Lights prep for season with Maroon/Gold dual

The Montana State University-Northern wrestling team made it official on Tuesday night. The Lights are ready for the 2013-14 season.

Northern held its annual Maroon/Gold Dual Tuesday night at the Armory Gymnasium, and while the Gold team prevailed 12-6, the point of the night was to get the Lights ready for their season-opening dual with North Idaho College, while will take place Saturday afternoon in Idaho.

"We've got a lot to work on," MSU-N head coach Tyson Thivierge said. "But it was good to get bad matches out of the way. We were a little sluggish tonight. It was the first time we wrestled down to weight, so that takes a little getting used to. But this was good. We found out a lot of what we need to work on, and we'll go from there."

Duell Stadel opened the dual with a 13-1 win over Riley Miller at 125 pounds, solidifying Stadel as Northern's starter at 125 for the beginning of the season. The Lights also have returning All-American Aaron LaFarge at 125, but he'll start the season at 133. The gold picked up more points when Justin Rodgers beat Douglas O'Hara 7-4 at 133 pounds.

The final three matches of the dual were all good battles. At 157, junior Mickey Cheff took the top spot by beating red-shirt freshman Tommy Cooper 6-3 in a hard-fought bout. That win gave the Maroon team its first victory of the night, but senior captain Kody Reed scored right back for the Gold, quickly pinning Steve Conn in the first period. The finale was a true battle for the top spot at 184 pounds, and returning All-American Toby Cheff proved too much for red-shirt freshman Garrett DeMers. Cheff picked up a 12-3 decision, though DeMers will possibly wrestle up in Saturday's dual against the Cardinal.

Northern's lineup for its season-opener will see Stadel at 125 pounds, LaFarge at 133, Cameron Neiss at 141, Mickey Cheff at 157, Ethan Hinebauch at 165, Jared Miller at 174, Reed at 184, Toby Cheff at 197 and either DeMers or Jorrell Jones at heavyweight. The Lights will forfeit the 149-pound spot against North Idaho.

"We'll have to bring our A-game against them (Cardinal)," Thivierge said. "We'll need to start a lot quicker than we did tonight because they'll be very tough. They got us last year in our room, so we'll need to be ready for them.

"But I think we'll have a chance to score points, even being open at 149," he added. "It's going to be a good fight and we just have to come ready to wrestle on Saturday."

The Lights face the Cardinal at 12 p.m. Saturday in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Northern's first home dual of the season will take place on Nov. 21.

Note: For an in-depth look at the 2013-14 Lights, see Thursday's Havre Daily News.

Gold 12, Maroon 6

125 – Duell Stadel, G, dec. Riley Miller, M, 13-1; 133 – Justin Rodgers, G, dec. Douglas O'Hara, M, 7-4; 157 – Mickey Cheff, M, dec. Tommy Cooper, G, 6-3; 184 – Kody Reed, G, pinned Steve Conn, M, 1:28; 197 – Toby Cheff, M dec. Garrett DeMers, G, 12-3. EXB – Rico Paz dec. Jake Leinwand, 10-7; EXB – Cameron Neiss maj. dec. Bryan Barocio, 12-0; EXB – Ethan Hinebauch pinned Jared Miller, 4:52.