Originally from the Stillwater News-Press, published in the Des Moines Register
UofI Wrestling
A day for Cowboys
By ROGER MOORE
STILLWATER NEWSPRESS
Stillwater, Okla. – Oklahoma State got all the breaks in a 26-12 win over No. 9 Iowa on Sunday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in front of 7,821.
The top-ranked Cowboys improved to 8-0 in dual meets, winning seven of 10 bouts with three nearly going the visiting Hawkeyes’ way.
Iowa freshman Alex Tsirtsis was taken down in the final 10 seconds to lose, 3-2, at 141; junior Ty Eustice lost to No. 1 Zack Esposito when he was ridden out in an overtime tiebreaker at 149; and redshirt freshman Mark Perry lost for the second time this season when he fell to third-ranked Johny Hendricks, 3-1, at 165, as the Hawkeyes fell to 5-2 in dual meets.
“We knew it was going to be tough with freshmen going against No. 1-ranked guys at 174, 197 and heavyweight, so we knew that those early matches were important, “said Iowa coach Jim Zalesky, whose team lost to the Cowboys for a fifth straight time. “We took a bad shot (at 141). We had some opportunities to score at 149, and we got ridden out at 165, and you aren’t going to win many matches when that happens.
“Right now, OSU has a more experienced team. We have seven new guys in our lineup and only one guy who finished fourth last year. We have to build something.”
Iowa got off to a good start when 125-pounder Charlie Falck won a battle of freshmen against Coleman Scott. Falck (11-5) caught Scott (16-4) with a counter cradle off a Scott shot in the final 20 seconds for a 5-3 win.
But Oklahoma State reeled off three straight wins to take a 10-3 lead. Iowa’s eighth-ranked Joe Johnston gave the visitors life with a pin in 6:57 at 157, but Hendricks, ranked third, took back the momentum, and defending national champion Chris Pendleton’s pin of freshman Luke Lofthouse at the 1:31 mark made things very difficult with only three matches remaining.
Iowa’s Paul Bradley (11-1) held on for a 6-4 win over unranked Clay Kehrer at 184 with top-ranked Jake Rosholt (16-0) earning a technical fall at 197 and Steve Mocco beating Matt Fields, 4-0, to finish the dual.
Oklahoma State was deducted a team point when Mocco head-slapped Fields after the final whistle.
“You take 141, 149 and 165 away from them and we are right back in the dual meet, “Bradley said.
Bradley, Eustice and Johnston (14-3), who had the squad’s best performance in building a 14-6 lead before pinning Kevin Ward, are the only three with NCAA Tournament experience.
“It was a tough loss, but no determining stick for the end of the year, “Bradley added. “I’ve tried to lead by example, and we have great group of freshmen that are getting better. They motivate me by being in there all the time.”
Perry, who grew up in Stillwater and is the nephew of Cowboys coach John Smith, wrestled in Gallagher-Iba Arena for the first time.
“I don’t like to make excuses, (Hendricks) beat me last time and he beat me this time, “the Iowa 165-pounder said. “Both times he’s gotten me into those types of matches.
“I take bad shots and I don’t ride like I can when I wrestle him. It seems like I’m drained before I go into the match. I don’t know what it is but I don’t wrestle the same when I go against him.
“In reality, it is just another match for me. I didn’t come in here trying to make it into anything else.”
For Mocco, it was his first match against his former teammates, and the deducted team point was a result of him not hearing the whistle as the home crowd celebrated the Cowboy win.
“(Fields) stepped towards me and he was out of his stance, so I figured I would slap and maybe take a shot or something, “Mocco said. “I didn’t hear the whistle, and I think (Fields) and the ref knew I didn’t hear the whistle. I think I wrestled too conservatively against a man who wouldn’t wrestle me. His game plan was to keep it close and make something happen maybe in the last 10 seconds.
“Once I got out there, it was just another match. I saw a lot of my old teammates at the weigh-ins and stuff and it wasn’t too bad. We are all professionals, and I still have a lot of respect for that program.”
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