CRUSHED CARDINALS

Ahead of the Montana State University-Northern Lights' dual with North Idaho College, veteran head coach Tyson Thivierge called the Cardinals his "Kryptonite". But Thursday night in the Armory Gymnasium, the Lights appeared plenty immune to any super powers the Cardinals might have had over them.

In their second dual of the season, the Lights destroyed NIC, a perennial NJCAA powerhouse, 35-3. Northern won the dual in convincing fashion, losing just one match, scoring bonus points in several others, and winning close bouts as well.

"I think this is only the fourth time in my 11 years that we've beaten them," Thivierge said of the series with NIC. "They're always tough, so to win the way we did, it's exciting."

Thivierge was also excited about the progress his team made from its season-opening win over Eastern Oregon last Friday, to Thursday's night's resounding win over the Cardinals.

"We preached all week about being more dominant," Thivierge said. "We preached about finishing matches, scoring more points, about not just winning matches, but dominating them. And the guys are buying into that, and you saw that tonight. So it's a massive improvement from where we were a week ago."

The Lights looked sharp from the get-go Thursday night.

Nick Kunz scored a 8-2 decision at 125 pounds, and Landon Bailey followed that with an exciting comeback at 133. Bailey trailed NIC's Nick Harra 6-2 in the third period, but rallied to force overtime. In sudden victory OT, Bailey scored a takedown to complete the comeback. Then, Matt Weber doubled Northern's total with a second-period pin of former Light Dylan Lockwood at 141 pounds, and the Lights were out to a 12-0 lead.

After Weber's win, one of the most exciting points of the evening followed, as Tony Evans, Northern's 149-pound transfer from NIC took on Hasaan Hawthorne. Hawthorne's story is well-documented, as a double-amputee who won an undefeated state championship in Alabama. So, the former NIC teammates went head-to-head Thursday night, and the match would eventually go into overtime tied at 1-1. From there, the battle kept going until Evans finally prevailed on riding time in the fourth OT.

"I told Hasaan after the match, he inspires me every time I watch him wrestle," Thivierge said. "He's an inspiration to everybody. And he's tough. He's strong, and he goes forward. He's very tough, and it was a great match. He and Tony are former teammates, and they know each other well. So it was a very exciting match."

The thriller at 149 was followed by wins from Brandon Weber at 157 pounds and Andrew Bartel, who picked up a major at 165. Chris Nile then made his season debut for the Lights with a 7-2 decision at 174 pounds, boosting Northern's lead to an insurmountable 25-0.

More debuts were still to come.

Jake French made his varsity debut for the Lights at 184, and while he came up short in a 6-3 loss to NIC's Christian Grover, it was an exciting night for French, who has traveled from Carroll College football, to Northern wrestling, to Northern football and back to Northern's wrestling room.

And while NIC finally got on the board, the momentum wouldn't last.

Isaac Bartel came out and dominated NIC's Hunter Gregerson in a 15-3 major decision at 197, and that left the stage for the Armory debut of former Havre High four-time state champion Jase Stokes.

Now a red-shirt freshman at Northern, Stokes gave away over 50 pounds to the Cardinal's Connor Sullivan in the heavyweight match, but early in the second period Stokes found an opening to the leg, got Sullivan on his back and picked up his first official Northern victory by fall, much to the delight of the loud Northern faithful inside the Armory.

"Really happy for Jase," Thivierge said. "For him to come out and get his first varsity win as a Light, in his home gym, it's exciting. Jase was very tough tonight. I loved his energy and his emotion. That was an exciting way to finish the night."

An exciting night indeed. The third-ranked Lights are now 2-0 in duals, and, as Thivierge noted, they're getting better. And that's what it's all about. With all of Northern's long-term goals still in front of them, Thivierge said he just wants to see his team continue to make progress, and they certainly did that against the always-tough Cardinals.

"It's exciting to see," Thivierge said. "The guys are working hard, they're buying in, they're getting better. We really wanted to be more dominant in this dual and we were. There was a lot of really good, fun, exciting matches tonight. It was exciting for the fans, and it's exciting to me as a coach to see our guys executing the things we're working on."

With the NIC dual in the books, the Lights will now get set to start their tournament season. Northern travels to Laramie, Wyoming, Saturday for the NCAA Division I Cowboy Open. The Lights are back home Nov. 14 when they host the University of Providence Argos

Lights 35, North Idaho 3

125 - Nick Kunz, MSU-N dec. Jacob Garrison, NIC, 8-2; 133 - Landon Bailey, MSU-N dec. Nick Harra, NIC, 8-6 in OT; 141 - Matt Weber, MSU-N pinned Dylan Lockwood, NIC, 5:55; 149 - Tony Evans, MSU-N dec. Hasaan Hawthorne, NIC, 4-3 in OT; 157 - Brandon Weber, MSU-N dec. Cooper McCullough, NIC, 9-3; 165 - Andrew Bartel, MSU-N maj. dec. Izaiah Duran, NIC, 13-0; 174 - Chris Nile, MSU-N dec. Trager Abatti, NIC, 7-2; 184 - Christian Grover, NIC dec. Jake French, MSU-N, 6-3; 197 - Isaac Bartel, MSU-N maj. dec. Hunter Gregorson, NIC, 15-3; HWT - Jase Stokes, MSU-N pinned Connor Sullivan, NIC, 4:39.