On December 9, Jim Andrassy was pretty bummed out about his team’s performance against Missouri. Kent State lost seven of 10 matches.

Saturday night in the finals of the National College Division of the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va., was a different story.

Kent State won its first Virginia Duals title with a 18-14 victory over ninth-ranked Missouri.

“They beat us beat us bad about a month ago at our place, in front of our crowd, it’s nice to come out and beat them,” said Andrassy. 

Missouri was without 133-pounder Nathan McCormick and moved Dorian Henderson up to 184 pounds, but Andrassy wasn’t about to give away the thrill of victory to injuries.

“It’s January, everyone has guys out, we have two guys out, they have some guys out. That’s what you’ll hear I’m sure, but it’s January,” he said.

While Kent State reversed outcomes from the previous meeting at 133 and 149 pounds, the biggest reversal of fortune came at 174 pounds where Brandonn Johnson upended 10th-ranked Patrick Wright 4-1.

Coming into the dual, Johnson was 0-3 in the tournament.

“(It was) maybe the best match of his year so far,” said Andrassy. “He’s one of those guys who is probably an 84-pounder, but he can’t beat our other 84-pounder, so he’s getting his weight under control and he’s starting to do things the right way. It’s the little things at this point.”

Missouri took an early lead as Alan Waters beat All-American Nic Bedelyon 7-5 in sudden victory. Waters torched Bedelyon in their previous meeting 12-1. Waters scored the winning takedown on the edge after a scramble.

Steve Mitcheff tied the dual after a 4-3 decision over scrappy Missouri backup Eric Wilson. The Golden Flashes would win the next two bouts to take a 9-3 lead.

At 149 pounds, Ian Miller rebounded from an early loss to Kyle Bradley with a solid 7-3 victory. 

Missouri had it’s share of reversed outcomes as well, as Drake Houdashelt majored Mallie Shuster at 157 pounds. Zach Toal trailed the entire match against Ross Tice at 165 pounds, but a takedown in the final seconds gave Toal a one-point lead and erased Tice’s riding time and enable the Tiger to steal a 5-4 victory and give Missouri its first lead 10-9 with four bouts to go.

Wright stepped to the mat after a solid finish at the Southern Scuffle. He and Henderson have been battling for the starting spot. Johnson tilted Wright late in the third and picked up a riding time point to win 4-1.

Casey Newberg handled the undersized Henderson 6-1 at 184 before Brent Haynes majored Ryan Buckner at 197 pounds to bring the Tigers within one at 15-14.

Brendan Barlow reversed an earlier loss to Missouri’s Devon Mellon to notch a 3-2 victory and claim the victory for Kent State.

Edinboro beat Old Dominion 23-16 to finish third in the National College Division. Fighting Scots 133-pounder A.J. Schopp was voted the division’s outstanding wrestler. 

Division III Brockport won its second American College Division crown and first since 2003 with a come-from-behind victory over Nassau Community College 21-20. 

Trailing 17-15 with two bouts to go, Brockport’s Paul Glover pinned Kyle Folk-Freund at 2:13 to give the Golden Eagles a 21-17 lead going into the final bout. Heavyweight John Wilkinson didn’t give up bonus points at heavyweight to secure coach Don Murray’s second team title in Hampton to go with two other finals appearances.

Liberty University was third, beating the Newport News Apprentice School 30-15. Apprentice’s Sterling Briscoe was the division’s outstanding wrestler. 

Canon-McMillan of Pennsylvana topped Virgina’s Christiansburg 47-18 to win its first National High School Division crowd. The Big Macs had previously won the championship at the Virginia Duals in the American Division in 2009.

South Plainfield of New Jersey was third and Maryland’s McDonogh was fourth. McDonogh’s Myles Martin was the National High School Division OW.

Virginia Beach’s Ocean Lakes won the American High School Division, while Brookville, a Group AA school in Lynchburg, Va., won the Black & Blue Division.