Pins from Porter and Abdullatif Help Dragon Wrestlers Down Northern State, 33-10
MOORHEAD, Minn. – Pins from senior Shawn Porter and sophomore Nader Abdullatif sparked the Minnesota State University Moorhead wrestling team to a 33-10 win over Northern State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday in Moorhead, Minn.
MSUM finished the regular season at 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the NSIC while Northern State fell to 3-12 overall and 1-7 in the league.
“We’ve been wrestling pretty well,” MSUM head coach Kris Nelson said. “We’ve won four matches in a row and now we’ll focus on practicing and getting ready for the regional meet.”
The dual was the final home competition for four Dragon seniors: Chris Bascon, Michael Joseph, Porter and Philippe Walker. All four were honored before the match.
With the dual beginning at 184 pounds, Porter got MSUM off to a good start with a pin of David Murphy in 1:38 to put MSUM up 6-0 lead. After the Dragons lost by major decision at 197, Abdullatif helped them quickly regain the momentum with a pin of Dustin Caspers in 29 seconds to push the Dragon lead to 12-4.
“Shawn Porter and Nader did a good job getting us pins up at the top,” Nelson said.
MSUM won by forfeit at 125 and 133 to push the lead to 24-12. Walker evened his season record at 13-13 with an 8-2 win over Northern’s Tyler Frost at 141. Sophomore Isaac Novacek followed with an 11-4 win over Northern’s Grant Steen at 149 to give the Dragons a 30-4 lead.
The Wolves won by decision at 157 and 165 to cut the gap to 30-10, but Joseph finished the match off strong with a 9-3 win over Anthony Navarro to give the Dragons the 33-10 win.
MSUM now turns its attention to the Super Regional 3 meet, which is set for Feb. 28 and March 1 in Mankato, Minn.
“We need some guys to be more aggressive and take shots,” Nelson said. “I felt we had some chances for more bonus points that we didn’t capitalize on. We need to go after those opportunities to score points.”
MSUM 33, Northern State 10
184-Shawn Porter (MSUM) pinned David Murphy, 1:38
197-Joe Gomez (NSU) maj. dec. Chris Bascon, 12-3
285-Nader Abdullatif (MSUM) pinned Dustin Caspers, 0:29
125-Shane Novak (MSUM) won by forfeit
133-Blake Bosch (MSUM) won by forfeit
141-Philippe Walker (MSUM) dec. Tyler Frost, 8-2
149-Isaac Novacek (MSUM) dec. Grant Steen, 11-4
157-Sean Havlovic (NSU) dec. Garret Hoffner, 4-1
165-Blake Perryman (NSU) dec. Dan Murakami, 11-4
174-Michael Joseph (MSUM) dec. Anthony Navarro, 9-3
