ROME, Ga. – The Shorter wrestling team came up just short of posting a win in their final home match of the season Saturday night when visiting Emmanuel made the most of the lone forfeit of the showdown to edge the Hawks 23-21 at the Winthrop-King Centre.

The Hawks will now turn their focus on what every tournament and dual match so far this season has been about – the postseason – as head coach Josh Henson and the team have their sights set on March 26 when Shorter heads to Indianapolis, Ind., to compete in the Super Region II Championships and earn qualifying spots for the NCAA Division II National Championship to be held March 11-12 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Against Emmanuel, the Hawks opened the match seeing senior Ben Smith come up with a 5-2 decision in his 133-pound test to put Shorter on the scoreboard, and after SU's Kalvin Harris (141) and Demarcus Thomas (149) suffered respective defeats, Shorter reeled off three straight wins.

Jacob Sledge began the run when the157-pounder claimed a 2-1 decision in sudden death, Kade Kitchens followed giving Shorter its lone pin of the evening securing a fall at 165 and senior Wally Figaro capped the run rolling to a 16-0 technical fall in his 174-pound matchup that gave Shorter a 17-11 lead.

Emmanuel battled back to tie the match when Shorter's Dalton Lane (184) and Marlon Morales (197) were handed decisions, but in the 285-pound contest the Hawks took a 21-17 lead when Christian Flavin came up with the go-ahead points thanks to a 12-4 major decision.

The Lions, however, wound up notching the win when the short-handed Hawks, who have been battling sickness and injuries, had to forfeit the 125-pound match.