"This was a big one," said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett, who captured his first win over the Mountain Hawks since his arrival in Annapolis seven years ago. "Greg Strobel does a great job with his program at Lehigh and he has strong athletes."
"I'll be honest, we really didn't look sharp tonight. I'm proud that we won, but we made some basic mistakes that we haven't made lately. It's not always about winning, but doing things right. In the end, we came through with a win and I'm happy for our wrestlers."
Lehigh took control of the match by winning two (125 & 141) of the first three matches, both by major decisions. Navy sophomore 133-pounder Joe Baker (Poway, Calif.) gave the Mids their first win and wasted little time in taking down freshman Seth Ciasulli. He gave up just a pair of points in the match, both escapes by Ciasulli, in a 9-2 decision.
A decision by senior John Cox (Grand Haven, Mich.) at 149 pounds was the first of five-straight wins for the Mids. Cox earned a 4-1 victory over Lehigh's Trevor Chinn, riding Chinn throughout the third period to earn the extra point for riding time.
At 157 pounds, Jarred earned a come-from-behind victory over Lehigh senior Dave Nakasone, who hails from nearby Ellicott City. Nakasone scored a takedown just 12 seconds into the match with Jarred escaping 10 seconds later. Jarred chose the down position to open the second period, where he knotted the score at two apiece with his escape. Jarred rode Nakasone throughout the third period, not letting Nakasone the one-point escape he desperately needed, while Jarred accumulated riding time. Nakasone finally got out of the clutches of Jarred to take a 3-2 lead with 57 seconds to go in the match. Jarred scored the winning takedown with 19 seconds left and tacked on an extra point for riding time in a 5-3 decision to put the Midshipmen up, 9-8.
Junior Justin Jacobs (LeRoy, Mich.), who was forced to move from 157 pounds to 165 because of a recent injury to Robert Johnston, earned his first dual win of the season in an 8-3 victory over freshman Manuel Schubert. Jacobs entered the match having wrestled three-consecutive nationally-ranked wrestlers, including Maryland's Jason Kiessling who he nearly upset on Wednesday, but lost a tough 6-4 decision in overtime. Jacobs, however, took a 2-0 lead into the third period, where he earned an escape and posted a pair of takedowns in the final 30 seconds of the match to post a crucial 8-3 win.
"It's a great opportunity to wrestle alongside my teammates who help build me up," said Jacobs. "Being part of a team, you move wherever the team needs you.
"On Wednesday, I felt like the switch was flipped and then tonight's win was great. I feel like I'm making some forward progression."
Navy earned major decisions at 174 and 184 pounds with Matt Stolpinski (Westfield, Mass.) and Antonio Miranda (Eugene, Ore.) dominating their foes. Stolpinski, ranked No. 11 in the country at 174 pounds, turned in eight takedowns and produced a three-point near fall in his 21-7 victory over junior Eddy Silverman. Miranda, meanwhile, recorded 10 takedowns en route to a 22-9 win over Alex Iacocca. The pair of major decisions gave Navy a 20-8 lead and put Lehigh nearly out of reach with two matches remaining.
Mountain Hawks freshman David Craig, ranked No. 20 at 184 pounds, wrestled in place of Matt Cassidy at 197 pounds where he cruised past Navy sophomore Tyler Moyer (Bremerton, Wash.) in a major decision, trimming the Mids' lead to 20-12.
Navy junior Ed Prendergast (St. Louis, Mo.), ranked 10th in the nation, sealed the win for the Mids with his 11th pin of the 2006-07 campaign, this one at 1:26 against 15th-ranked Paul Weibel.
The Midshipmen return to action next Saturday when they travel to the state of North Carolina to battle the University of North Carolina and N.C. State in a pair of duals. Navy faces the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill at 1:00 pm, before facing the Wolfpack at 7:00 pm in Raleigh.
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