The Bison wrestling team came up big in another home win this past Saturday at Davis Gym. The Bison defeated Binghamton 25-13 to continue a stellar season. Despite the last few matches against league opponents being easy sweeps with the Bison outscoring their opponents 130-11, this match proved more difficult. Tied with Binghamton 13-13 at halftime, the Herd, with some added help from two forfeits, was able to come out on top. 

The dual started out with a tough loss for the Bison at 184lbs when Frankie Guida Jr. ’21 fell to Binghamton’s Lou Deprez. Following this loss, Captain Drew Phipps ’20 added another win to what is sure to become a historic season for the senior, winning by a major decision and improving to 23 wins on the season. 

The next two Bison wins came from Drew Seidman ’22 and Matt Kolonia ’21. At 125lbs, Seidman beat Carson Sauriol 5-3, while at 144lbs Kolonia managed to pull off a come from behind victory over Matt Swanson. It was freshman Jaden Fisher ’23 at 157lbs that brought the score to 13-13 right before the half keeping the Bison in the fight. Fisher continued what has been an impressive debut campaign with a dominant win over Binghamton’s Christopher Baker by a score of 12-4. 

The match concluded with two consecutive forfeits by Binghamton to the two Hartman brothers respectively (Zach ’22 and Mitch ’20). The two wins brought the final score to 25-13 in favor of the Bison. Taking no time to celebrate, the Herd hit the road the next morning to take on another league opponent, American University.

The Herd was able to leave D.C. victorious after another close dual meet. The final score was 26-19. A few Bison brought home big wins that brought the momentum in favor of the Bison. The first was Darren Miller ’23 at 133lbs. Miller gave the team their first pin on the day, beating American’s Joshua Vega in just two minutes and thirty-four seconds. The next pin came from Miller’s teammate and fellow freshman Jaden Fisher at 157lbs.

Zach, one of the team’s NCAA qualifiers from the previous year and the current 15th ranked wrestler in the nation at 165lbs, ran up the score on his opponent and secured a major victory for his team (20-3). Not to be outshined by his little brother, Mitch came out and had a dominant performance of his own, taking home a 10-5 decision over American’s Conner Allshouse. Phipp’s secured the dual meet win for his team at 197lbs.

Jacob Hubbard ’21 said, “The team performed at such a high level this past weekend and has been performing at such high levels this entire season. We have our preparation and all the hard work we have been putting in to thank for these major successes. Our team has definitely surprised people and will continue to surprise people as we inch closer to the end of our regular season and closer to EIWAs and the NCAA tournament.”

With two more wins, the Bison sit at 9-4 and 8-1 in conference play. The Herd will host their final two home matches coming up on Friday, Feb. 14th against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks and two days later on Feb. 16 against the Army Black Knights. The Bison will be honoring their seniors on Feb. 16.