Northland gives Rochester a scare, defeats Itasca
The 29th ranked Northland wrestling team went 1-1 in dual meet competition Wednesday night, losing 32-15 to 18th ranked Rochester in its opening dual, before upsetting 25th ranked Itasca 24-20 in the night’s final dual.
The Pioneers’ opening dual was much closer than the 17-point spread would indicate.
“Our guys wrestled tough against Rochester, who has been the premiere program in our conference the last six or seven years,” said Northland Head Coach Scott DCamp. We were down 17-15 going into 184. If we get that win, we would have sent Andre Baguma out at heavyweight down 23-18, needing a pin for our first-ever win against Rochester.”
Following a double forfeit at 125 pounds, Northland took a 9-0 lead in the dual with a win by forfeit at 133 from Payton Jackson and a 13-6 major decision victory by Rees Lehman over Pedro Lopez at 133.
A 17-1 technical fall victory by Rochester’s Tyler Zeman over Kyle Folwer, and win by forfeit from Issac Haman gave the Yellowjackets an 11-9 lead.
Northland reclaimed the lead at 165 pounds when Kaven Blazek pinned Hunter Wardell to make it 15-11 in favor of the Pioneers.
Second-ranked Shane Siewart put the Yellowjackets back on top with a win by fall over Tommy Scheett at 174 pounds.
Trailing 17-15, Northland needed a win from eighth-ranked Hunter Roller to ensure that the dual would come down to heavyweight. Instead, Rochester’s Alex LaPierre won by 8-2 decision to increase the Yellowjacket lead to 20-15.
A forfeit win by Rochester’s Morgan Moreno at 197 put the dual meet out of reach.
Rochester’s Darrell Noble pinned Marcus Goulet at heavyweight to round out the scoring for the Yellowjackets.
In the nightcap, Northland led 12-0 after forfeit victories by Jackson and Lehman at 133 and 141, respectively.
Itasca got on the board with a pair of 16-0 technical fall victories by Ethan Kiehm over Fowler at 149, and Cody Sawyer over Blazek at 157.
After a double forfeit at 165, Itasca took a 14-12 lead at 174 following Dalton Barnett’s 9-0 win over Tommy Scheett.
The teams alternated forfeits at 184 and 197, with Roller accepting for the Pioneers at 184, and fourth-ranked Cory Schmidt accepting for the Vikings at 197.
Trailing 20-18, Northland called on Baguma to win the dual and former North Dakota heavyweight state champ delivered with a third period win by fall over Itasca’s Devin Reynolds to clinch the win.
Rochester CTC 32 Northland CTC 15
125: Double Forfeit
133: Payton Jackson (NC&T) over (RC&T) (For.)
141: Rees Lehman (NC&T) over Pedro Lopez (RC&T) (Dec 13-6)
149: Tyler Zeman (RC&T) over Kyle Fowler (NC&T) (TF 17-1 0:00)
157: Isaac Haman (RC&T) over (NC&T) (For.)
165: Kaven Blazek (NC&T) over Hunter Wardell (RC&T) (Fall 4:45)
174: Shane Siewert (RC&T) over Thomas Scheett (NC&T) (Fall 2:13)
184: Alex LaPierre (RC&T) over Hunter Roller (NC&T) (Dec 8-2)
197: Morgen Moreno (RC&T) over (NC&T) (For.)
285: Darell Noble (RC&T) over Marcus Goulet (NC&T) (Fall 6:55)
Northland CTC 24 Itasca CC 20
125: Double Forfeit
133: Payton Jackson (NC&T) over (ICC) (For.)
141: Rees Lehman (NC&T) over (ICC) (For.)
149: Ethan Kiehm (ICC) over Kyle Fowler (NC&T) (TF 16-0 0:00)
157: Cody Sawyer (ICC) over Kaven Blazek (NC&T) (TF 16-0 0:00)
165: Double Forfeit
174: Dalton Bernett (ICC) over Thomas Scheett (NC&T) (MD 9-0)
184: Hunter Roller (NC&T) over (ICC) (For.)
197: Corey Schmidt (ICC) over (NC&T) (For.)
285: Andre Baguma (NC&T) over Devin Reynolds (ICC) (Fall 6:47)