West Virginia came to Stillwater with one goal in mind, and that was to win. And, they made a valiant effort in that attempt, but, in the end, the Cowboys were simply too good.
After losing the 1st match of the dual, OSU lost just 2 more matches all night to secure a 30-12 decision. One of those losses came from Cutter Sheets who was wrestling in place of Carter Young who tweaked his knee and had to sit out.
Cael Hughes shot a double leg less than a minute in at 133, then kept working the move and finally got his 3-point takedown at 1:30 of the 1st period. He had to work that move for a while, but stayed patient and finally got his right foot free.
He then rode Maddox for the remainder of the period, so he had a 3-0 lead and 1:30 of riding time at the end of the 1st period. Maddox was also hit with a stall warning as well, so Hughes was in clear control.
Hughes started down in the 2nd period and escaped within the first 10 seconds to score his 4th point and maintain his hefty riding time advantage.
Maddox shot a single leg and completed the move with :52 left in the 2nd period to move the match score to 4-3, but then Hughes sat out, got to his feet, and got his 1-point escape just a few seconds later.
Hughes had a 2-point lead and still 1 minute of riding time in his back pocket.
With a 6-3 lead, and less than a minute left in the match, Hughes got sucked into a cradle and gave up 3 points, and the riding time was erased, so the match went sudden victory.
In sudden victory, Hughes sucked up the right leg of Maddox, somehow got behind,d and got the 3-point winning takedown.
Another super gritty and dramatic match for Hughes, and it was needed to move the dual score to 6-3 in favor of West Virginia.
Tagen Jamison took the mat against the #29th ranked at 141, Titus of West Virginia, with his squad down 6-3 in the dual.
He hit a 3-point takedown with 1:40 in the 1st period, then allowed an escape a few seconds later to make the match score 3-1.
He then hit a double, lifted Titus, and very quickly finished the move to make the score 6-1, then ended the period with close to a minute of riding time. He was penalized for an illegal move with 4 seconds left in the 1st, so the score was 6-2 moving to the 2nd.
Neither wrestler scored in the 2nd period, so Jamison had a 3-point lead and riding time in his favor, and after starting in the down position, escaped fairly quickly to take a 4-point lead in the match.
In a late shot in desperation, Titus shot in on the leg of Jamison, but Jamison ended up blocking to get the takedown and make it a major decision, which is crazy because the match was close and very competitive.
OSU took a 7-6 lead in the Dual.
Cutter Sheets wrestled in place of Carter Young at 149 and did a very good job battling after giving up an early takedown by hitting a 2-point reverse to counter.
Hillegas of WVU did a great job riding Sheets but chose the down position to start the 2nd and Sheets decided to cut Hillegas to move the match to 5-2, with riding time heavily in the favor of Hillegas.
So, Sheets was down 4 at that point, then hit a 3-point takedown, and had 2 choices, cut Hillegas and try to take him down again, or try and turn him for near-fall points from the top position.
Hillegas eventually reversed Sheets to move the match score to 7-5, and when the riding time point was added, combined with a late escape from Sheets, the score ended at 8-5.
Good effort from Sheets, tight match!
Caleb Fish shot an early single, worked the move for about 30 seconds or so, then finally got his takedown at 2:10 of the 1st period. Fish then rode Gavronsky for 1:19 before giving up an escape, and that’s how the 1st period scoring ended with Fish winning 3-1 with over a minute of riding time racked up.
Fish started in the top position to start the 2nd and rode Gavronsky for almost a minute, but when Gavronsky escaped he made the match score 3-2.
Gavronsky then shot a single, but Fish countered and ended up with the 3-point takedown to move the score to 6-2, with over 2 minutes of riding time for Fish.
Fish was firmly in control to start the 3rd period, especially after the 2nd stall was called on Gavronsky giving Fish his 7th point (7-2).
