BOONE-N.C. — Appalachian State wrestling team closed the regular season with a three-match home sweep after beating the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Cougars 27-12 on Senior Day Sunday at Varsity Gym.

Seniors Chris Johnson, Acton Pifer, Collins Creech, Aaron Scott, Paul Weiss and Kaleb Forrest were all honored in lieu of Senior Day.

The match began with a takedown and ended with a takedown.

Dominic Parisi got the first points on the board for the Mountaineers getting the first takedown of the match and got the first-period pin (2:51) at the 125-pound weight class.  Denzel Dejournette was down 5-4 but secured a takedown with less than two seconds on the clock to get the 6-5 win at heavyweight.

The rest of the day also featured very entertaining matches.

Nationally-ranked Dylan Cottrell dominated Karsten Van Velsor and picked up a 52-second pin. Dylan finished the season undefeated in conference play and in dual matches. He is 23-1 on the season and ranked sixth in the nation at the 149-pound weight class.

Scott, only up one point, was able to fight off his opponent's rapid attempts at a takedown to capture the 5-4 decision at the 157-pound weight class and John Petrov rallied to capture the 14-10 decision against Javon Johnson at 141.

Two NCAA qualifiers from last year, Zack Strickland and Matt Lester faced off at the 165-pound weight class. The match was tied 4-4 at the end but a one-point technical call gave Lester the 8-7 win. Colin Hedash gave up the last second takedown to lose 5-4 and Nick Vetell could not get the last second takedown and dropped his match 3-2.

Tyler Radford gained the 8-5 win against Josh Wood in another match that came down to the wire. Vito Pasone received a forfeit at the 133-pound weight class.

Appalachian finished the regular season with a 7-8 record and 4-3 in the Southern Conference. They move to 2-0 against SIUE and 6-2 at home at Varsity Gym. Appalachian will travel to Buies Creek, N.C. on Saturday to wrestle in the SoCon Tournament. The tournament is an all-day event and will determine which individual wrestlers will travel to Oklahoma City on March 20 for the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

BOONE, N.C. - – Appalachian State 27 – SIUE 12
Varsity Gym – Boone, N.C.
125- Dominic Parisi (APP) won by pin over Dakota Leach (SIUE) 2:51 (App leads 6-0)
133- Vito Pasone (APP) won by forfeit. (App leads 12-0)
141- John Petrov (SIUE) won by decision over Javon Johnson (APP) 14-10. (App leads 12-3)
149- Dylan Cottrell (APP) won by pin over Karsten Van Velsor (SIUE) (App leads 18-3)
157- Aaron Scott (APP) won by decision over Logun Taylor (SIUE) 5-4 (App leads 21-3)
165- Matt Lester (SIUE) won by decision over Zack Strickland (APP) 8-7 (App leads 21-6)
174- Jake Residori (SIUE) won by decisio over Colin Hedash (APP) 5-4 (App leads 21-9)
184- Deshoun White (SIUE) won by decision over Nick Vetell (APP) 3-2 (App leads 21-12)
197- Tyler Radford (APP) won by decision over Josh Wood (SIUE) 8-5 (App leads 24-12)
285- Denzel Dejournette (APP) won by decision over David Devine (SIUE) 6-5 (App wins 27-12)