CLEVELAND – Notre Dame College finishes the NCAA Division II Tournament in fourth place with 77.5 team points, on Saturday night. Jose Rodriguez hoisted the National Champion trophy for winning his bracket at 141 lbs., becoming the first National Champion for the Falcons since three individuals took home the hardware in 2017.

Five Notre Dame wrestlers placed in the top-8 in their weight class, and were given All-American honors.

"I thought we had a good tournament," head coach Frank Romano said. "The first round was really good for us and then we followed through. I feel real good about it, because everyone tried really hard and they wrestled to their potential. We have a real young team with basically everybody coming back, but one guy. It's a tough tournament, to win a trophy is not easy. There are about 70 teams in Division II now, and we won one of the trophies, so I was real happy about that."

Within the first minute of the 141 lbs. first place match, Rodriguez took Isaiah Royal to the ground for two points. He had another takedown in the first period, while Royal escaped twice. Going into the second period, Rodriguez led, 4-2.

"He (Romano) said 'with all your training, you did everything you could leading up to the tournament, so now it's time to let loose, do your thing,'" Rodriguez stated.

The Falcons' grappler stayed aggressive in the second stanza, and with about 1:30 remaining, he nearly had a pin. Leading 11-3 going into the third period, Rodriguez was in control. The sophomore almost had the pin, again, early in the third, but he continued to dominate and won by major decision, 16-5.

"I just felt confident," Rodriguez mentioned. "I've been doing all the right things, from eating to sleeping to training, so I'm happy."

The matchup turned out to be an upset based on the latest individual rankings, because Rodriguez was 10th and Royal, from Newberry, was forth. But that did not cross the champion's mind.

"I don't look at the rankings," he said. "I didn't look at the bracket. I was just that confident that I could really win this thing"

"He had a tremendous run," Romano said. "They put him in a pigtail so he had to wrestle four straight matches, all of them were big scores. Then he looked great in the finals. He really deserved that championship."

Rodriguez' only struggle came against No. 3 Joe Calderone (LIU-Post), but he got through the quarterfinal with an 8-5 decision. The rest of his wins were decided by major decision.

At 184, Tony Vezzetti beat No. 2 Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) by a 3-2 decision in the semifinal. No. 3 Michael Pixley (McKendree) was too much in the first place match, and Vezzetti became the national runner-up.

Hunter Bray lost at 133 lbs. to start the day, but he bounced back, defeating Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) for the second time in the tournament and then he beat Jordan Gurrola (San Francisco State) by decision, to take third place.

Anthony Dailey lost twice at 165 lbs., but the senior still took eighth place and an All-American honor. At 285, Kameron Teacher went 4-1, but his only loss came in the semifinal to the eventual champion, Andrew Dunn. Later, Teacher won the third place match and got a bit of revenge on Terrance Fanning, who defeated him for the 2018 National Championship.

"We had a lot of injuries this season," Romano explained. "We lost one of our (197s), we lost our (165), we had a lot of injuries. Four people who were All-Americans in this tournament, at some point in their career, did not wrestle because they got beat out or various other reasons. We never really had a full lineup throughout the whole season, yet we were able to go 8-1 (in duals), we took second at the National Championship Duals, we finished fourth in the Team Championship and we won the Regional. I thought we had a good season. To have a very good season, you have to win it, but I thought we had a good season. We'll shoot for the title next year."

Roberto Campos, 125 lbs. – Lost to Josh Portillo (Nebraska-Kearney) by decision (8-3) in championship round one… Lost to Marcus Povlick (McKendree) by decision (6-2) in consolation round one.

Hunter Bray, 133 – Defeated Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) by decision (6-3) in championship round one… Defeated Justin Folley (Upper Iowa) by decision (4-3) in the quarterfinal… Lost to Wesley Dawkins (Nebraska-Kearney) in sudden-victory (3-1) in the semifinal… Defeated Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) in tie-breaker (7-6) in the consolation semifinal…Defeated Jordan Gurrola (San Francisco State) by decision (5-3) in the third place match.

Jose Rodriguez, 141 – Defeated Nate Keim (Central Oklahoma) by major decision (15-2) in preliminary round… Defeated Louie Sanders (Minnesota State) by major decision (14-0) in championship round one… Defeated Joseph Calderone (LIU Post) by decision (8-5) in the quarterfinal… Defeated Danny Swan (Lindenwood) by major decision (13-4) in the semifinal…Defeated Isaiah Royal (Newberry) by major decision (16-5) in the first place match.

Anthony Dailey, 165 – Defeated Devin Fitzpatrick (St. Cloud State) by decision (6-3) in championship round one… Lost to Shane Ruhnke (Millersville) by fall (1:02) in the quarterfinal… Defeated Dan Fillipek (McKendree) by decision (10-4) in consolation round two… Lost to Tyler Harrington (Maryville) by fall (3:20) in the consolation round three... Lost to Matthew Rodriquez-Kirkland (Limestone) by fall (5:33) in the 7th place match.

Cornell Beachem Jr., 174 – Defeated Devin Crawl (Central Oklahoma) by major decision (15-3) in preliminary round… Defeated Damon Greenwald (Seton Hill) by fall (6:50) in championship round one… Lost to Kolton Eischens (St. Cloud State) by decision (6-4) in the quarterfinal… Lost to Phillip Springsteen (Mary) by decision (10-3) in consolation round two.

Tony Vezzetti, 184 – Defeated Kaden Campbell (Northern State) by decision (10-4) in championship round one… Defeated Chance Helmick (St. Cloud State) by decision (10-5) in the quarterfinal… Defeated Heath Gray (Central Oklahoma) by decision (3-2) in the semifinal… Lost to Michael Pixley (McKendree) by decision (4-1) in the first place match.

Kameron Teacher, 285 – Defeated Ramon Correa (Coker) by fall (6:46) in championship round one… Defeated Greg Wilson (Central Oklahoma) by decision (11-5) in the quarterfinal… Lost to Andrew Dunn (Kutztown) by decision (7-6) in the semifinal… Defeated Tristen Weirich (Ashland) by major decision (14-5) in the consolation semifinal… Defeated Terrance Fanning (Wheeling Jesuit) by major decision (14-6) in the third place match.