Northern Colorado Stops the Bison Dominance With 19-15 Victory
GREELEY, Colo. - It's over, but not until after a thrilling ending that easily could have been scripted in Hollywood.
Head coach Jack Maughan scored his first victory over his father Bucky Maughan on Friday night in the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion as the Northern Colorado wrestling team scored a 19-15 win over the visiting North Dakota State University Bison.
The Bears improved their overall season record to 6-6 after recording a pair of wins on Friday night. The Bears scored a 38-7 win over Utah Valley State earlier in the evening.
Jack Maughan had recorded an 0-17-1 record in his previous 18 matches in which he squared off with his father. But this year's Bears team had a different plan in mind for this matchup.
Northern Colorado jumped to a 12-3 advantage heading into the intermission on the strength of wins from Blayze Bahe, Kenny Hashimoto, Nathan Gerrard and Mikell Surber.
Bahe made most of the fans sweat it out at the 125-pound match to begin the night. Bahe trailed 6-4 going into the final period and was in jeopardy of losing another point because of riding time. But Bahe locked in a cradle early in the period and rocked it to a 7-6 victory.
Hashimoto (141 pounds) continued his fine play with a dominating 4-1 win over NDSU's Lucas Christianson. Hashimoto led 3-1 going into the third period, but he rode out the period on top and earned the riding time point. Hashimoto's victory improved him to an impressive 18-3 mark as a true freshman.
Gerrard clinched his match with a takedown with only five seconds left to give him a 6-2 victory over the Bison's Zach Stevens at 149 pounds.
Surber completed the Bears' early run with a thrilling 11-8 victory over NDSU's Collin Kelly at 157 pounds. Surber trailed 7-4 going into the final period but rallied with a pair of takedowns and a three-point nearfall, which came in the final 15 seconds of the match.
NDSU's Andy Pickar gained a some of the momentum back with a pin at 165 pounds over the Bears' Johnny White.
Then the Bears went back to their theatrical show with redshirt freshman Shawn Hart playing a supporting role. Hart trailed early and was on the short end of a 4-2 decision with seconds remaining in the second period. Hart escaped with 19 seconds left in the second stanza, and then Hart pulled off a takedown and 2-point nearfall with 31 seconds left in the match to put the Bear fans into a frenzy. Hart's win improved his record to 21-7 on the season but more importantly gave the Bears a 15-9 lead with only three matches remaining.
Junior Cole Allison put up a strong effort at 184 pounds, but the Bison's Matt Hermann held off the Bears' performer with a 7-5 decision. Hermann's victory pulled the Bison to within 15-12.
The Bears then sent out junior Tanner Linsacum at 197 pounds looking to clinch the first win for their head coach. Linsacum took matters into his won hands and racked up takedown after takedown in his matchup with the Bison's Dustin Benz.
Linsacum tallied a takedown at 1:09 to put him up 11-4. Benz notched an escape but Linsacum then finished the deal with only 15 seconds left in the match when he scored a takedown to put him up by seven points. Linsacum knew he had enough for the riding time point and when the buzzer sounded, Linsacum pointed both index fingers in the direction of Maughan to let him know that the win was for him to enjoy.
Heavyweight Sam Safken put up a good fight with NDSU's Tim Kraemer in the final match of the evening, but Kraemer eeked out a 6-5 win to close out the match.
But at that point the story had already unfolded and the Bears had given their head coach his first victory over his father, 19-15.
