BETHLEHEM – Revenge was sweet for Army standout Matt Kyler of Clearfield in the 106th Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association finals Sunday afternoon at Lehigh’s Stabler Arena.
Head coach Chuck Barbee praised the Black Knight co-captain’s effort that also meant a fourth consecutive season of at least 30 wins and a fourth trip to the NCAA Division I Championships.
“Matt wrestled in a brutal weight class,” Barbee was quoted on the Army wrestling website, “He prepared his whole career for this and came out and executed. He worked very had for this, and I was very proud of the way he wrestled.”
Kyler, ranked No. 9 nationally by Amateur Wrestling News and No. 10 by InterMat and Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine, beat Cornell’s No. 6 seed Hicks Manson 5-3 and Penn’s No. 7 seed Cesar Grajales 9-4 to earn his rematch with LeValley.
The Bucknell junior, ranked seventh by InterMat, beat Kyler 8-6 in overtime back on Nov. 24 when he was ranked No. 13 and the Black Knight was No. 7.
This time, Kyler (30-3) got the upper hand with a takedown with one minute gone and never trailed.
LeValley (37-6) escaped and then tied the bout with another breakaway in the second period before Kyler answered with his second takedown for the winning move.
Another LeValley escaped made it 4-3 going to the third period, when Kyler chose down and escaped with 16 seconds left to claim Army’s 30th EIWA individual title.
A two-time runner-up, Kyler finishes 11-2 in EIWA tourneys.
Also, he prevented LeValley from becoming Bucknell’s first EIWA champion.
That honor went to senior Andy Rendos (28-4) of Brockway later in the finals.
The four-time NCAA qualifier was seeded No. 1 and outscored four opponents 33-4, capping his historic performance with a convincing 9-2 decision over Lehigh’s Brandon Hatchett.
Army senior 197-pounder Richard Starks also qualified for the nationals March 18-20 at Omaha, Neb., by placing third.
The Black Knights had six placewinners to finish tied 65 points, tying Columbia for eighth place in the 13-team tourney.
Cornell (160.5) won the team title for the fourth year in a row. Penn (113) was second with Lehigh (109.5) third and Bucknell (103.5) fourth without a 125-pounder.