No Contest: Lights dismantle rival Argos

The Iowa Hawkeyes might be the best team the 2015-16 Montana State University-Northern wrestling team will ever face in their careers. But, they certainly aren't the Lights' rival.

No, that's the UGF Argos, and on Wednesday night in the Armory Gymnasium, the No. 3 Lights thumped the No. 13 Argos, 37-5, in an emotional NAIA dual.

The night was especially emotional for Northern's two seniors on the mat, and they certainly helped the Lights go out with a bang, and earn a season sweep of the Argos.

And while former Chinook star Willie Miller got a pin at 174 pounds, fellow senior Toby Cheff did what he has done so many times before, end a UGF dual with a pin. Cheff, Northern's No. 2-ranked heavyweight star wasted little time in pinning Andreas Geranois, giving the Lights a very impressive final margin over its in-state rival.

"He's a tough kid, he's hard to pin," Cheff said of Geranois. "But I really wanted to attack him and go after a pin. Tyson (Thivierge and I were tied in career pins, and I wanted to go out and make sure I got one tonight. So it felt good to go out there and wrestle well enough to get that pin, especially on my senior night."

Miller did the same at 174 pounds, as he continuously attacked UGF's Michael Ayala, and by the third period, Miller's aggressiveness had wore Ayala down, and Miller saw his opening and stuck Ayala to the mat.

"The seniors listened to our game plan going in," said head coach Tyson Thivierge. "Both Willie and Toby really got after it tonight, and that's what we wanted to do, we wanted to be aggressive in the first period of every match. This guys did that tonight, as we expect them to. Unfortunately, some of the other guys in our lineup didn't do that tonight, and that's something we have got to clean up with Iowa coming in here and regionals just over a week away, we've got some things we need to clean up and we will do that."

Despite needing to work on some things, the Lights controlled the Argos from start to finish. UGF has some injury problems at the moment, which meant head coach Caleb Schaeffer's team gave up forfeits at 125 and 149 pounds.

However, Northern freshman Blake Ivie came out of the gates and scored six points on Clinton Garvin at 133 pounds, and while Garvin battled back, Ivie held on for a 6-4 win, giving the Lights a quick, 9-0 lead. UGF bounced back with an upset win at 141 pounds as Justin Whitman knocked off eight-ranked Matt Weber at 141 pounds, but after Drake Randall earned a forfeit at 149, the Lights won five of the next six matches.

And that run started with an impressive pair of victories by two more MSU-N freshman. At 157 pounds, Brandon Weber earned a solid 9-2 win over Isaiah Yates, and in the best match of the night, Andrew Bartel was spectacular in beating eighth-ranked Khaldoon Rashid at 165 pounds.

Bartel trailed 1-0 after two periods, before earning an early escape in the third. From there, the two were locked in a stalemate, but early in sudden victory overtime, Bartel got a leg hooked on Rashid and executed a great take down, getting him one of his biggest wins of the season, while firing up a large MSU-N home crowd.

"Andrew Bartel really listened to what we were working on all week in practice," Thivierge said. "And it showed tonight. He was very good technically, he wrestled really well. He took a huge step forward this week, and it was fun to see him go out and make that work pay off in a dual like this."

Bartel's win put the Lights ahead 21-3, and while Taylor Vaughn would get one more decision for UGF at 184 pounds, the Lights cruised to victory, with top-ranked Garrett DeMers adding to Miller and Cheff's big night with a 11-1 major at 197 pounds.

"It was fun tonight," Thivierge said. "Some matches were more fun than others. I saw a lot of things we need to clean up, but that happens when you have seven freshman in the lineup. Sometimes it's not always going to be pretty. And I'm always going to find things we need to get better at no matter what the scoreboard says.

"I also think some guys were maybe looking ahead tonight," he continued. "It's been a pretty stressful week knowing the Iowa Hawkeyes are coming in here on Friday night. We were focused only on this dual, but I still think Iowa was on some of the guys' minds. But overall, it was a fun night, and the crowd got into it, and it was a good dual for our seniors."

And while Northern did all it could do to focus on nothing but the rival Argos, that dual is now in the books, and finally, MSU-N can focus on a historic home meeting with the Iowa Hawkeyes, who will come to Havre on Friday night as the No. 2-ranked team in the NCAA, and with as many as eight wrestlers in their lineup who carry NCAA national rankings.

But no matter how good or how legendary the Hawkeyes are, and how daunting Friday night's task night be, not that the Argos have been beaten, the Lights could finally soak in the fact that they are getting the chance of a lifetime in just under 24 hours.

"It's going to be fun," Cheff said of Friday night's dual which starts at 7 p.m. "I'm excited. It's something we're going to remember for years to come. And I speak for the entire team when I saw, we're all very excited and really looking forward to that dual."

Lights 37, UGF 5

(UGF deducted one team point)

125 - Quintel Fuchs, MSU-N won by fft; 133 - Blake Ivie, MSU-N dec. Clinton Garvin. UGF, 6-2; 141 - Justin Whitman, UGF dec. Matt Weber, MSU-N, 6-2; 149 - Drake Randall, MSU-N won by fft; 157 - Brandon Weber, MSU-N dec. Isaiah Yates, UGF, 9-2; 165 - Andrew Bartel, MSU-N dec Khaldoon Rashid, UGF, 3-1 in SVO; 174 - Willie Miller, MSU-N pinned Michael Ayala, UGF, 5:42; 184 - Taylor Vaughn, UGF dec. Dace Fisher, MSU-N, 10-2; 197 - Garrett Demers, MSU-N maj. dec. Justin Harbison, UGF, 11-1; HWT - Toby Cheff, MSU-N pinned Andreas Geranois, UGF, 1:28.

Here Come the Hawkeyes

For complete coveragae before and after the Lights' historic home dual with the Iowa Hawkeyes, see Friday and Monday's Havre Daily News sports pages, as well as online at http://www.havredailynews.com