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Grapplers comeback to defeat Moorhead
It looked as if the final regular season duel was going to end in disaster for the SCSU wrestling squad as they took on 18th ranked Minnesota State University, Moorhead, Friday night.
MSU, Moorhead ambushed the Huskies by taking the first five matches of the evening to open up what appeared to be an insurmountable 16-0 lead. The Huskies, however, did not want to head into the Feb. 24 NCC Tourney on a downer and promptly stormed back to win the final five matches of the evening and pull off an exciting 19-16 victory.
SCSU head coach Steve Grimit was thrilled, but not necessarily surprised, by his teams dramatic win. "I knew our upper weights were our strength," Grimit said. "I was a little concerned after losing at 125 lbs. And 157 lbs. But as soon as Nate Whiting won his match, I knew we were going to win the dual."
Whiting not only won his match at 184 lbs., but, according to Grimit, "dominated" MSU, Moorhead's best wrestler, Ryan Kopiaz, to pull off a resounding 8-4 victory.
Prior to Whiting's clutch decision, it was 165 lb. junior Matt Neumueller who got the Huskies on the board with a major decision over MSU-Moorhead's Tony Sodeberg. Jon Duncombe then proved why he is ranked eighth in the nation at 174 lbs. as he earned a 6-4 decision over MSU, Moorhead's Mike Richards.
Following the win by the senior Whiting, SCSU's other senior, Paul Breth, was slated to tackle MSU, Moorhead's Jake Anderson in the second to last match of the evening. Grimit knew that a victory by Duch would be huge as the Huskies would then have their fifth ranked heavyweight, Dustin Darveaux, to close out the night and hopefully cap off the comeback. Grimit said:"I told Breth as he was walking to the mat that if he wins this match, we win the duel."
Breth did not let his coach down as he knocked off Anderson, 3-0.
Down 16-13, the Huskies looked to Darveaux in the final match of the evening to finish what was an already exciting comeback. As has been the case the entire season, Darveaux did not let his teammates down and wasted no time in pinning MSU, Moorhead's Donald Hoonhorst at the 1:19 point of the contest.
The pin by Darveaux gave SCSU a 19-16 victory in one of the most thrilling duals that Grimit has seen in his over nine years of coaching the Huskies.
"This was one of the most exciting duels I've ever been around," he said. "Everyone wrestled hard and the guys were pretty fired up after winning. It gives us a bit of a mental lift heading into the NCC Tourney."
Whiting, who perhaps played the biggest role in spurring the comeback, also did not doubt his team's chances despite trailing by 16 points. "I had a feeling that we'd come back," he said. "I knew we had a good chance to win. It's a really good feeling to come off a win like this. It feels like we're kind of hot right now."
The Huskies picked the perfect time to heat up as all this week will be spent preparing for the NCC Tournament which is set for Sunday, Feb. 24 on the campus of Augustana. SCSU will enter the tournament as a team with a 6-8 dual record. Individual seedings will be decided the night before the tournament.
Adam Czech can be reached at: [email protected]
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