The Cowboys had another successful weekend on the mat getting dual victories over Northern Iowa on Friday, then Iowa State on Sunday.
Both matches were very hard-fought, as was to be expected, and pushed the Cowboys, which is a very good thing with Iowa lurking around the corner.
Northern Iowa
The Pokes took down Northern Iowa on Friday 22-14 but had to rally to get the win. Troy Spratley started the night on a good note beating Trever Anderson 10-5 in the first match, but OSU lost the next 3.
Cael Hughes gave up a major decision at 133 to Julian Farber by a score of 13-4, and then Tagen Jamison and Carter Young lost as well. After losing 3 matches in a row, one by major decision, OSU found themselves in a 10-3 early hole in the dual.
That’s when the Pokes reeled off 3 wins in a row, and won 5 of the last 6 matches to defeat Northern Iowa, a very scrappy club, by 9 points.
Cameron Amine, Dean Hamiti Jr. won via major decision, Wyatt Hendrickson while Dustin Plott lost by major decision. Wyatt Hendrickson then finished the night with a tech fall over the #15 ranked heavyweight, Lance Runyon of UNI, to finish the night out with a hard-fought victory for the Pokes.
Iowa State
Troy Spratley recorded his 2nd win of the weekend to get the dual started at 125, then OSU lost the next 4 matches. Witcraft lost a 9-4 decision to Evan Frost at 133 in a hard-fought match featuring 2 very good wrestlers.
Tagen Jamison lost 4-1 to Jacob Frost at 141, Carter Young lost a 4-2 decision at 149, then Caleb Fish lost at 157 by a decision of 4-2.
So, after 5 matches, Iowa State had a 12-3 lead in the dual.
But, not to worry, because OSU has closers down the stretch.
The Pokes won all 5 of the remaining matches, including tech falls from Dean Hamiti Jr. at 174 and Wyatt Hendrickson at heavyweight. Dustin Plott also recorded a major decision victory at 184, and Cameron Amine got a regular decision at 165.
When it was all said and done the Pokes won the dual fairly handily 27-12.
Troy Spratley had a great bounce-back weekend winning both of his matches. He defeated the #30 ranked wrestler at 125, Trever Anderson of UNI, on Friday, then got a major decision against Ethan Perryman of Iowa State to start the dual on Sunday against the Cyclones.
Troy Spratley was dominant in his match on Sunday after getting behind early. Spratley gave up the first 2 takedowns of his match, then opened up a can on Perryman of Iowa State.
Spratley hit a sweet single at :51 of the first period, then rode the period out. He was down 6-2 at the time and tied the match early in the 2nd period by escaping almost immediately after the whistle.
Spratley hit another single at 1:15 of the second period, turned Perryman, and scored back points. He then got another takedown to move the score to 16-8. His ability to switch from single to double is fun to watch.
He later blocked a double attempt from Perryman, then slammed him to the mat, got behind, and got another takedown to move the score to 19-9. Great weekend for Spratley who got 2 wins!
Reece Witcraft didn’t wrestle on Friday, so was ready to go in the dual on Sunday against Iowa State.
With about a minute to go in the first period, he got a takedown against Frost, the #5 ranked wrestler from Iowa State, at 133.
Frost quickly got away to make the match score 3-1, which is how the 1st period ended. Having got away so fast, Frost had the chance to rack up some riding time in the 2nd period, but Witcraft got away almost immediately.
Up 4-1, he got taken down with 20 seconds left in the 2nd period, then got turned for back points, and left the 2nd period trailing 8-4.
Witcraft got an escape in the 3rd to end the match 9-4 in favor of Frost. Good offense from Witcraft, very aggressive, Frost is just very good, so give him credit.
Cameron Amine won both matches over the weekend and scored 21 points combined in both matches, so his offense was excellent. He only gave up a total of 6 points in both matches combined as well, so he was dominant.
Amine nailed a double a little over a minute into the match at 165 to take an early 3-0 lead over Riggins of Iowa State at 165. He hit another takedown in the 1st period, then escaped early in the 2nd period to take a 7-2 lead.
Amine hit a single late in the 3rd to make the score 10-3, and was looking for one last takedown for bonus points, but couldn’t get it and won 11-4.
Good Match, Great Action, and Excellent finishes to his moves.
Dean Hamiti Jr. scored 36 points over the weekend and won both matches by a combined score of 36-8. He is ranked #3 at 174 for a reason, and he showed it in the 2 duals in Iowa.
He hit a single early in the match against Gaitan of Iowa State to take a quick 3-0 lead. Gaitan is the #23 ranked wrestler at 174, so tough opponent.
Hamiti hit another single with 1:00 to go in the 1st period, then turned Gaitan and got near fall points, and when he was done with the move he had a 10-1 lead in the match.
Hamiti hit another low single later in the 2nd period to move the score to 13-3. He cut Gaitan, then took him down again with another single to take a 16-4 lead, then finished the match via tech fall with another takedown. Great Match!
Dustin Plott lost Friday to the #2 ranked wrestler at 184, then rebounded on Sunday by beating Evan Brockman, who came in ranked #12 by a major decision 11-2.
hit an early takedown to take a 3-0 lead in his match at 184 against Bockman of Iowa State who came in ranked #12. Plott hit a single leg in the 2nd period to move the score to 7-0, then rode Bockman for 1:32 of riding time.
The only real drama of the 3rd period was whether Plott could get a major decision, and it became a real possibility when he blocked a shot from Bockman, got behind, and took a 10-2 lead, which ended at 11-2 when riding time was added. Awesome job not settling for the win, but going for the Major Decision.
Luke Surber won both matches this weekend to back up his #7 ranking at 197.
is quite possibly the best wrestler in the Country when it comes to scrambles. Not only can Surber get himself out of potentially bad situations, but he’s also able to turn them into points for himself.
That’s how he scored his first takedown tonight to take a 3-0 lead in his match at 197 against Bartelt of Iowa State. Surber shot a single, then kept working the move to hit the first takedown of the match, then racked up 52 seconds of riding time. That came close to canceling the escape point of Bartelt.
Surber rode Bartelt for a good long time in the 2nd period, then cut Bartelt with 1:46 of riding time. The match was 3-2 at the time inside a minute of the 2nd, but all Surber had to do was escape in the 3rd within 46 seconds to make the score of the match, in essence, 5-2 after the escape and riding time point got awarded.
Surber then took Bartelt to the mat, and almost to his back with 1:01 left in the match to take control of the scoreboard at 7-2, still with the 1 point of riding time to be added.
Surber scored one more takedown off of a Bartelt shot and block to end the match 11-3.
Wyatt Hendrickson posted tech falls in both of his matches and continues to dominate at heavyweight.
Hendrickson got a quick takedown and near pin in the first period, got back points, then took down Herrera again and got back points for a second time to take a huge lead that he never gave back.
He got the tech fall shortly into the 2nd period! Dude is a Closer!
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