Daniel Horton Havre Daily News gferguson@havredailynews.com
It is still early in the NAIA wrestling season, but a dual between two growing rivals made for an exciting night. On Friday night, the No. 15 Montana State University-Northern Lights were hosting the No. 6 University of Great Falls Argos at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse. The Argos defeated the Lights 30-12. And it was a quick 9-0 lead for the Argos with two victories in the first two matches. The dual started at 197 pounds, and at 2:57 into the first period, UGF's Alex Calvi pinned the Lights Jonas Schenzel in the 197-weight class. And keeping in suit, Argos heavyweight Brad Fraser got a 5-2 decision over Robbie Shaw, after Shaw brought the score within one point in the third period. But the two UGF wins were followed by a bright spot of the night for the Lights, as defending national champion Corey Borges was able to get the fall over Kyle Middlemist in 1:42 into the second period at 125 pounds to close the gap early on UGF. “He (Borges) went out and wrestled like a buzz saw, like he always does.” MSU-N head coach Tyson Thivierge said. “He took advantage of some situations and ended up getting the fall. Borges steps up every match, and there is nothing else I can ask from him.” The six points put up by Borges, and the Argos forfeit in the 133-pound weight class would be the only points put up for the rest of the night by the Lights. “I am obviously disappointed.” Thivierge said. “I am going to shoulder this one, preparation was all wrong. We were out-wrestled in our own gymnasium and I am not very pleased with how we wrestled whatso- ever.” But while the final score of the dual heavily favored the Argos, there were several close matches that could have easily gone in favor of the Lights, and changed the entire outcome of the night. The Argos got an overtime 4-2 decision from Jeremy Montang over Tay Todd (149), a 7-2 decision from Jacob Butenhoff over Colter Dimas (165) , a 5-4 decision from secondranked Brendon DeCock over Austin Ouelette (174) and a 4-2 decision from nationally-ranked Michael French over Evan Hinebauch at 184 pounds. “I was pretty impressed with the matches.” Great Falls head coach Caleb Schaeffer said. “There were a lot of close matches and they could have gone either way. It was exactly what I thought it would be, with a rivalry everything is going to be close.” But in an evening filled with close matches, and dramatic endings, there were a couple times where UGF dominated the Lights. For the Argos, Jason Costello was able to get an 18-5 major decision over Beau LaSalle at 141 pounds, and Ross Mosher got a 12-3 major decision over Mark Hobson at 157. “It's confidence, that’s all there is to it.” Thivierge said. “UGF defi- nitely believes they are a top-notch program, and they are. Our kids aren’t believing right now. We are a better program than what we wrestled tonight, and I am not just saying that to make myself or this program feel better. I am not going to pad this one, we didn’t wrestle good what-soever.” On Dec. 4, the Lights travel to Las Vegas where they will have two more duals before the Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 5-6.
