No. 15 Panthers Take Dual from Bears

Friday, January 17

Greeley, Colo.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Northern Iowa

Photo by: Anna-Lee Marie

1/17/2020 11:10:00 PM | Wrestling

Results Sheet

Northern Colorado dropped the dual against Northern Iowa, 32-6

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

Northern Colorado wrestling had a tough battle against No. 15 Northern Iowa at Bank of Colorado, dropping the dual, 32-6 Friday night. The Panthers won the first eight matches to clinch the dual win, with UNC winning the final two bouts.

"It was a hard dual and we have a young team," head coach Troy Nickerson said "They are an emotional team and they wrestle with their emotions on their sleeve sometimes. That's something we need to correct. It's a hard sport and we need to learn to get through the adversity better. This team is talented enough to put on a better performance than that."

The dual started at 125-pounds, with Jace Koelzer against No. 18 Jacob Schwarm. In the first period, Schwarm got the fall on Koelzer at 2:48 following a pair of four-point near falls. UNI was up 6-0 quick on UNC.

No. 19 Mosha Schwartz took the mat at 133-pounds, facing Jack Skudlarcyk. The match was scoreless after one period, but Skuldarcyk would take a 6-2 lead into the third period, following a reversal and a four-point near fall. Skuldarcyk added another takedown and riding time to defeat Schwartz in a 10-3 decision. The lead increased to 9-0 for the Panthers.

At 141-pounds, Chris Sandoval faced No. 14 Michael Blockhus. Sandoval trailed 2-1 after the first period and Blockhus added an escape in the second period to lead 3-1. After tying the match with an escape, Sandoval finished his shot and got the takedown on Blockhus to jump in front. Blockhus managed to get the escape as time expired to force overtime. 15 seconds into the first overtime period, Blockhus got the takedown on Sandoval for the sudden victory, 6-4. UNI was now leading 12-0.

Ethan Leake made his first career dual start at 149-pounds, battling No. 11 Max Thomsen. Thomsen had a 4-0 lead after the first period and added an escape in the second to increase it to 5-0. Leake would get an escape in the third period, but that was all his scoring as Thomsen would go on to win the 6-1 decision, adding the riding time bonus. The Panthers were pulling away, now up 15-0 on the Bears.

In the 157-pound bout, Jimmy Fate would meet Keaton Geerts. Geerts would lead 2-1 after the first period and the two did not score the second period, as Geerts rode out Fate. Geerts added another takedown in the third period and had the riding time bonus to win the 6-1 decision over Fate. UNC continued to fall behind, now trailing UNI 18-0.

Austin Matthews and Austin Yant would face off in the 165-pound bout. The two were scoreless after one, but Yant would start on bottom for the second and get the escape. Yant would ride out Matthews in the third period and earned the riding time bonus for the 2-0 decision win. The Panthers had now built a 21-0 lead.

Now at 174-pounds, Billy Higgins went up against No. 5 Bruce Steiert. Steiert started fast against Higgins, earning two takedown and two, four-point near falls. The match did not get past the second period, as Steiert added another four-point near fall to get the 16-1 tech fall at 4:36. UNI had clinched the dual, leading 26-0.

Sethan Bogulski faced No. 4 Taylor Lujan in the 184-pound match. After building an 11-1 lead after two periods, Lujan got the fall on Bogulski at 6:29 to extend the lead to 32-0.

No. 28 Alan Clothier faced Jacob Holschlag in the 197-pound match. After a scoreless first period, Clothier started on bottom and quickly got the escape to take the lead. In the third period, Holschlag was hit with two stalling penalties to build Clothier's lead to 3-0. Clothier accumulated 1:50 of riding time for the bonus and won the 4-0 decision over Holschlag.

In the final match of the night, Robert Winters Jr. would take on Bryce Esmoil. Winters took the lead in the first period with a takedown at the 1:50 mark and added another at 24 seconds left in the period for a 4-1 lead. The two takedowns would prove to be the difference, as Winters held on for the, 4-2 decision win.

Northern Colorado won the final two matches, but fell in the dual 32-6 to Northern Iowa.

Coach Post-Dual Thoughts

What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado will host CSU Bakersfield in the inaugural Clash in the Commons on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. (MST). The dual will be held in the Performance Hall in UNC Campus Commons.