Northern grapplers beat rival Mountaineers in Reno

Every time they meet on the mat, the Montana State University-Northern Lights and Eastern Oregon Mountaineers are going to know each other well. After all, EOU head coach Dustyn Azure is a former Light, who also mentored under veteran Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge.

So, with that in mind, it’s no wonder that last Friday’s Cascade Conference dual between the No. 17 Lights and the Mounties went down to the wire, with Northern pulling out a 20-18 win.

The dual was wrestled on neutral ground, as the two teams met in Reno, Nevada, ahead of Sunday’s Reno T.O.C, and starting at heavyweight, Northern sophomore Jase Stokes got the Lights off to a strong start with a 2-0 win.

Northern would build on its lead with major decisions from Rob Pair and Landon Bailey at 125 and 141 pounds, respectively. EOU got its first points when nationally ranked Blake McNall edged Clayton Currier at 141 pounds, but, freshmen Lane Paulson (149) and Caden Hilliard (157) responded with two tight decisions to give the Lights a commanding 17-9 edge heading into the final three bouts.

Things got intense from there. At 174 pounds, Chase Short fell and Carl Hansen was pinned at 184, leaving the score at 18-17 in favor of EOU with just one match left.

Fortunately, that match was at 197 pounds, where second-ranked Isaac Bartel dominated EOU’s Ryan Redford in a 10-3 decision to clinch the dual for the Lights.

Following the exciting win over EOU, several Lights focused in on the Reno Tournament of Champions, arguably one of the toughest tournaments in the west. The Reno T.O.C. is composed of NCAA Division I and II squads as well as top NAIA teams, including Grand View, and top tier NJCAA squads as well.

And though the brackets are always fierce, the Lights did well, scoring 15 points in a top-30 finish overall. No Northern grapplers placed, but Short (174), Pair (125) and Rylan Moldenhauer (285) all went 2-2, while Nick Kunz won a match at 133 as did Currier at 141. Currier also wrestled former Havre Blue Pony Grayson Brenna, who competes at 141 for Grand View.

The Reno T.O.C. completed the Lights’ 2019 schedule. Northern will return to action Jan. 7 at Dickinson State.

Lights 20, Eastern Oregon 18

285 Jase Stokes (MSUN) Over Cade Woodward (EOU) (Dec 2-0) 0 3

125 Rob Pair (MSUN) Over Hunter Nees (EOU) (MD 9-0) 0 4

133 Landon Bailey (MSUN) over Monte Zufelt (EOU) (MD 13-5) 0 4

141 Blake McNall (EOU) over Clyton Currier (MSUN) (Dec 3-1) 3 0

149 Lane Paulson (MSUN) over Daniel Rpdriguez (EOU) (Dec 7-4) 0 3

157 Caden Hilliard (MSUN) over Jesse Camacho (EOU) (Dec 9-7) 0 3

165 Josh Pine (EOU) over unknown (For) 6 0

174 Keegan Mulhill (EOU) over Chase Short (MSUN) (Dec 12-6) 3 0

184 Marco Retano (EOU) over Carl Hansen (MSUN) (Fall 0:00) 6 0

197 Isaac Bartel (MSUN) over Ryan Redford (EOU) (Dec 10-3) 0 3