Pin at heavyweight lifts Cobbers over Dragons
MOORHEAD, Minn. — Concordia used a 10-point, 2-match comeback to overtake MSU Moorhead 20-18 in their annual cross-town rivalry dual meet on Tuesday. The win is the second straight for the Cobbers over the Dragons and third in the past four years.
The Cobbers trailed 18-10 heading into the final two bouts of the night before junior Nathan Schmitz scored a major decision at 197 and then Cody Kasprick followed that with a dramatic pin fall in the final match of the night at 285. “We just kept believing,” commented Associate head Coach Matt Nagel. “Even when we were down by eight with the last two matches to go, our kids never stopped believing that we would find a way to pull put the win.”
Schmitz nearly pulled off a technical fall in his match with Eric Lehmann. Schmitz scored a 16-2 win and was one point away from a technical fall which would have given CC one more team point and forced Kasprick to only get a decision to tie the meet. As it was, Kasprick needed a major decision to tie the overall match and a tech. fall or pin to earn the victory. To make matters worse for the Cobbers, Kasprick was squaring off against high school nemesis Gerad Fugleberg – a wrestler he had never beaten before Tuesday. Kasprick go in an early hole in the match after he was taken down in the opening period but then slowly started to get inside Fugleberg. Kasprick finally got an arm bar and was able to drive Fugelberg to the mat where he was slowly able to turn him on his back.
“Cody really kept his composure after the opening takedown, said Matt Nagel. “He didn’t do anything special to come up with the pin but just kept grinding away. It was a huge win for him and a great win for the team.”
The team match was all about swings in momentum as Concordia won two of three bouts in the early part of the match but then watched as the Dragons came roaring back to take four straight decisions to set up the late-match heroics by Schmitz and Kasprick. The key for CC was multiple-point individual match wins. MSU M scored six standard decisions while the Cobbers came away with a pair of major decisions and two pin falls.
Nagel credited the wins by Daron Hohbein and Kyle LeDuc as turning points of the match. Hohbein scored a 9-0 win over Matt Wuorinen at 133 and then LeDuc pinned Connor McGregor at 149. “Both wrestlers took their time and really controlled their matches,” added Nagel. “They really showed good patience for the entire six minutes.”
Concordia will take the momentum from their thrilling win over the Dragons into their multi-team invitational at North Central College on Saturday, Dec. 10. The meet features some of the top regional teams from NCAA Division III in the area.
Final Score:
#9 Concordia-Moorhead 20, MSU Moorhead 18
Date: December 6, 2011
Location: Moorhead, Minn. – MSU Moorhead
Arena: Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse
Start Time: 7 p.m.
End Time: 8:30 p.m.
Total Time: 1:30
Attendance: 246
Concordia 20, MSU-Moorhead 18
125: Corey Ulmer (MSUM) dec. Ben Presler (CC); 2-0
133: Daron Hohbein (CC) maj. dec. Matt Wuorinen (MSUM); 9-0
141: Tyler Steinwand (MSUM) dec. Timothy Ruter (CC); 8-4
149: Kyle LeDuc (CC) pin Connor MacGregor (MSUM); 4:40
157: Kerron Williams (MSUM) dec.in OT Kevin Fynboh (CC); 5-3
165: Jacob Bennett (MSUM) dec. Josten Coleman (CC); 10-4
174: Tyler Kivel (MSUM) dec. over Christian Harrison (CC); 4-3
184: Trent Sovde (MSUM) dec. Zach Deffinbaugh (CC); 2-1
197: Nathan Schmitz (CC) maj. dec. Eric Lehmann (MSUM); 16-2
285: Cody Kasprick (CC) pin Gerad Fugleberg (MSUM); 2:12
Match Notes:
– Concordia is ranked ninth in the latest Adidas-Brut NCAA Division III rankings
– Concordia is now 2-0 in dual meets this season
– MSU Moorhead is now 1-1 in dual meets this season
– The Cobbers won just four individual matches – 2 by major decision, 2 by pin fall
– The Dragons won all six on their matches by decision
– Four of the six decisions that Concordia lost were by only one or two points
– Cobber 197-lb wrestler Nathan Schmitz won his team-leading 13th match
– The wins for Kyle LeDuc and Cody Kasprick were both no.10 on the year
– Daron Hohbein earned his first win of the season in his major decision at 133