By Boots Gifford
The Montana State-Northern Lights opened their regular season in domineering style with a 30-0 victory over the University of Calgary Dinos on Saturday at the Northern gym.
That kind of intensity this time of year is great, Lights coach David Ray said.
But, Ray said, the Dinos were no push-over.
They went hard, the Calgary team, Ray said. We had to break them.
The Lights garnered one pin from Jessie Schaeffer, plus four technical falls, as they shutout the Dinos.
Schaeffer turned George Patterson at 2:31 in the 141-pound match.
Jessie looked very impressive, Ray said. He went out and just attacked.
At 133 pounds, Kurt Lorenz scored a 10-0 technical fall over Dino Jeremy McLean.
Kurt Lorenz was very impressive, Ray noted.
Light Lyle Cronk, at 149 pounds, also scored a technical fall, 11-1, over Ryan Murray.
Lyle did a nice job of keeping pressure, Ray said.
At 165 pounds, Chris Hayes scored his technical fall, 10-0, against Dino Joe Sullivan in the first period.
Chris Hayes, hes intense, Ray said. He gets out of position once in awhile, but that will come.
Wrestling Dino David Kooperberg, who placed second at the Canadian nationals last season, Northerns Brendan Burn battled for a 6-1 decision at 157 pounds.
Brendan hasnt been on the mat much in two years, Ray said. The biggest thing is confidence. The guy got him on one thing, and he shut down. But he came back. He wrestled a tough kid.
Facing another Canadian national runner-up from last year, Light Turk Lord scored a 10-0 technical fall over Paul McConnell.
Turk has got to commit on his shots, Ray said, but noted the two-time champion did not let up.
Getting a good look at his starters, Ray said, there are always improvements to be made.
Theres a few things we have to capitalize on, Ray said. Weve got to get the nerves worked out.
But the performance was a strong indicator for the Lights.
They were a little hesitant, Ray said. Some are questioning their condition. We need to do a little more hand fighting, (finishing) our shots. Weve got a long way to go, but these guys have big hearts and want to win.
Ray noted the Lights conditioning is actually very good at this point of the season, and it was one of the main reasons for their quick success over the Dinos. We just wore them down.
The Lights will hold their Maroon-Gold intrasquad match on Wednesday at the Northern gym with face-off slated for 7 p.m.
Northern over Calgary, 30-0
Saturday, Oct. 23
133 Kurt Lorenz (N) over Jeremy McLean (C), 10; 141 Jessie Schaeffer (N) pinned George Patterson, 2:31; 149 Lyle Cronk (N) over Ryan Murray, 11-1; 157 Brendan Burns (N) over David Kooperberg, 6-1; 165 Chris Hayes (N) over Joe Sullivan (C), 10-0; 174 Casey Pinion (N) over Hawkins Kadir (C), 5-1; 184 Tyson Thivierge (N) over Ryan Andrusky (C), 9-3; 197 Turk Lords (N) over Paul McConnell (C), 10-0.
