ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – In the third rendition of the battle for the belt, Elizabethtown topped Johns Hopkins 33-16, Saturday night in Thompson Gymnasium.

With the win, E-town improve to 1-2 on the season, while Johns Hopkins falls to 5-7. It is the first victory for E-town over Johns Hopkins since the 2012-13 season.

Junior Austin Jones got off to a strong start at 125, earning a takedown in the first round to jump out to a 2-1 lead. A quick escape at the start of the second pushed his lead to 3-1, freshman Brent Lorin answered, taking the opening bout 10-3 and giving Johns Hopkins the 3-0 advantage.

Freshman Zach Rupp answered at 133 pounds, getting junior Jeremy Berger on his back and pinning him in 2:33 to put E-town up, 6-3.

Senior Colton Rex extended E-town's lead to six (10-6) at 141 pounds, shutting out freshman Hanting Wong and wrapping up a tech. fall in 3:55, 15-0.

Senior Josh Paisley kept the momentum squarely in E-town's corner, pinning freshman Justin Valdoria 30 seconds into the second round at 149 pounds and increasing the home team's cushion to 17-3.

It was more of the same at 157 pounds, as freshman Brian Schneider racked up more bonus points for E-town, taking the major decision over sophomore Bradlee Lamontagne, 13-2 and stretching the squad's lead to 21-3.

Johns Hopkins cut into E-towns lead at 165 pounds thanks to the junior Dominick Reyes, currently ranked 10^th nationally in the weight class, record a major decision over junior Kyle Bythell to shorten E-town's advantage to 14 (21-7).

The visitors continue to chip away at the deficit, scoring the team's first pin of the night at 174 pounds as sophomore Joe Paul won by fall over sophomore Hunter Beaudet, earning the six points in 1:46.

Freshman Jakob Latham battled hard at 184 pounds for three rounds, but fell to senior Nathan Wertheimer, 8-1.

These would however be the final points for Johns Hopkins as they forfeited the final two weight classes, returning the belt to Elizabethtown and giving the E-town its first victory of the season, 33-16.

Elizabethtown returns to action starting Friday, Jan, 31 at the Wheaton Invitational. First match is set for 3 p.m.
 
Exhibition One (149): Fr. Shane Strausser (EC) wins by decision over So. Jack Albin (JHU), 10-6

125:  Fr. Brent Lorin (JHU) wins by decision over Jr. Austin Jones (EC), 10-3            
JHU 3 – EC 0

133: Fr. Zach Rupp (EC) pinned Jr. Jeremy Berger (JHU), 2:33                                        
EC 6 – JHU 3

141: Sr. Colton Rex (EC) wins by tech. fall over Fr. Hanting Wong (JHU), 15-0, 3:55
EC 11 – JHU 3

149: Sr. Josh Paisley pinned Fr. Justin Valdoria (JHU), 3:30
EC 17 – JHU 3

157: Fr. Brian Schneider (EC) wins by major decision over So. Bradlee Lamontagne, 13-2
EC 21 – JHU 3

165: No. 10 Jr. Dominick Reyes wins by major decision over Jr. Kyle Bythell, 18-5
EC 21 – JHU 7

174: So. Joe Paul (JHU) pinned So. Hunter Beaudet (EC), 1:46
EC 21 – JHU 13

184: Sr. Nathan Wertheimer wins by decision over (JHU) Fr. Jakob Latham (EC), 8-1
EC 21 JHU 16

197: Fr. Tyler Phenegar (EC) wins by forfeit,
EC 27 – JHU 16

285: Fr. Keegan McCord (EC) wins by Forfeit
EC 33 – JHU 16

Exhibition Two (149): So. Nick Gonzalez wins by decision over (EC) So. Jack Albin (JHU), 5-4