Beavers Top Ducks In Wrestling Dual, 21-18
Rakevich’s late takedown in final match is the difference
Feb. 13, 2005
EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon State heavyweight Jamie Rakevich’s takedown with 17 seconds left in the day’s final match gave him a come-from-behind win and handed the Beavers a 21-18 win over Oregon in Pacific-10 wrestling Sunday afternoon at McArthur Court. With Rakevich’s 4-3 win over Oregon’s Cody Parker, OSU (11-8-1 overall, 6-2-1 Pac-10) swept the season’s Civil War series, sponsored by Northwest Dodge Dealers, and gave the Beavers a 101-24-4 edge in the all-time series.
The Beavers return home to finish their regular season against California-Davis on Friday at 7 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.
Against Oregon (5-10, 2-6), OSU had an 18-9 lead with three matches left but Oregon tied it with wins by a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers. At 184 pounds, it was Shane Webster – ranked 12th by Amateur Wrestling News and 11th at 174 pounds by InterMat – taking a 7-1 decision over OSU’s Dan Pitsch; at 197, Scott Barker – ranked fifth by both AWN and IM – pinned Travis Gardner in 53 seconds.
“The first team to 20 – that’s college wrestling, “OSU head coach Joe Wells said. “And we weren’t at 20 points yet. We were close, but we weren’t there … I thought we wrestled well and deserved to win, but it didn’t look like we were going to.”
Parker had gained the advantage with a takedown midway through the first period and Rakevich escaped seconds later. The wrestlers traded escapes to start the second and third periods, leaving Parker ahead 3-2 with the clock ticking down.
With the wrestlers near the edge of the mat, Rakevich spotted an opening and shot. He scored the takedown with 17 seconds left, then rode Parker to the final buzzer for a 4-3 win that sent his teammates leaping in celebration.
“It was a little drama, a little excitement, I guess, “Rakevich said. “It was just there – I don’t shoot low singles ever, and it was just there. It was almost a desperation move, but it was just there so I took a shot. It was open for a half-second and I took it.
“It’s nice to get the win for the team. Individually it’s nice, too, but to cinch up the team win is great.”
It capped a big weekend for Rakevich, who has filled in for starter Ty Watterson the past two weeks. On Friday, Rakevich had beaten Boise State’s Eric Smith 5-4 in overtime; Smith was ranked 19th by AWN and 17th by IM.
“I wasn’t thinking I’d get in on varsity again because Ty is the guy right now and he’s doing a good job there, “Rakevich said of his nationally ranked teammate. “I’m just holding his spot until he gets healthy.”
While wrestling Watterson every day in practice has kept Rakevich sharp, it took a few duals to get back into competitive form.
“When you wrestle the same person every day, you get into kind of a rut, “Rakevich said. “You’re not competing against other guys, having to do other things.”
The win kept Rakevich unbeaten against Parker; the OSU heavyweight estimated that the two have wrestled close to 20 times in collegiate, freestyle and Greco-Roman competition.
That’s as close as it’s ever been to him beating me, “Rakevich said. `There have been a couple close ones before, but that’s the closest. I think that’s the first time I’ve been behind.”
The Beavers had spotted Oregon six points by forfeiting at 133 pounds with Bobby Pfennigs still sidelined, but OSU picked up team bonus points when 125-pounder Eric Stevenson started the meet with a 14-4 major decision over Joey Lucas and 157-pounder Tony Hook scored a technical fall over Nate Gipson by a 20-5 score in 3:27. Oregon State also got decisions from Tim Norman at 141 pounds, Orlando Perez at 149 and Jeremy Larson at 174.
Hook’s win was his ninth in his last 13 matches, improving him to 11-8 this season, while Larson won for the 11th time in his last 16 matches and goes to 12-7 on the season. Norman evened his record at 6-6 since moving up from 133 pounds in January and is now 8-9 overall.
“I thought we wrestled real well as a team, “Wells said. “We gave up six points (on the forfeit) and that put us behind the eight ball, then the guys got going. In the upper weights we didn’t wrestle as well, but Oregon is real tough there and they’ve demonstrated that all season.
OSU 165-pounder Matt Ellis lost a matchup of nationally ranked wrestlers, falling 3-1 to Joey Bracamonte when Bracamonte scored a takedown with four seconds left in the match. Bracamonte, ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10, is ranked No. 18 in the nation by AWN and No. 17 by IM; Ellis, ranked No. 2 in the conference, is ranked No. 18 in the nation by IM.
OREGON STATE 21, OREGON 18
(Current Amatuer Wrestling News national rankings in parentheses)
125-Eric Stevenson, OSU, major dec. Joey Lucas, UO, 14-4. 133-Martin Mitchell, UO, by forfeit. 141-Tim Norman, OSU, dec. Elliott Tracy, UO, 9-5. 149-Orlando Perez, OSU, dec. Nick Cautrell, UO, 5-0. 157-Tony Hook, OSU, tech. fall over Nate Gipson, UO, 3:27 (20-5). 165-(18) Joey Bracamonte, UO, dec. Matt Ellis, OSU, 3-1. 174-Jeremy Larson, OSU, dec. Chet McBee, UO, 6-1. 184-(12) Shane Webster, UO, dec. Dan Pitsch, OSU, 7-1. 197-(5) Scott Barker, UO, pinned Travis Gardner, OSU, 0:53. HWT-Jamie Rakevich, OSU, dec. Cody Parker, UO, 4-3.
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