Fish scored 2 escapes, then threw a headlock on Gavronsky and took him to his back. Although he wasn’t able to get the pin, he did complete a 7-point move and got the Major Decision at 17-3.
The Major Decision moved the score of the dual to 11-9 in favor of OSU.
At 165 Cameron Amine faced the #3 ranked wrestler, Hall of WVU, and both highly ranked wrestlers spent the 1st period feeling each other out.
The first points of the match weren’t scored until Amine escaped with 12 seconds left in the 2nd period.
But, while Amine had a 1-0 lead, he had to start the 3rd from the top, gave up an early escape, and had given up riding time, so, in essence, was losing 2-1.
With both wrestlers on their feet, Amine had to have a takedown to win but gave up a takedown of his own to lose the match 5-1.
Good competitive match against a highly ranked wrestler.
With the win, West Virginia took the lead in the dual at 12-11.
Dean Hamiti Jr. shot in several times early in his match and finally scored with a little over 1:00 left in the 1st period. He rode out the rest of the period and took a 4-0 lead to the 2nd.
Hamiti was about to hit a standing switch when Conley got a locked hands call to move the score of the match to 5-0.
Hamiti then escaped a couple of seconds later to make it 6-0, then worked at a 3-point takedown to take a 9-0 lead with close to 2 minutes of riding time.
Conley escaped, then Hamiti Jr. immediately shot an ankle pick to make the match 12-1, 13-1 when you add riding time.
The drama of the 3rd period was how many bonus points Hamiti Jr. could get. Hamiti Jr. hit another ankle pick to make it 15-2, then cut Conley in hopes of getting a tech fall with another takedown. He got the takedown just seconds later, and after a stall point, plus riding time was added, won the match 20-3.
It took Dustin Plott just 18 seconds to score a takedown with a single leg, and it was a sign to come. He rode the 17th-ranked wrestler at 184, Robin of WVU for 1:54 in the first period, then continued to dominate the rest of the way.
Plott hit another single on the edge of the mat, pulled Robin back on, and got his 3 points to make the score 6-1, with over 2 minutes of riding time.
Plott chose bottom in the 2nd, rolled out to escape, then hit another takedown to make the score 10-1. Plott had taken down Robin, he had ridden him, he’d escaped from him and was in total control and looking for bonus points.
He completed his 4th takedown with about a minute to go in the 2nd, let Robin up, took him down again, let him go, took him down again, and got the tech fall.
Luke Surber scored the first points of the match at 197 when he escaped early in the 2nd period, but, then, after looking like he was working a takedown, let Bush get behind and get a 3-point takedown.
Surber was down 3-1, and was likely going to be in top position in the 3rd. He escaped fairly quickly to make the score 3-2, then gave up another point on an illegal move, cut Bush to go down 3, and needed a takedown and ride out to tie the match.
Surber got the 3-point takedown, and it was going to come down to whether Surber could ride it out and get the riding time, or if Bush could get out.
Dramatically, Surber was able to ride out the period, get the riding time point, and win the match 6-5. West Virginia challenged wanting a locked hands call, but, after going to the monitors there were no locked hands and Surber got the win.
Dude hit an early single leg to take Wolfgram down at heavyweight, then got him pinned just seconds later.
The Pin came at :43 to end the dual in a big-time way! 6th pin of the year for Hendrickson.
What’s Next
OSU moved to 9-0 on the Dual season and 6-0 in Conference action with the 30-12 victory over the Mountaineers. This week is going to be exciting with road duals against Northern Iowa on Friday at 7:00, and then Iowa State on Sunday at 4:00.
The Pokes need to get Carter Young back, get Spratley back in the win column, and then just continue to do what they’ve been doing everywhere else. This squad is aggressive with their offense, they defend shots very well, and many times score off of their defense, they are good at riding and totally understand time and situation.
They are not shy about going for major decisions or tech falls even when knowing matches over likely decided, which is an aggressive mindset that is very fun to watch.
