ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Army-Navy Wrestling Star Match came down to the final bout and Army's Brady Colbert clinched the 19-18 victory for the Black Knights with a win at 285 lbs.
With the final result squarely down to Brady Colbert and his counterpart Spencer Lanosga—both top 16 wrestlers in both the InterMat and FloWrestling rankings—the pair of 285 lb wrestlers were engaged to the last second.
Friday night's victor would need the smallest edge to pull ahead in the dual, and the same rung true in the final bout. Fortunately for Colbert, that edge was earned in the penultimate period with a two-minute ride.
With the riding time point secured, Colbert simply had to let the clock expire without conceding points, and he did just that, regrouping at a timeout with 17 ticks on the clock before finishing the job for Army.
Winning 2-0, the sophomore clinched a one-point dual win for the Black Knights.
Army completes the dual season with a 5-5 overall record and a 5-1 mark in EIWA matches. Friday's win was the program's third straight over Navy, its second in a row in Annapolis, and its eighth over the past 12 years for Army over its academy rivals.
For Army, the dual got off to the best start imaginable, when Charlie Farmer secured a fall over Navy's Andrew Binni just 37 seconds into the bout to give the Black Knights an early 6-0 lead.
Ethan Berginc followed at 133 lbs with a full second period ride and quick escape point in the third, pulling away with a 4-0 decision. Looking to continue that strong early momentum, Braden Basile had the lead over Caedyn Ricciardi in the third period, but was reversed and took a loss by fall at 141 lbs to get Navy on the dual scoreboard.
The ensuing 149 lb match saw Kaemen Smith tie the dual for the Midshipmen with a 12-7 decision over Conor Collins. Collins entered the third period down just three points but surrendered a takedown down the stretch.
Joseph Antonio had the lead in the third period at 157 lbs thanks to a staling call, but gave up a takedown to Jonathan Ley late, and despite an escape point, couldn't jump back in front on his way to a 4-3 defeat. This also represented Navy's first dual lead Friday night.
The Mids' lead would be short-lived for the moment, as Gunner Filipowicz took back points in the first period at 165 lbs on his way to a major decision over Dylan Elmore to make it 13-12 in favor of Army in the dual.
Navy re-took the lead with a 7-4 win at 174, with an Andrew Christie defeat by decision at the hands of Danny Wask.
At 184 lbs, Cooper Haase took a 1-0 lead into the final two minutes. After a lengthy video review early in the third period to determine correct riding time, Haase secured the advantage point over Daniel Williams. But a stall call and reversal in the final 30 seconds swung the match in favor of the home wrestler, and the Midshipman came away with the 3-2 bout win.
That result made it 18-13 in favor of Navy. Now facing the task of simply keeping Army alive in the dual with two matches left, Wolfgang Frable took the 197 lb bout to keep Army in the dual, scoring a takedown in the opening three minutes and taking a 5-0 decision over Navy's Zyan Hall to put the dual in the final bout's hands.