No. 14 DSU edges Chadron State in season finale

• Jose Lopez

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson State junior Jose Lopez, top, holds on to Chadron State senior R.J. Boylan after his takedown during the heavyweight match of a dual Wednesday night at Scott Gymnasium.

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The Dickinson State wrestling team’s dedicated Wednesday night’s dual against Chadron State to Tyler Plummer, a DSU alumnus who spent years as an unpaid volunteer for the wrestling team.

Plummer died Jan. 25 at age 33.

Moments after the Blue Hawks had capped a dramatic 26-22 victory, Tyler’s widow Annika Plummer exited the Scott Gymnasium stands with a smile.

“Tyler would have loved that one,” she said.

DSU heavyweight Jose Lopez, whose 9-1 major decision over R.J. Boylan in the night’s final match broke a 22-22 tie and gave DSU the victory, said winning the dual meant a lot to the Blue Hawks.

“We stand up for each other,” Lopez said. “We live together, we breathe together. We do it all together. It meant a lot to come out here and represent for him.”

DSU came out on fire.

Bryden Lazaro dropped Connor Larson for an 8-0 major decision at 125 pounds to open the dual and the Blue Hawks got a pair of first-period pins from senior Adam Orton (141) and junior Brad Steele (149).

It was Steele’s 19th pin of the season and moved within a two of tying Justin Schlecht’s single-season record of 21 set in the 2006-07 season.

“It’s always good to pick up a win,” Steele said. “It’s nice before (NAIA) regionals, because it gets a little confidence in everybody.”

Chadron State bounced back though.

Bruce Zurek (157) and Brett Klopp (174) earned first-period pins and Jordan Debus had a 14-1 major decision over DSU’s Jesse Hellinger at 184.

However, Chadron State left the 165-pound class open, giving DSU six forfeit points that factored greatly into the dual.

“Giving that open at 165 really hurt, especially with momentum,” Eagles assistant coach Brett Hunter said. “Momentum-wise, going out there and have the other guy get his hand raised without competing, that definitely hurts. Overall, I thought we wrestled well.”

DSU head coach Thadd O’Donnell thought the same of his team.

Even the Blue Hawks that lost had their shining moments, O’Donnell said.

He pointed to 133-pound freshman Clayton Steinmetz keeping Dustin Stodola from capturing a major decision with a late takedown and 197-pound junior Jon Moralez fighting off Chris Leak to keep his loss to a 7-4 decision.

“It was really a team effort that kind of got us through the night,” O’Donnell said.

125: Bryden Lazaro, DSU, major dec. Connor Larson, 8-0. 133: Dustin Stodola, CSC, dec. Clayton Steinmetz, 13-6. 141: Adam Orton, DSU, pinned Perry McAfee, 1:52. 149: Brad Steele, DSU, pinned Josh McCance, 1:37. 157: Bruce Zurek, CSC, pinned Jeremiah Hayes, 1:11. 165: Manny Reyes, DSU, forfeit. 174: Brett Klopp, CSC, pinned Kenny Finlayson, 2:03. 184: Jordan Debus, CSC, major dec. Jesse Hellinger, 14-1. 197: Chris Leak, CSC, dec. Jon Moralez, 7-4. HWT: Jose Lopez, DSU, major dec. R.J. Boylan, 9-1.

Tags: blue hawks, dsu blue hawks, chadron state eagles, sports, wrestling