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NDSU continues road swing against SDSU and Northern Illinois
February 8, 2006
North Dakota State (6-3) will continue their road portion of the schedule when they take on South Dakota State in Brookings on Friday, Feb. 10, and 24th-ranked Northern Illinois in Dekalb, Ill., on Sunday, Feb. 12. The dual with South Dakota State is slated for a 7 p.m. start time and the match with Northern Illinois will begin at 2 p.m.
THE SERIES: The Bison lead the series with South Dakota State 32-16, with the Bison winning the last six times out. North Dakota State beat the Jackrabbits 34-6 in their final match of the 2004-05 season on Feb. 25, 2005 at the Bison Sports Arena. This will be the first time NDSU and Northern Illinois meet on the mat.
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA STATE: The Jackrabbits are 6-9 on the season and are coming off losses to Northern Colorado and Utah Valley State.
SDSU is led by a couple of wrestlers who have been on a roll lately. Senior Cody Nehl has won eight of his last nine at 197 pounds and is 12-4 on the season. Sophomore Derek Pirner moved up to 141 pounds and has gone 8-1 since the switch. The transfer from Nebraska 10-10 for the season. Heavyweight Jason Stripling leads the team in victories with 24.
The Jacks are coached by Jason Liles. Liles in his 13th season and has a career record of 209-117-1 and a 121-80-1 record at South Dakota State.
NDSU and SDSU have had six common opponents (North Carolina State, Portland State, Wyoming, Air Force, Northern Colorado and Utah Valley State). The Bison are 5-1 against these opponents, South Dakota State is 2-4.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Huskies have a record of 6-4-2 and are 2-0-1 in the Mid-American Conference. They have wrestled Kent State and Northern Iowa in their last two matches with both resulting in 16-16 ties.
NIU has wrestled six ranked opponents and have a record of 1-4-1 against them. Northern Illinois has four ranked wrestlers in the USA Today/NWCA Divsion I Coaches' Poll. 11th-ranked senior Josh Wooton leads the way for the Huskies with a 21-6 record at 141 pounds. Wooton has a chance to pick up career win No. 100 against No. 5 Central Michigan on Friday, Feb. 10.
Northern Illinois is coached by Dave Grant. Grant has led the Huskies to four consecutive runner-up finishes in the Mid-American Conference. He has a career record of 87-70-5.
MOONEY'S WIN AT UTAH VALLEY CLINCHES SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN: Utah Valley State's comeback fell short as North Dakota State hung on to win 19-16 at UVSC's Activities Center on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
North Dakota State led 16-3 halfway through the match when Utah Valley State reeled off victories in the next four bouts to tie the score. It came down to the 149-pound bout between NDSU's Gabe Mooney and Justin Rawle. Mooney notched a couple of takedowns to secure a 4-1 lead after the first period. Rawle escaped Mooney's grasp 19 seconds into the third period to cut the lead to 4-2 but the redshirt freshman took home the victory for the Bison.
The Wolverines jumped out an early 3-0 lead with 157-pounder Tanner Cowan defeated Andrew Quittschreiber 2-0. After that, the Bison won the next four bouts beginning with Zach Molitor's 9-4 decision over Devin Siddoway at 165 pounds. At 174 pounds, junior captain Matt Hermann won his fourth consecutive bout, beating Garret Story 10-5.
Matt Wetterling continued his winning ways as well by defeating Ivan Bigney 15-4 at 184 pounds, giving the Bison an extra bonus point. Wetterling has now won his last six bouts and improved his overall record to 23-6. The win was also No. 30 for Wetterling's career.
Coming off a victory over a nationally ranked opponent, Jacob Bryce pinned Jaime Thornblad of Utah Valley State at 197 pounds in just 2 minutes and 31 seconds. This gave the Bison six important team points and made the score 16-3.
The Wolverines came storming back, winning the next four bouts and Utah Valley State tied the score at 16 when 141-pounder Daniel Polkowske defeated David Cunningham 7-3.
The match concluded with Mooney's exciting win, giving the redshirt freshman his 18th victory of the year.
NDSU WINS FIRST ROAD MATCH; DEFEAT NORTHERN COLORADO: North Dakota State won their fifth straight match defeating Northern Colorado 32-5 in front of a crowd of 272 at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavillion on Monday, Feb. 6. The Bison won eight of ten bouts and improved their record to 5-3 for the season.
Northern Colorado got the early 3-0 lead when Richard Lohr was able to defeat NDSU's David Cunningham 7-2. The Bison went on to win eight of the next nine matches, beginning with Gabe Mooney winning his 17th match of the year, defeating Kyle LeValley by major decision 12-4 at 149 pounds.
