Pins carry MSU-Northern past North
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
It's tough to argue with the scoreboard, but if anyone could win that
argument it would be MSU-Northern wrestling coach David Ray.
Despite his team putting a solid 28-14 beating on the North Idaho Cardinals on
Thursday night at a packed MSU-Northern gym, Ray was far from pleased with how
his team performed.
It may seem strange considering the Lights racked up six victories, three pins
and a major decision over the No. 1-ranked team in the NJCAA. But with duals
against a pair of NCAA Division I schools - Boise State and Cal State Fullerton
- on Sunday, Ray wasn't concerned whether his team would win, but how it would
wrestle to get the win.
And the verdict?
"We looked sluggish and tired out there," Ray said. "Some of
these guys just didn't seem to be excited about wrestling tonight. I don't
understand why they wouldn't. This is our second to last dual and we had a
great crowd tonight."
The start of the dual didn't make Ray happy from the start, but it did please
the close to 1,000 fans that packed the gym.
Former Havre High standout Jeff Hedges made a
triumphant return home, scoring a sound 16-8 major victory over Northern's Zach Morgan at 125 pounds.
"I was really excited and really happy to come back home and
wrestle," Hedges said. "The trip here was terrible though. I didn't
feel good at all when I first got out there."
It didn't show. The two-time state champ jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first
period on a pair of nifty single leg takedowns.
He continued the leg attack en route to the major victory, limiting Morgan to
only escape points in the match.
"We knew Hedges was solid," Ray said. "But there were some
opportunities for (Morgan) to score. He just didn't take them."
"I still felt a little flat," Hedges said. "But I haven't
wrestled very well in my last few matches. I wasn't taking many shots. But I
really tried to take some shots and be aggressive tonight."
NIC's 4-0 lead lasted all of about a minute as Northern's Brian Luna pinned Cody Nicholson at the
"What can you say about Luna?" Ray said. "He knew he should win
and he went out and took care of business."
Smith led 3-2 in the third period, but surrendered a takedown late in the
period. He rallied to tie the match, scoring an esape
with les than 30 seconds remaining.
In the sudden-death overtime, Pearch scored a
single-leg takedown to secure the match.
"I really believe that Chris over-respected him a little bit," Ray
said. "Mentally he beat himself. He went 3-0 against tougher competition
at the national duals. He wasn't nearly as aggressive as he normally is, it's a perfect example of giving someone too much
respect."
The overtime matches continued at 149 pounds as senior Dustyn
Azure outlasted Derek Klipperberg 15-9 in overtime.
Azure led for much of the match against Klipperberg,
including an 8-3 lead in the second period. However, Klipperberg
rallied with a reversal, a pair of escapes and a single-leg takdown
to go up 9-8 with less than 20 seconds remaining.
Azure managed to fight out of Klipperberg's grasp to
score a one-point escape with 4.3 seconds remaining to force overtime.
In the extra period, Azure executed a tough double-leg takedown into a
three-point near fall to get the win.
"The guy was very strong and it caused Azure some problems," Ray
said. "But (Azure) led for most of the match until the third period. He
had to cut too much this week and he was gassed late in the match. I was glad
to see him find a way to pull out the win."
Azure's win gave Northern back the lead at 9-7. Stryder
Davis quickly extended it to 15-7 with a quick pin of Lee Morrison with 31
seconds remaining in the first period.
"Stryder was Stryder,"
Ray said. "He didn't mess around."
Northern's Aaron Jensen followed up
Jensen scored at will with a myriad of single-leg takedowns. Conroy's only
points came from escapes, three of which Jensen cut him loose on.
"Jensen was solid," Ray said. "He is really wrestling with a lot
of confidence right now. He could have got singles all day on that guy, but I
would've liked to see him get a pin."
Jensen's four-point win gave the Lights a 19-7 lead.
NIC wouldn't go away, cutting into the deficit as All-American Kyle Frawley decisioned Ryan Mattingly
7-4. Mattingly worked hard to tie the match at 4-4 late in
the third period. But he surrendered a takedown just
seconds later, which proved to be the difference in the match.
"Mattingly just kind of lost his head once he got that escape," Ray
said. "He needs to do a better job of keeping his composure late in
matches."
At 184 pounds, Jesse Juarez' return to the mat was successful as he defeated
Josh Edmondson 10-8.
Despite trailing 22-10, NIC had an outside chance of tying the dual with pins
at 197 and heavyweight, but that didn't happen.
"Fritchman is in a slump, he's lost his last six
matches, but he has to get that out of his mind before he steps on the
mat," Ray said. "Nobody is going to get him out of it but himself. He
has to go out and compete."
Even if Mattingly had gotten the pin, it wouldn't have mattered much because
Northern heavyweight Chase Gormley pinned Garret
Johnson just over minute and a half into the match.
"Chase said he was going to care of business and he did," Ray said.
Still, even with some solid performance, Ray knows that it simply won't cut it
on Sunday when Northern faces
"If things don't change, it could be a long weekend for some people
including the coaching staff," he said. "This is the toughest week of
the season in terms of duals and in that situation,
you want to see your team raise its level."
"If you ranked in the top 20 in Division I, you're pretty good," Ray
said. "There going to be some tough matches for our guys."
Tough or not, Ray doesn't believe his wrestlers' mindset should change.
"A lot of people would think we should go in there with attitude of
nothing to lose," Ray said. "My belief if that every time you step on
the mat, you expect to win, I don't care who you're wrestling."
MSU-Northern 28, North Idaho 14
125 - Jeff Hedges, NIC major dec. Zach Morgan, MSU-N
16-8
133 - Brian Luna, MSU-N pinned Cody Nicholson, NIC 1:07
141 - Justin Pearch, NIC dec.
Chris Smith, MSU-N 6-4 OT
149 - Dustyn Azure, MSU-N dec.
Derek Klipperburg, NIC 15-9 OT
157 - Stryder Davis, MSU-N pinned Lee Morrison, NIC
2:30
165 - Aaron Jensen, MSU-N major dec. Jack Carney, NIC
14-4
174 - Kyle Frawley, NIC dec.
Ryan Mattingly, MSU-N 7-4
184 - Jesse Juarez, MSU-N dec. Josh Edmondson, NIC
10-8
197 - Evan Mattingly, NIC major dec. Brian Fritchman, MSU-N 16-6
HWT - Chase Gormley, MSU-N pinned Garret Johnson, NIC
1:15