A bright start on the mat

The Montana State University-Northern Lights are still wrestling each other right now.

However, that didn't mean there wasn't plenty on the line in Thursday night's Maroon/Gold Dual. Varsity spots were up for grabs in several weight class, but more importantly, the Lights got a taste of regular season-like conditions, with less than two weeks until they take the mat for real in Laramie, Wyoming.

"The biggest thing for me to see was them wrestling for a full seven minutes," Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge said after the Gold team defeated the Maroon 20-11 in the Armory Gymnasium. "To see how they would wrestle and how they would handle adversity and pressure. That's what I wanted to get out of this, and I thought there were a ton of good things to take away from tonight. I was pretty pleased with how they all wrestled."

Thivierge didn't coach either squad, in what turned out to be an extremely competitive night.

Right off the bat, sophomore Rob Pair and freshman Nick Kunz needed overtime to decide their 125-pound match, with Kunz, a Helena native, coming out on top, 8-6. That match set the tone for what would be a string of close bouts.

At 141 pounds, veteran Matt Weber slipped by sophomore Dylan Veis, 2-0; while freshman Chase Short knocked off former Boise State grappler Chris Nile, 6-4 at 174 pounds. Steeler French also beat freshman Rylan Moldenhauer 6-1 at 184 pounds, while Landon Bailey took down Isaac Ramos 7-1 at 133.

Several exhibition matches were also held, including true freshman Isaac Bartel winning twice. The night ended with returning NAIA national champion Brandon Weber moving up to battle 165-pound stalwart Andrew Bartel. Bartel won the close match 3-2.

"There was a lot of competitive matches, just like it has been every day in the room," Thivierge said. "You expect that because these guys know each other so well. They know what the other guy is going to do. So there were a ton of close matches, but a lot of really competitive one's, too.

"I thought what really stood out was our young guys," he continued. "Our young guys shined tonight. They were tough."

Indeed, because of some of the upsets and surprises, Thivierge will have some lineup decisions to make, as well as possible red-shirt decisions. He has several weeks to decide all that, as Northern doesn't wrestle its first dual until the annual trip to Great Falls to battle rival University of Providence Nov. 8.

For now however, the longtime head coach was happy with the way his intra-squad dual went, and the Lights will get right back to work preparing to start the season Nov. 4 at the Cowboy Open.

"Tons of good stuff to take away from tonight," Thivierge said. "I'm really excited by a lot of what I saw out there. And I'll be really excited to see how these guys do when they do finally wrestle somebody in another singlet. When they wrestle somebody they don't know. I'm looking forward to that."

Gold 20, Maroon 11

Exhibition - Isaac Bartel, G maj. dec. Dace Fisher, M, 16-6; Exhibition - Logan Foster, M tech. fall Chance Barros, G, 25-6; 125 - Nick Kunz, G dec. Rob Pair, M, 8-6 in SVO; 133 - Landon Bailey, G dec. Isaac Ramson, M, 7-1; 141 - Matt Weber, M dec. Dylan Veis, G, 2-0; 174 - Chase Short, G dec. Chris Nile, M, 6-4; 184 - Steeler French, G dec. Rylan Moldenhauer, M, 6-1; Exhibition - Isaac Bartel, G maj. dec. Jeremy Smith, M, 11-2; Exhibition - Andrew Bartel, M dec. Brandon Weber, G, 3-2.