Lights take round one from Argos

Less than two years ago, Montana State University-Northern heavyweight Toby Cheff walked on to the mat needing a pin to push his Lights to a victory over the UGF Argos. On Thursday night, Cheff found himself in the exact same situation.

Only this time, Cheff didn't get the pin on UGF’s Andreas Geranios but, instead, scored a 16-1 technical fall, forging an 18-18 tie between the fifth-ranked Lights and 18th-ranked Argos Thursday night at the McLaughlin Center in Great Falls.

The dual was just the latest in a series of dramatic finishes between Montana’s only two collegiate wrestling programs, and was the second time in four years that the score was tied following the last match. Northern was awarded the win on Thursday night because the Lights scored 73 total points to UGF’s 65, which is the criteria for collegiate duals that end in a tie.

“Toby did everything right, he knew he needed a tech fall to tie or a pin to win, and he went out and wrestled really well,” said Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge. “The dual wasn’t pretty. But our guys never let the momentum get them down. They kept fighting, back, kept going forward. So give them a ton of credit for that.”

While the Lights had the most points at the end of the night, they needed them all, especially the bonus points they got late, to come back on a scrappy UGF squad, which opened the dual with Luke Schlosser’s major decision over exciting MSU-N freshman Quintel Fuchs, and Clinton Garvin’s 9-4 win over Riley Miller, who was making his 2015-16 debut for the Lights at 133 pounds.

But trailing 7-0, and down late in the third period, Northern freshman Matt Weber gave the Lights some life. Weber, one of five Lights who were wrestling in the rivalry dual for the first time, scored a takedown and a four-point near fall on UGF’s Justin Whitman to erase a 3-1 deficit and win at 141 pounds.

“There was no quit in our guys tonight, and the best example of that was Matt Weber,” Thivierge said. “His comeback was incredible. For a true freshman to do that, in a dual like this, that’s amazing. And that win saved the dual for us. It was only the third match of the night, but it saved the dual.”

Northern stayed close thanks to a methodical, 14-8 win from Tommy Cooper at 157 pounds, which came on the heels of Brandon Weber being upset by Kyle Leir at 149.

Cooper’s win pulled the Lights to within 10-6 going into the upper weight bouts, but UGF’s Rashid Khaldoon scored a late comeback on Andrew Bartel, who suffered an injury while leading 4-2 in the third period, to put the Argos ahead 13-6. Northern came right back with a dominating major decision from Willie Miller at 174 pounds, but the lead went right back to the Argos, as Taylor Vaughn earned a technical fall over Dace Fisher.

That left the dual up to Northern’s two biggest guns, top-ranked Garrett DeMers at 197 pounds, and second-ranked Cheff at heavyweight. DeMers controlled his match from start to finish, but could only score an 8-2 win, which meant, for the second time in his career, Cheff would need a pin to give the Lights a win. Cheff was spectacular in the win over Geranios, but because he got a 15-point lead so quickly, time ran out on his chance to get the pin, which would have given the Lights a one-point win.

“We wrestled behind the eight-ball all night,” Thivierge said. “It was a tough night, and our guys could have laid down, but they didn’t. They kept fighting, kept going forward. Again, it wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take the win and move on to North Idaho. That’s our focus now.”

Thursday’s battle with UGF was just the start of a tough stretch of duals for the Lights. On Saturday, they’ll be in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for a dual with the North Idaho Cardinals. The Lights will then come home to host arch rival Southern Oregon next Thursday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

Lights 19, Argos 18

(Lights broke 18-18 tie on criteria)

125 – Luke Schlosser, UGF maj. dec. Quintel Fuchs, MSU-N 12-4; 133 – Clinton Garvin, UGF dec. Riley Miller, MSU-N, 9-4; 141 – Matt Weber, MSU-N dec. Justin Whitman, UGF, 8-3; 149 – Kyle Leir, UGF dec. Brandon Weber, MSU-N, 6-3; 157 – Tommy Cooper, MSU-N dec. Britton Thompson, UGF, 14-8; 165 – Khaldoon Rashid, UGF dec. Andrew Bartel, MSU-N, 6-4; 174 – Willie Miller, MSU-N maj. dec. Francisco Rueda, UGF, 10-0; 184 – Taylor Vaughn, UGF tech. fall Dace Fisher, MSU-N, 19-4; 197 – Garrett DeMers, MSU-N dec. Justin Harbison, UGF, 8-2; HWT – Toby Cheff, MSU-N tech. fall Andreas Geranios UGF, 16-1.