Your #D3Wrestling Marquee Match-Up of the Week features two of the best teams in the Northeast Region! Johnson & Wales will play host to the United States Coast Guard Academy in what has developed into a fun rivalry in the last few seasons.
JWU has won the last four consecutive Northeast Regional titles, edging out Coast Guard in the last three. The Wildcats are also 6-0 in the last six meetings against the Bears, although CGA has managed to close the gap some. Their last stand-alone meeting came at CGA with JWU walking away with a 16-16 criteria victory, decided by the fifth criteria – total match points scored.
According to the most recent NWCA Coaches Poll, JWU will have six ranked individuals, while Coast Guard will have four. That being said, weight changes will impact line-ups and new, updated NWCA Rankings should be released soon. The NWCA Coaches Poll has JWU ranked #10 in the nation and CGA ranked #15.
Projected line-ups for Friday Night:
125 Christian Rivas (Johnson & Wales) vs. Brock Laggini (Coast Guard)
133 #13 Gabriel Leo-Esparolini (Johnson & Wales) vs. Liam Logue (Coast Guard)
141#5 Hayden Brown (Johnson & Wales) vs. AJ Pagliarulo (Coast Guard)
157 Darius Joyce (Johnson & Wales) vs. Devin Woodworth (Coast Guard)
165 Steven Ocampo (Johnson & Wales) #7 (at 174) Phil Rogers (Coast Guard)
174 #6 Mike Ross (Johnson & Wales) vs. Dave McCullough (Coast Guard)
197 #12 Tommy Wrzesien (Johnson & Wales) vs. Coy Spooner (Coast Guard)
285 #8 Lirdon Leka (Johnson & Wales) vs. Tim Ganuncio (Coast Guard)
The link to view this dual can be found: HERE. Who will walk away as the Kings of the Northeast? Tune in to find out!