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Northern wrestlers face Boise St.
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
Logic says if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.
Up to this point, the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team has
done that and a little more. During the last three weeks, it seems like head
coach David Ray calls the looming opponent the toughest his team has faced
all season.
Once again, Ray deemed this weekend's adversary the strongest his team will
have faced this season. Few people would argue with him. Northern will host
the 21st ranked NCAA Division I team in the country. The Boise State Broncs
will make the long drive to Havre for a dual Saturday night at the Havre High
gymnasium.
It's not unusual for an NAIA team to dual a D-I team. In fact, it happens
quite often. What is unusual, is a D-I team going on the road to wrestle an
NAIA school in its home town. It just doesn't happen for many reasons.
The first is that NCAA teams, especially ranked teams, have plenty of teams
willing to travel to wrestle them on their home mat. Second, it's a dicey
proposition going on the road to unfriendly territory to wrestle a good team
like Northern. Call it a no-win situation. If the D-I school wins, it's not a
big deal because it's supposed to win. But if that team would happen to lose
to an NAIA school, there would be serious repercussions.
"This just doesn't happy very often," Ray said. "Division I
teams don't like to put themselves in this position. But Boise agreed to do
this and it's very exciting. I know I am looking forward to it."
One of the reasons Ray is looking forward to
the dual is because of the possibility of picking up a win. To the average
fan, an NAIA school, even the No. 1 NAIA school, meeting up with a the No. 21
NCAA school, it would seem like a mismatch. Last year Boise easily defeated
Northern in Boise.
Ah, but there are few average wrestling fans around Havre, and like Ray,
people know that the Broncos will have their hands full with this year's
Lights squad.
That's because Ray believes his team may be a little bit better than last
season.
"In a lot of ways, we have a better team than last year," Ray said.
"We're better all-around as a team. We have a little more depth at
certain weights and more balance than last year."
This year's team certainly has the record to prove Ray right. The Lights are
13-0 in dual matches this season, having defeated the No. 1 team in NJCAA and
the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 teams in NAIA while winning tournaments featuring
the No. 1 team in NCAA Division III and the No. 3 team in Division II.
"It would be quite an accomplishment to go undefeated in duals and beat
a Division I school," Ray said. "I don't think it's out of the
question, but it starts tonight."
Despite the top-25 ranking, Boise State is a team in somewhat of a rebuilding
mode. The Broncos lost seven seniors from last year's squad and are 4-3 in
dual matches with their last win coming over conference foe Portland State,
37-9.
"These guys are strong and physical wrestlers, who know how to keep
matches close," Ray said. "They're very sound and know if they keep
the match close in case their opponent makes a mistake."
While BSU's dual record is far from gaudy and neither are its individual
wrestler's records. Ray said not to read too much into those type of
statistics.
"All of their competition is Division I, so their records are a little
misleading," Ray said. "These guys can wrestle, and they have that
mentality that most Division I wrestlers have, which is that they believe
they are good because they wrestle at that level."
It's a mentality that the Lights are beginning to adopted after beating such
tough competition early on in the season.
"We have been gaining confidence with each week," Ray said.
"We're starting to see that we can wrestle at any level as long as we
believe we deserve to be out there."
Lost in all of the hype surrounding the Northern-Boise dual is a University
of Calgary team that will dual both schools. Calgary will bring eight
wrestlers and wrestle each team in a takedown format before the main dual.
"The dual against Calgary I look at as a good warmup for the Boise
dual," Ray said. "They have some solid kids, and it allows us to
get out on the mat and get warm and get some of the nerves out of the
way."
Boise will open the duals at 6:30 against Calgary with Northern to dual
Calgary right after. Those duals will run concurrently with the Havre
High-Conrad dual.
At 8:30 p.m. one mat will be moved to the center of the gym for the
Northern-Boise dual.
Here's a look at the Northern-Boise individual matchups:
€ 125 - Northern freshman Jason Harrington will meet up with redshirt
freshman Clint Wolfley. Wolfley is 4-13 on the season and 0-7 in duals.
"I definitely think it should be a match we can compete in," Ray
said. "Harrington needs to be mentally prepared to battle and
fight."
€ 133 - Senior Caleb Schaeffer will hook up with sophomore Scott Jorgenson.
Schaeffer is ranked No. 1 in NAIA and has been wrestling very well as of
late. "Caleb beat him twice last season," Ray said. "He just
needs to go out there and wrestle smart and not put himself in bad
situations."
€ 141 - Redshirt freshman Chris Smith will meet up with Boise senior Jesse
Brock in a very tough match. Brock is ranked second in the PAC-10 with a 19-6
overall record. However, Smith has wrestled against top level competition all
season, but is coming off a very flat weekend at the national duals.
"Chris has to be on the top of his game," Ray said. "He can't
come out flat and expect to win."
€ 149 - Sophomore Anthony Haukenberry will face Montana native Nick Budeski,
who wrestled at CMR. Budeski, a sophomore, is 4-14 on the season but will
have plenty of friends and family cheering him on. Haukenberry has wrestled
very well as of late, and only slipped up once when he had to cut too much
weight before a dual. "We have a great chance there," Ray said.
"I have been monitoring everyone's weight closely this week to make sure
we aren't cutting too much before the dual."
€ 157 - Transfer Stryder Davis will face a solid opponent in sophomore Ben
Cherrington. "Cherrington is one tough hombre," Ray said.
"He's a strong leg rider and probably one of the best they have. Stryder
beat him last year and he will have to wrestle another good match to do it
again." Cherrington is ranked fourth in the Pac-10 with a 18-6 overall
record.
€ 165 - True freshman Ryan Hall is being thrown into the fire against junior
Russell Brunson, who sports a 16-10 overall record. Hall is a recent addition
to the Lights varsity squad, having defeated Aaron Jensen in wrestleoffs two
weeks ago. He is coming off a strong showing at the NAIA national duals, and
Ray is interested to see how he reacts to the step up in competition. "I
really have no idea about this match," Ray said. "Hall still
doesn't have much mat time. But I do know he isn't the type of person to be
intimidated by an opponent."
€ 174 - Transfer Jesse Juarez will square off against BSU sophomore Jonathan
Carlisle, who has a 14-5 overall record, including a first-place finish at
the Cowboy Open. Juarez also competed at the Cowboy, but at a weight class
higher. After dropping down a weight, Juarez has been been dominant and Ray
expects him to stay that way. "Jesse is wrestling real tough," Ray
said. "He needs to keep up that intensity."
€ 184 - Senior Kyle Fisher will meet up with sophomore Casey Phelps, who is
5-8 on the season. Phelps won the Cowboy open at 184, but Fisher never
wrestled him. "There's no doubt Kyle can get on this kid," Ray
said. "He just has to keep the pressure on and be aggressive."
€ 197 - Senior Emmett Willson will meet up with K.C. Walsh for a second time
this season. Ray called Walsh Boise's best wrestler and said this will be the
best match of the night. Willson defeated Walsh 5-0 to win the Cowboy Open.
And until somebody proves different, the undefeated Willson is the best
197-pounder in the country, regardless of division.
€ HWT - Transfer Mazi Burke will face senior Jacob McGinnis, who is 13-8 on
the season. Burke and Willson have flip-flopped duties at heavyweight this
season, but despite giving up some size, Ray is confident in Burke.
"Mazi has been wrestling at a very high level lately," Ray said.
"He has a great chance of winning."
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