Dragons Drop 24-6 Decision at Rival Concordia
MOORHEAD, Minn. — In a battle of crosstown rivals, Concordia-Moorhead won the final seven matches on its way to a 24-6 win over Minnesota State University Moorhead in a nonconference wrestling dual Tuesday night at Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead, Minn.
MSUM fell to 8-6 in duals, while Concordia, which is ranked No. 24 in Division III, improved to 6-5.
The Dragons didn’t surrender any bonus points and led 6-3 after three matches before the Cobbers went on a roll with seven straight wins. Sophomore Philippe Walker and junior Angel Vega earned wins by decision for MSUM.
“Concordia worked hard and had more heart,” MSUM head coach Kris Nelson said. “That showed in the third period of the matches. They just outworked us.”
The Dragons trailed 3-0 after the 125-pound match as Concordia’s Will McCarthy beat Mitch Dunlap, 4-1.
MSUM won the next two matches to take a 6-3 lead. At 133 pounds, Walker improved to 17-9 on the year with a 4-3 win over Concordia’s Jacob Bergeron.
Dragon junior Angel Vega won his 22nd match of the 2012-13 campaign with a 7-3 win over Concordia’s Chase Austvold to push the MSUM lead to 6-3.
“That was good for those guys to go out and get wins,” Nelson said.
The Cobbers came back with wins — all by decision — in the next seven matches to finish off the 24-6 win. At 149, Jacob Long downed MSUM junior Casey Williams, 8-3, while at 157, Concordia’s Kevin Fynboh topped Dragon senior Jacob Bennett by a 5-2 decision.
Concordia also won at 165, as Josten Coleman outlasted Kerron Williams, 6-4, and at 174 as Sebastian Gardner beat Jesse Puncochar, 5-2. At 184, Christian Harrison beat Dragon redshirt freshman Lucas Moderow, 9-2. At 197, Concordia’s Nathan Schmitz beat Matt Lewellen, 5-3, while Tom Bouressa beat MSUM’s Gerad Fugleberg, 7-0 at heavyweight.
MSUM is back into NSIC action back on Feb. 13 at Augustana.
“We’ve got to get back and continue to work hard,” Nelson said. “It’s going to get tougher for us with Augustana and Southwest Minnesota State coming up. It’s got to be a team effort and it hasn’t been these last three duals. Everybody is going to have to wrestle at their best. We’ve had bits and pieces of everybody wrestling as a team and we have to find that again.”
Concordia will be at St. Olaf for a dual on February 8th.
Concordia 24, MSU-Moorhead 6
125-Will McCarthy (C) dec. Mitch Dunlap (MSUM), 4-1
133-Philippe Walker (MSUM) dec. Jacoby Bergeron (C), 4-3
141-Angel Vega (MSUM) dec. Chase Austvold (C), 7-3
149-Jacob Long (C) dec. Casey Williams (MSUM), 8-3
157-Kevin Fynboh (C) dec. Jacob Bennett (MSUM), 5-2
165-Josten Coleman (C) dec. Kerron Williams (MSUM), 6-4
174-Sebastian Gardner (C) dec. Jesse Puncochar (MSUM), 5-2
184-Christian Harrison (C) dec. Lucas Moderow (MSUM), 9-2
197-Nathan Schmitz (C) dec. Matt Lewellen (MSUM), 5-3
285-Tom Bouressa (C) dec. Gerad Fugleberg (MSUM), 7-0