No. 3 Great Falls edges No. 9 DSU

• Sean Elkins

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson State freshman Sean Elkins, back, gets his grip on Great Falls senior Ryan Leonard, the No. 2-ranked 157-pounder in the NAIA. Elkins beat Leonard by a 3-1 decisions, but the Blue Hawks lost to the Argos 21-19 on Friday night at Scott Gymnasium.

Talk about it

Thadd O’Donnell has been preaching it to the Dickinson State wrestling team all year: don’t give up bonus points.

Now the coach has one heck of an example to reference.

The No. 9-ranked Blue Hawks had No. 3 University of Great Falls (Mont.) in its grasps until a pair of late pins helped the Argos rally for a 21-19 dual victory Friday night at Scott Gymnasium.

“Every match matters and every point matters,” O’Donnell said. “We can’t give up pins. We can’t give up majors. We did a good job throughout the dual. We’ve got to finish it.”

Great Falls senior heavyweight Sears Tiernan, ranked No. 5 in the latest NAIA coaches’ poll and unbeaten against NAIA opponents this season, shocked DSU senior Jose Lopez, ranked No. 2 with only a single loss entering the dual, to clinch the Argos’ victory.

The heavyweights sized each other up early on before Tiernan scored a takedown with 40 seconds left in the first period and quickly rolled Lopez onto his back. He finished off the pin with 21 seconds left in the period.

“I don’t know how we pulled this one out to tell you the truth,” Great Falls head coach Caleb Schaeffer said shortly after the dual. “Hats off to Dickinson. They wrestled us tough. They had all the right to win that dual. Thadd is a good coach.”

It was a combination of little moments that helped the Argos (14-5).

One of the biggest came at 165 pounds when Chad Cebulski came back from a 9-4 deficit, scoring a takedown with 31 seconds remaining to tie DSU’s Tyler Johnson at 10 before pinning him with 7 seconds remaining in the match.

“You can’t put it all on Jose,” O’Donnell said. “You can’t go down to the last match and expect to win every time. That’s added pressure.”

The Blue Hawks (9-2) had their share of big wins too.

Bryden Lazaro got DSU off on the right foot, slamming Luke Schlosser with a 14-3 major decision at 125. DSU built a 10-0 lead Matt Chambers injured Great Falls freshman Jared Berlinger’s left arm on a reversal in the first period, forcing an injury default.

At 141, No. 1-ranked Great Falls senior Myles Mazurkiewicz took an 8-0 major decision over Elias Armendariz. However, the Argos were docked one team point because Mazurkiewicz was called for unsportsmanlike conduct during the match.

After Great Falls freshman Luke Zeiger blanked DSU senior Nestor Ruelas 3-0 at 149 — the Blue Hawks were without No. 4-ranked Brad Steele, who is out with an injury — the tide again turned back to DSU’s favor.

Freshman 157-pounder Sean Elkins, who had excellent fan support with many of his former high school teammates from the Hettinger-Scranton-Richardton-Taylor-Hebron wrestling co-op in the house, scored the upset of the night when his early third-period takedown of No. 2-ranked Ryan Leonard led to his a 3-1 victory by decision.

“We wanted to prove something,” Elkins said. “It was just a grudge match, basically. That kid pinned me at their tournament. Bittersweet there.”

DSU built a 19-12 lead with shutout decisions from Cameron Schrempp (174) and Jesse Hellinger (184), but were set back when Dylan Lemery edged Skyler Carroll with a 9-6 decision at 197.

The Blue Hawks host the Tyler Plummer Classic beginning at 9 a.m. today in Weinbergen Gymnasium.

O’Donnell said he wants to see his wrestlers go hard for their entire matches during the tournament.

“That’s what we’ve got to instill in our guys,” he said. “When they step out there, it’s 7 minutes of intense wrestling and constant movement and not be a chess player.”

125: Bryden Lazaro, DSU, major dec. Luke Schlosser, 14-3. 133: Matt Chambers, DSU, defeats Jared Berlinger, injury default. 141: Myles Mazurkiewicz, UGF, major dec. Elias Armendariz, 8-0. (Great Falls decided one team point for unsportsmanlike conduct.) 149: Luke Zeiger, UGF, dec. Nestor Ruelas, 3-0. 157: Sean Elkins, DSU, dec. Ryan Leonard, 3-1. 165: Chad Cebulksi, UGF, pinned Tyler Johnson, 6:53. 174: Cameron Schrempp, DSU, dec. Brock Picard, 2-0. 184: Jesse Hellinger, DSU, dec. Adam Wolfe, 6-0. 197: Dylan Lemery, DSU, dec. Skyler Carroll, 9-6. HWT: Sears Tiernan, UGF, pinned Jose Lopez, 2:39.

DSU 28, Regina 24

The Blue Hawks used an entirely different lineup when it wrestled the University of Regina (Saskatchewan) earlier Friday night. But just like the later dual against Great Falls, it too came down to the final match.

Brian Klevis scored a pin over Paul Grebinski in 45 seconds to lift the Blue Hawks over the Cougars.

After Regina recorded three consecutive first-period pins at 133, 141 and 149 pounds, the Blue Hawks fired back with Jeremiah Hayes’ 42-second pin at 157, Manny Reyes’ technical fall victory at 165 and Jonathon Morales’ first-period pin at 175.

Deshun Haynes got DSU started with a 23-7 technical fall over Connor McLaughan at 125.

125: Deshun Haynes, DSU, tech. fall Connor McLaughan, 23-7. 133: Steve Scheider, Regina, pinned Robert Meador, 1:16. 141: Mark Ballow, Regina, pinned Colter Steinmetz, 1:04. 149: Sean Trotman, Regina, pinned Pat Tangen, :54. 157: Jeremiah Hayes, DSU, pinned Brayden Parson, :42.. 165: Manny Reyes, DSU, pinned Regan Pratt, 2:10. 174: Jonathan Morales, DSU, pinned Regan Pratt, 2:10. 184: Jacob Luczaj, Regina, dec. Briley Crissler, 4-3. 197: Paul Lendvoy, Regina, dec. Trevor Conrad, 14-8. HWT: Brian Klevis, DSU, pinned Paul Grebinski, :45.

Tags: college wrestling, dsu blue hawks, sports