Dickinson State wrestling gave its seniors a pretty good home send off Tuesday night, and fittingly, a good chunk of it was thanks to those seniors.
In their final home match of the season, the Blue Hawks turned an early 9-0 advantage into a 24-20 win over NCAA Division II Northern State at Scott Gymnasium, improving their record this year in dual matches to 2-3.
Senior AJ Locke, who, in DSU's last dual won by forfeit, started things off at 125 pounds with a tight 3-2 decision over Northern State's Matthew Leier. At 133, DSU's Michael Pajaro won by forfeit, and the Blue Hawks, up 9-0, were off and running.
"Getting a good result at 125 is always a good starting point. That's always a good momentum builder - gets the guys going," head coach Justin Schlecht said. "AJ could have done a little more in that match, we've got some things to work on with him, but he got us going."
Next up was redshirt freshman Jamie Mullins, who took a 5-4 decision for a 12-0 lead.
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The momentum was momentarily stolen by the Wolves, when NSU's Tyler Stenberg needed just 20 seconds to pin DSU's Travis Koenig.
But in the very next match, senior Sean Elkins countered with a pin of his own at 157 pounds. It was his third in as many events in the last five days, and the first of two on the night for the Blue Hawks. That made it 18-6, and made a comeback for the Wolves a much taller task than it was a few minutes earlier.
"Bonus points are huge, bonus points are the deciding factor in a dual like this," Schlecht said. "Not giving up bonus points in matches and getting them at the right time is huge."
NSU won the next two weights by 7-6 and 10-1 margins to pull within five points. Then, senior Lane Oversen stepped on the mat, and after two uneventful first periods, he found a window of opportunity and finished off his opponent with a late pin at 184 pounds, pushing the lead to 11 and giving the Blue Hawks the final amount of breathing room they would need.
"I was trying to work my offense for a while, and I just couldn't find it, but I always kept my composure," Oversen said. "But when I got on top I just felt really comfortable, and I just kind of took advantage of my position for the pin. We train really hard for the third period, we say that's where people get tired and we excel, so I felt really comfortable, knew I had two minutes to make the most of it. I was looking for six (points), and I was able to do that."
Senior Jon Solano, wrestling above his weight class at 197 against the national runner-up a season ago in Joe Gomez, dropped his match, and so did 285-pound Ethan Goss-Dickie, but the early start combined with the two pins was enough to hold off the Wolves.
Dickinson State 24, Northern State 20
125: AJ Locke (DSU) dec. Matthew Leier, 3-2
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133: Michael Pajaro (DSU) forfeit.
141: Jamie Mullins (DSU) dec. CJ Voegeli, 6-4
149: Tyler Stenberg (NSU) fall Travis Koenig, :20
157: Sean Elkins (DSU) fall Kaiden Dorris, 2:11
165: Ben Fitcher (NSU) dec. Devan Williams, 7-6
174: Tanner Olson (NSU) dec. Jascon Zecchini, 10-1
184: Lane Oversen (DSU) fall David Murphy, 6:15
197: Joe Gomez (NSU) dec. Jon Solano, 10-1
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285: Harrison Townsend (NSU) dec. Ethan Goss-Dickie, 9-4