With the Bison up 4-3, redshirt freshman Andrew Quittschreiber picked up his first career dual victory defeating Nathan Gerrard 2-0 at 157 pounds. The win improved Quittschreiber's record to 12-9 on the season.
The match continued with NDSU 165-pounder Zach Molitor having his three-match winning streak snapped at the hands of Devan Lewis 12-7. That would be the last loss for the Bison on the night as they went on to win the next six bouts, beginning with Matt Hermann winning his third straight dual, beating Ryan Johnson 15-11 at 174 pounds.
Matt Wetterling picked up his 22nd win and 16th pin of the year sticking Tim Sexton at 184 pounds at the 7:42 mark. The match went to an extra session with Wetterling picking up three bonus points for the Bison.
At 197 pounds, NDSU's Jacob Bryce handed 17th-ranked Reece Hopkin his first dual loss of the season by the score of 6-4. This marks the first time an NDSU wreslter has defeated a nationally ranked wrestler this season. Bryce has now won two consecutive matches and is 14-9 on the year. After the match, Northern Colorado was deducted one team point after Hopkin shoved Bryce. This gave the Bison a 19-5 lead going into the heavyweight bout.
North Dakota State's Mike Maresh won for the sixth time in seven career matches defeating Justin Tuell 15-4 in the battle between heavyweights. At 125 pounds, Mike Meger got back to the .500 mark on the season by defeating Beau Hessler 9-3. The sophomore is now 7-7 on the season and is 5-1 in his last six duals.
The match concluded when 133-pound sophomore Eric Sanders won his fourth match in a row by pinning Will Cusker in 5 minutes, 45 seconds, making the final score 32-5. Sanders is now 12-9 on the season with four pins.
The Bison now lead the all-time series with the Bears 25-2-1 and NDSU head coach Bucky Maughan is 18-1-1 over son and Northern Colorado head coach Jack Maughan.
LAST YEAR OF RECLASSIFICATION: The Bison are still without a conference affiliation, but NDSU is looking ahead to 2006-07 when its NCAA tournament eligibility begins, thanks to an NCAA ruling in September 2004 that North Dakota State could reclassify its wrestling and volleyball teams to Division I in three years instead of five. NDSU is on track to reclassify in all sports by 2008-09.
MEET THE BISON:
MIKE MEGER (125): Meger enters his second year as the 125-pounder for North Dakota State and is 7-8 on the year and 5-4 in dual matches this season.
ERIC SANDERS (133): Sanders started off the 2005-06 season hot, winning seven of his first eight matches and placing second at the Daktronics and Bison Opens. Sanders is only one of two NDSU wrestlers that are undefeated at home and is second on the team in dual points with 24.
DAVID CUNNINGHAM (141): Cunningham begins his first year of action for North Dakota State after redshirting in 2004-05. Cunningham is 13-14 on the season and will look to get back to the .500 mark against South Dakota State on Feb. 10.
GABE MOONEY (149): Mooney picked up his most important win in NDSU's last dual. With the score tied at 16 going into the final bout, Mooney jumped out to 4-1 lead after the first period and hung on to win 4-2. Mooney has won two consecutive duals and is second on the team in wins with 19.
ANDREW QUITTSCHREIBER (157): Quittschreiber has started at 157 pounds for the Bison in their last three dual matches. The redshirt freshman picked up his first career dual victory over Nathan Gerrard of Northern Colorado 2-0.
ZACH MOLITOR (165): Molitor is the starter for North Dakota State this year at 165 pounds as a true freshman. The freshman is on a roll, winning four of his last five duals, that included a victory over NCAA Qualifier Gary Dack of Wyoming on Jan. 28.
MATT HERMANN (174): Team captain Matt Hermann has won his last three bouts and is 7-5 on the season. The junior has 62 career wins and will look to continue his winning trend this weekend against South Dakota State and Northern Illinois.
MATT WETTERLING (184): Wetterling currently leads the team in wins (23), pins (16) and fastest pin (0:37) this season. The sophomore has a winning streak of his own, winning his last six matches, four coming by pin.
JACOB BRYCE (197): Bryce is currently 15-9 and beat 17th-ranked Reece Hopkin of Northern Colorado on Feb. 7, and also had the match-winning victory against Wyoming's Malcolm Havens on Jan. 28 in Fargo. The redshirt freshman has won three consecutive matches.
MIKE MARESH (Hwt.): Maresh made his North Dakota State wrestling debut at the Virginia Duals on January 13 with outstanding results. Maresh was the only Bison who went 3-0 at the tournament and also won his first home dual of his career, defeating Steve Fittinger of Portland State. Maresh, a starting linebacker on the NDSU football squad, is 6-2 for the season.