Lights ground the Eagles on the mat

One of the things Montana State University-Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge wants to see from his Lights' wrestling team as they hit the final stretch of their season is being aggressive and scoring points early in matches. The other, is making sure his Lights finish matches when they have leads.

In the first three matches of the No. 12 Lights home dual with No. 14 Embry-Riddle University Saturday night in the Armory Gymnasium, the Lights accomplished those goals.

In the first of two final home duals this season, the Lights jumped out to a 12-0 lead on the Eagles, which, by dual's end, was enough to earn a hard-fought, 21-19 Cascade Conference victory.

"We've been working on those things the last few weeks," Thivierge said. "We want to get out and get matches off to good starts. And then, we want to make sure we're finishing matches. We had some guys that did that tonight, and that was really good to see."

Right from the start, the Lights were aggressive. At 125 pounds, freshman Nick Kunz came out and built a solid lead on 10th-ranked Chandler Strand. Kunz led after two periods, and finished strong, scoring an 8-1 decision. Sophomore teammate Landon Bailey wrestled much the same at 133 pounds, compiling a 7-3 lead on 19th-ranked Collin Anderson on his way to a 9-3 win.

Then came Matt Weber's turn to start quick. And he did. Weber, ranked fourth at 141, got off to a quick start, and before the first period was over, he had 20th-ranked David Salazar on his back for a pin, and a 12-0 lead for the Lights.

"All three of those guys came out and were aggressive right away," Thivierge said. "Matt Weber wrestled fantastic tonight. Those guys got us off to a great start."

Northern would also get a key win from Andrew Bartel at 165 pounds, and a forfeit victory from Isaac Bartel at 197, while Dylan Veis wrestled a great match in a 3-1 loss to nationally ranked Cameron Huizar at 149. But the dual tightened with Brandon Weber, in his first match in over a month due to injury, falling short at 157 pounds, and Chase Short (174) and Steeler French (184), losing tight matches to ranked opponents.

"We need to wrestle better still," Thivierge said. "We need to be out there scoring a lot more points than we did in some of those matches tonight. It comes down to confidence and bouncing back, and some of the dual we did a good job of that, and at times we didn't. We're happy to win the dual, but there's plenty I saw that we need to work on as well, and our guys know it."

Still, the Lights' start was enough to get them over the hump against an ERAU squad which also pushed the University of Providence to the limit Friday night. It was a tough test for the Lights and they got through it, and now they'll turn their attention to their much-anticipated rematch with the Argos Wednesday night in the Armory.

"It's just one of those things where I always expect more," Thivierge said. "I always think we can wrestle better. We did some good things, but we also have plenty to work on moving forward. We just have to keep working hard and have guys keep buying in because all of our goals are still out in front of us at this point."

The Lights will wrap up the regular season when Providence comes to Havre Wednesday night. The dual starts at 7 p.m.

Lights 21, Embry-Riddle 19

125 – Nick Kunz, MSU-N dec. Chandler Strand, ERAU, 8-1; 133 – Landon Bailey, MSU-N dec. Collin Anderson, ERAU, 9-3; 141 – Matt Weber, MSU-N pinned David Salazar, ERAU, 2:23; 149 – Cameron Huizar, ERAU dec. Dylan Veis, MSU-N, 3-1; 157 – James Williams, ERAU dec. Brandon Weber, MSU-N, 5-3; 165 – Andrew Bartel, MSU-N dec. Taylor Owens, ERAU, 6-2; 174 – Kody Davis, ERAU maj. dec. Chase Short, MSU-N, 11-3; 184 – T.J. Hall, ERAU dec. Steeler French, MSU-N, 7-6; 197 – Isaac Bartel, MSU-N won by FFT; HWT – David Rupp, ERAU won by FFT.