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Powerful Debut
Montana State University-Northern heavyweight Taylor Kornoely, top, takes down North Idaho's Cooper Thompson during Saturday night's dual at the Armory Gymnasium. Kornoely won his match, while the Lights won the dual, beating the Cardinals 25-15.
Northern's Dylan Veis, eft, locks up in his 141-pound match with NIC Saturday night. Veis scored a pin in his Lights' debut.
MSU-N's Ben Stroh holds down an NIC opponent during his 197-pound match Saturday night at the Armory Gymnasium.
Northern's Andrew Bartel, right, completes a takedown during Saturday night's dual against North Idaho College in Havre.
Northern senior Tommy Cooper, right, takes a shot during his 157-pound match against NIC Saturday night at the Armory Gymnasium.
The Montana State University-Northern Lights always open the wrestling season with a dual against the North Idaho College Cardinals. And that dual is usually one that can swing either way. In other words, it’s always a battle.
The 2016-17 season opener between the Lights and Cardinals, Saturday night inside the Armory Gymnasium, was no different. But, in the end, the Lights showed their depth and toughness, as, even without key grapplers in the lineup to start the season, Northern prevailed with a hard-fought, 25-16 victory.
“This dual is always a tough one,” Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge said. “North Idaho always wrestles us tough, and they did tonight. But overall, it was a good dual for us. We saw some guys really dig deep, every match was really competitive, and we learned a lot from it. So, I’m happy with the way it went.”
And the way it went was big momentum swings throughout the evening.
Northern, with three true freshmen in the lineup, fell behind 6-0 after close losses at 125 and 133 pounds. But one of those true freshmen brought the Lights right back.
Dylan Veis, making his first collegiate start, was tied with another former Montana standout, NIC’s Carlos Quinones, midway through the second period. That’s when Veis caught Quinones in a deadly cradle, and earned the Lights’ first pin of the season.
The win sparked the Lights, too, as they won back-to-back matches to follow, with Drake Randall getting a major decision, and senior Tommy Cooper, who missed last year with an injury, earning a 9-7 decision at 157 pounds.
“Dylan Veis got the momentum back for us,” Thivierge said. “We fell behind 6-0 with two close decisions, but he went out and did a great job. That was a statement win for him.”
Northern also got a couple of statement wins in the upper weights, ones that would help hold the Cardinals off. After Cooper won at 157, the Cardinals came right back with a victory at 165 to pull to within 13-10. But Andrew Bartel, ranked sixth at 165 pounds, moved up to face Alex Augilar at 174, and while he gave away plenty of weight, the sensational sophomore fought his way to a 4-4 tie at the end of three periods. Then, just seconds into overtime, Bartel spun around with a quick move, scoring two points to win the match and put the Lights back up by six points.
However, NIC was far from done. Thanks to a miraculous rally by Levi Perry at 184 pounds, who pinned MSU-N freshman Steeler French with just :15 left in the match when French was way ahead on points, the Cardinals were tied with the Lights with just two matches to go.
But Northern stars Ben Stroh and Taylor Kornoely were still waiting in the wings.
Like Bartel, Stroh moved up a weight in his highly-anticipated Northern debut, and he technically dominated NIC’s Jeremy Merryweather on his way to a major decision. Kornoely, a national title contender at heavyweight, then finished off the Cardinals, earning an 18-3 technical fall in the final seconds of the dual. The win was one of four matches the Lights would get on bonus points, and against the rugged Cardinals, they were all needed.
“We normally don’t like moving guys up in weight,” Thivierge said. “But right now the situation calls for that until we get a little healthier. And those guys that moved up, they went out and did the job.
“Overall, I was really happy with how we wrestled,” he added. “Sure, it was sloppy at times, and that’s going to come with it being the first time wrestling someone outside our own room, and with the first time having to get down to weight. But, I also thought our guys showed a lot of toughness and heart tonight. They had to dig deep late in matches and they did that for the most part. We will also learn a lot from this. We now know a lot better what we need to work on going forward. So all-in-all, it was a really good start.”
The Lights will be back in action this weekend at the Cowboy Open in Laramie, Wyoming. Then, they’ll be right back home for a Nov. 9 showdown with arch rival UGF, followed by a meeting with first-year program Eastern Oregon Nov. 11.
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