By Boots Gifford
The Montana State-Northern Lights were again the dominant force on the mat as they punished North Idaho College, 30-6, in wrestling action on Thursday night at the Northern gym.
Im pretty happy to get that momentum, said Lights coach David Ray, who added that it will be important to carry into their dual with Ricks on Saturday. I was happy to see that much intensity.
Ray said some of the Lights looked a bit tired at the start, so he will be re-evaluating the warmups they hold before matches.
Tyson Thivierge, at 184 pounds, got revenge over North Idahos Ry Stone with a 6-4 victory. Stone, who placed second last year at the NJCAA finals, defeated Thivierge, who was third at the NAIA nationals, during their dual last season.
That was a big match, Ray said. Tyson did an excellent job. He came back and didnt make mistakes. It was a nice one to win.
At 197 pounds, Turk Lords dispatched with David Sandberg, 16-2.
Dane Jacobsen, wrestling up at heavyweight, brought the Northern crowd to its feet, battling his way to a 13-11 overtime victory against Andy West.
He got behind, but came back, Ray said. He showed he had mental toughness.
Abel Valdez, at 125 pounds, and Jessie Schaeffer, at 141 pounds, each scored 14-5 major decisions over their opponents for Northern.
Abel gradually beat the kid up, Ray said.
Kurt Lorenz, at 133 pounds, captured the nights only fall by pinning Derek Keaveny at 6:12.
Lorenz, he was behind, so that was a nice pin, Ray said. (Lorenz) hit him in a headlock and pinned the kid on the edge of the mat.
The Lights host their final home dual of 1999 on Saturday, grappling with Ricks College of Rexburg, Idaho. Face-off at the Northern gym is at 4 p.m.
Ricks is tougher than North Idaho, Ray said. They have a national champion at heavyweight, who will go against Turk (Lords).
Ricks Ty Rollins, at 125 pounds, is the younger brother of former Light All-American Travis Rollins, Ray noted. Its going to be a really tough dual, every bit as exciting as Thursdays dual, if not more so.
Here is the lineup for the the Northern-Ricks pairing: 125 Abel Valdez (N) vs. Ty Rollins; 133 Kurt Lorenz (N) vs. Jason Blue; 141 Jessie Schaeffer (N) vs. Andrew Messersmith; 149 Lyle Cronk (N) vs. Jeff Ireland; 157 Brendan Burns (N) vs. Brandon Ripplinger; 165 Chris Hayes (N) vs. Nathan Ploehn; 174 Casey Pinion (N) vs. Shane Wasden, 184 Tyson Thivierge (N) vs. Brent Duda, 197 Dane Jacobsen (N) vs. Kent Bowman; and HWT Turk Lords (N) vs. James Huml.
After the Ricks dual, the Lights will be on the road until Jan. 13 when they will host Western Wyoming.
MSU-Northern over North Idaho College, 30-6
125 Abel Valdez (N) over Nathan DeLeon, 14-5; 133 Kurt Lorenz (N) pinned Derek Keavey, 6:12; 141 Jessie Schaeffer (N) over Ravil Mukhamediyer, 14-5; 149 Lyle Cronk (N) over Andy Roberts, 5-3; 157 Brendan Burns (N) over Trevor Floerchinger, 9-2; 165 Travis Floerchinger (NI) over Chris Hayes, 8-7; 174 Kelly Krepps (NI) over Casey Pinion, 8-5; 184 Tyson Thivierge (N) over Ry Stone, 6-4; 197 Turk Lords (N) over David Sandberg, 16-2; HWT Dane Jacobsen (N) over Andy West, 13-11 OT.
