Wrestlers take down PSU
The Bison grapplers bounced back from the tough competition at the Virginia Duels and defeated Portland State University at the Bison Sports Arena Friday night.
NDSU controlled most of the action from the feet — racking up 26 takedowns as a team to Portland’s four — on their way to winning by a score of 37-6.
The Bison won eight of 10 matches, getting bonus points in seven of the eight wins.
The meet started at 157 pounds when Bison Adam Aho took an early lead over PSU’s Shane Evenhus with a couple early takedowns. Aho, and the Bison, never looked back on the way to a 13-5 major decision that paved the way for the day.
Bison heavyweight and one of the linebackers on the football team, Mike Maresh, continued his winning ways by majoring Steve Fittinger 13-4.
Maresh is still trying to get into wrestling shape after not wrestling for two years.
“ In football, you train for a two-hour game,” he said. “But in wrestling it’s going all out for seven minutes and you’re done.”
Maresh came to NDSU to play football, but was a tremendous high school wrestler, and is now 4-0 filling the hole at heavyweight.
The 184-pound match didn’t last long as NDSU’s Matt Wetterling picked up his 19th win of the season by pinning Sean Murphy in 1:11.
Fellow Bison Jacob Bryce followed with a pin of his own in 6:01 over Jake Schneider in the 197-pound division.
Eric Sanders was the third Bison to win by pinning his opponent. He took care of Kip Watson in just over two minutes.
After the match, Bison coach Bucky Maughan said he liked what he saw.
“ We were the aggressor for the most part and that was our plan,” Maughan said.
Mike Meger showcased the aggressive mindset of the Bison with a 12-5 major over Bricen Yakabe.
David Cunningham and Zach Molitor used second-period surges to topple their opponent.
Matt Hermann ran into PSU’s senior leader Kalivas Karras and lost a close decision 3-2 at 174.