	Forfeit	6-0 Williams
133	Jack Napeloni	Ethan Ford	11-5 decision	6-3 Williams
141	Donnie Morton	Caden Frost	7-2 decision	6-6
149	Caleb Seyfried	Colby Frost	1:09 fall	12-6 Southern Maine
157	Peter Kane	Jeremy Sendrowski	5-1 decision	12-9 Southern Maine
165	Eamon Garrity-Rokous	Tyler Haynes	4-2 decision	15-9 Southern Maine
174	Dante Gutbrod	AJ Robinson	1:06 fall	15-15
184	Will Smith	Timothy Smalle	0:27 fall	21-15 Williams
197	Tommy Goodwin	Anthony Mears	9-6 decision	24-15 Williams
285	Tim Brown	Jake Peavey	1:13 fall	24-21 Williams

Weight	Williams	Trinity	Result	Score
125	David Yeh	Sean Thomas	1:19 fall	6-0 Williams
133	Jack Napeloni	Matthew Carrozza	9-0 major decision	10-0 Williams
141	Donnie Morton	Adam Schaeublin	10-6 decision	10-3 Williams
149	Caleb Seyfried	Christopher Perry	4-3 decision	13-3 Williams
157	Peter Kane	Nico Patch	1:52 fall	19-3 Williams
165	Eamon Garrity-Rokous	Kevin Lyskawa	15-0 tech fall	19-8 Williams
174	Dante Gutbrod	Adam Frost	2:47 fall	25-8 Williams
184	Will Smith	Cooper Kelley	8-2 decision	28-8 Williams
197	Elias Chen	Ander Klass	Forfeit	28-14 Williams
285	Tim Brown	Timothy Glynn	Forfeit	28-20 Williams