Augustana rallied from a 19-6 deficit to win the final 4 matches of the
night and claim a 20-19 non-conference victory over Minnesota
State-Moorhead Saturday night at the Elmen Center.
The 14th-ranked Vikings improved 9-5 overall while the Dragons fell to
14-7.
Augustana led 6-3 after 3 matches following a 12-7 win by Chris Trampe
over Casey Dschaak at 125 pounds and a 5-3 overtime win by Mike Long
over Kelly Janke at 141 pounds.
But MSU-Moorhead won the next 3 matches, picking up 16 team points in
the process. Shane Walton pinned Brandon Kruger at 149 pounds and Kyle
Trout pinned Jarred McCarthy at 157 pounds to put the Dragons ahead
15-6.
At 165 pounds MSUM's Nate Baker, the defending national champion and
currently rated 4th in the nation, scored an 11-0 major decision over
Aaron Haddorff to push the lead to 19-6.
But the Vikings won the final 4 bouts. Cody Henriksen started the
comeback with a 3-1 overtime win over Tyler Tubbs at 174 pounds. The
match was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation. Henriksen then scored a
takedown 18 seconds into the sudden victory period to improve to 19-5
on the year.
At 184 pounds, Augie's Beau Severtson continued the rally with an 11-4
win over Matt Nelson. Nate Buys, ranked No. 3 in the country, then
picked up 2 big team points when he registered a 16-0 technical fall
over Joshiah Bush. Buys scored the final takedown with 1:20 left in the
third period as he improved to 24-2.
Ray O'Connor completed the rally by edging Joe Facchinni 2-1 at
heavyweight. Both wrestlers scored escapes to start the second and
third periods to account for a 1-1 score. But with 1:13 left in the
bout, Facchinni was called for his second stalling, which awarded a
point to O'Connor. O'Connor then fought off Facchinni the rest of the
for the win.
Augustana concludes the regular season on Wednesday when the Vikings
travel to Omaha, Neb., to face Nebraska-Omaha in a 7 p.m. dual.