BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University turned in a stellar performance Saturday afternoon when they faced Belmont Abbey College in the Student Center Complex. The Tornado trailed 15-12, but came back with a vengeance, getting a major decision from Trevor Wentt and back-to-back falls from Jesse Masters and Eldon Valery, Jr. to clinch the 34-15 victory.
Jon Boatman started the day with a come-from-behind win at 125 pounds over Patrick Mestrez. Trailing 6-3, the freshman got an escape and reversal to even the score at six as the second period expired. In the third period, Boatman scored two points to take a narrow 8-7 victory. After a forfeit at 133 pounds, Frank Yattoni IV evened the dual score at 6-6 with a victory. The sophomore, started jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first period, and added a point of riding time to take the 5-1 victory over William James.
The Tornado (2-8) earned a win by forfeit at 149 pounds before Belmont Abbey (7-13) took a win by decision at 157 pounds to make the score 12-9 in favor of King. The Crusaders took a win by forfeit at 165 pounds to take a 15-12 lead before the Tornado got rolling.
Wentt started the run with a win by major decision over Patrick Argast at 174 pounds. The senior jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period and eventually led 9-1 at the beginning of the third period en route to the 10-2 victory. Masters kept the momentum going, taking a win by fall over Gerry Vassil in 1:55 at 184 pounds, and Valery followed with a win by fall in 4:56 over Coburn Burroughs at 197 pounds. Senior Garrett Fosdyck capped the 34-15 victory with a win by injury default at 285 pounds.
King will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to Limestone College. The dual is slated to start at 7:00 p.m.
