BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Rutgers left Liberty High School last November with a 24-12 win over Navy. It left Liberty High School on Saturday with a 24-12 win over Navy.
The number repeated, but almost nothing else did.
No. 19 Rutgers opened its 2026-27 season at Journeymen WrangleMania by shutting out LIU 51-0 and then beating Navy 24-12, winning 16 of 20 bouts on the afternoon and 13 of those 16 with bonus points. The win over the Sharks was the 250th dual win of Scott Goodale’s tenure, which began in July
2007, and the Navy dual added No. 251 two hours later.
The lineup Goodale sent out had plenty of new faces in it, and the newest ones were the best part of the day. Freshmen Anthony Knox (125) and Brandt Harer (149) went a combined 4-0 in their collegiate debuts, all four wins with bonus, for 20 team points. Brett Ungar (133), a transfer from Cornell, and Daniel Herrera (HWT), a transfer from Iowa State, both wrestled their first duals in Scarlet.
Saturday was the first dual, not the first action. A week earlier at the Princeton Open, six other Rutgers freshmen wrestled their first college tournament, and CJ Huerta (149) took third, majoring No. 31 Matthew Martino of Princeton 15-3 and beating Binghamton’s Carson DesRosier, an NCAA qualifier last season, 10-7 for bronze. Alex Reyes (197) placed fourth in his debut.
Ten Bouts, Ten Wins, & Nothing for LIU
Rutgers had not scored more than 50 points in a dual since putting up 56 against Sacred Heart in 2010. The Scarlet Knights got there against LIU without giving up a single point.
Knox set the tone in his first college bout, a 17-1 tech fall over Vincent Orandello. Ungar followed with a 16-0 tech fall, Tahir Parkins (141) majored Brandon Rozanski 11-2 and Brandt Harer shut out Brayden Roberts 13-0. Devon Magro (157) teched Jordan Barry 17-1, No. 16 Andrew Barbosa (165) needed only 1:51 to do the same to Luke Nieto, and No. 19 Ryan Ford (174) closed the tech-fall run with a 21-5 win over Jack Valentin.
Then the match got quick.
Jordan Chapman (184) pinned Tyler Hicks at 4:27, No. 13 Remy Cotton (197) pinned Christian Horeis in 57 seconds and No. 21 Herrera pinned James Mulhern at 2:05. Five tech falls, two majors and three falls is 25, eight and 18, and that is 51.
Rutgers is now 3-0 all-time against LIU, and the 37-3 they put on the Sharks in Toms River two years ago is no longer the lopsided one.
Navy Wins Four Rematches & Loses the Dual Anyway
Navy was the real test, and this test arrived warm. The Midshipmen had shut out Duke 43-0 in the previous round.
Knox opened with six takedowns and a 20-5 tech fall over Nick Treaster that landed at the final whistle, and Ungar ground out a 7-5 decision over Sean Garretson for an 8-0 lead. No. 14 Caedyn Ricciardi got Navy on the board with a 4-2 decision over Parkins.
Then the Harers went back to back.
Brandt pinned Coltyn Reedy at 2:01. His older brother Conner, No. 27 and in the lineup at 157 after Magro wrestled LIU, edged No. 28 Jonathan Ley 2-1. Barbosa followed with a 9-4 decision over No. 33 Dylan Elmore, and Rutgers led 20-3 with four bouts left.
Ford took the first takedown against No. 4 Danny Wask at 174 and lost 8-3. That left Navy needing to win out with maximum bonus just to tie, and No. 8 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184) ended that idea with a 24-6 major decision over No. 32 Daniel Williams. Zyan Hall edged PJ Casale 8-7 at 197 and No. 11 Spencer Lanosga beat Herrera 2-0 at heavyweight, which made it 24-12 and made it look, on paper, exactly like last year.
It was not.
Every bout Navy won on Saturday belonged to a Midshipman who had wrestled Rutgers in this building a year ago. Wask and Lanosga beat Rutgers then too. Ricciardi lost 5-4 to Joseph Olivieri last November and Hall lost 8-6 to Cotton, and both evened it this time against different opponents.
Navy still leads the all-time series 21-9, but Rutgers has now won seven of the last eight.
Several Scarlet Knights stay in Bethlehem to wrestle in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on Sunday at Freedom High School. The dual season resumes at home on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. against No. 12 Lehigh at Jersey Mike’s Arena on BTN+, the first time the Scarlet Knights have seen the Mountain Hawks since a 23-10 loss in 2017. Lehigh’s Luke Stanich, the EIWA Wrestler of the Year and a New Jersey state champion at Roxbury, is listed at 141, the one lightweight Rutgers lost on Saturday.
Rutgers is 3-43 all-time against Lehigh.
Saturday’s 24-12 was a rerun.
Next Sunday, a rerun is the last thing Rutgers wants.
