DSU throttles upstart Beavers

• Jordan Ewen

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson State senior Jordan Ewen, right, tries to pull Minot State freshman Jon Wilson back into the circle during a dual on Wednesday night at Scott Gymnasium.

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Dickinson State junior wrestler Adam Orton hates injury time outs — especially when he’s the one needing medical attention.

But, a stoppage with 37 seconds remaining in his 141-pound match against Minot State junior Deon Buhl gave Orton just enough time to regroup. As time ticked away, he caught Buhl in a scramble that set up a pin with 1 second remaining.

Orton’s pin ended up being quite the momentum builder.

It was the first of three straight pins for the Blue Hawks, who cruised to a 41-6 dual victory over the Beavers on Wednesday night at Scott Gymnasium.

“That scramble at the end was crucial because I caught him,” Orton said. “I went for it.”

Orton led 6-3 after a takedown when official Jim Ladbury whistled for the injury stoppage. Orton said he didn’t want to stop the match just because he caught a blow to the nose.

“It kind of bugs me sometime because it’s annoying,” Orton said of injury stoppages. “One thing Thadd really pushes us to do is to try and break them and not give any breaks. When I’m the one bleeding and having to give them breaks, it sucks.”

Nevertheless, Orton’s win set DSU up nicely.

After that, DSU senior Jordan Ewen caught Jon Wilson with a pin 58 seconds into the second period of their 149-pound match and 157-pound freshman Micah Morrill used a half nelson to finish off Cody Carson in 3:34.

“We beat some good kids tonight,” DSU head coach Thadd O’Donnell said. “We thought we were going to lose four to five matches, on paper, and they really got the ball rolling. … We were surprised with how hard we finished. We want our guys to wrestle this way and they stepped up and did tonight.”

Nick Zumwalt and Cameron Schrempp kept the ball rolling for the Blue Hawks with major decisions while Brady Burgess and George Hargrove pulled out a pair of tough decisions.

Zumwalt beat Marcus Wilson 14-4 at 165 and Schrempp blanked Luke Michaelson 11-0 at 184.

Burgess, a spring semester transfer from North Dakota State, bumped up a weight to 174 and needed 10 seconds of overtime to defeat Chris Molina 7-5.

Hargrove, also up a weight to 197, traded numerous blows with Wade Weppler before pulling ahead in the second period. The junior then fought off Weppler’s comeback and, in the final 30 seconds of the match, turned a 12-10 lead into a 17-11 decision.

DSU freshman heavyweight Colton Hill closed out the night with a pin of Sean Small in 1:24.

“All the way through, I thought we competed hard,” O’Donnell said. “We talked about finishing at the end of the periods and they did a great job of doing that.”

The Beavers’ lone win came at 133 pounds, where Robert Herrera bumped up from 125 to pin DSU sophomore Kevin Hansen in 1 minute.

Minot State is wrestling again for the first time in two decades.

The university cut wrestling after the 1989-90 season but brought the sport back as a part of its move from the NAIA to NCAA Division II.

“This is part of the learning process,” Beavers head coach Robin Ersland said. “If you look at our lineup tonight, everybody on our team, this is either their first or second year of wrestling. We’ve got to take baby steps and work on getting better. I think we’ve got the foundation for a good program.”

125: Sergio Martinez, DSU, dec. Kellan Zietz, 3-0. 133: Robert Herrera, MSU, pinned Kevin Hansen, 1:00. 141: Adam Orton, DSU, pinned Deon Buhl, 6:59. 149: Jordan Ewen, DSU, pinned Jon Wilson, 3:58. 157: Micah Morrill, DSU, pinned Cody Carson, 3:34. 165: Nick Zumwalt, DSU, major dec. Marcus Wilson, 14-4. 174: Brady Burgess, DSU, dec. Cris Molina, 7-5 (OT). 184: Cameron Schrempp, DSU, major dec. Luke Michaelson, 11-0. 197: George Hargrove, DSU, dec. Wade Weppler, 17-11. HWT: Colton Hill, DSU, pinned Sean Small, 1:24.

Tags: college wrestling, minot state, blue hawks, sports, wrestling, college