Your future, our focus
Cowboy Grapplers Score 24-13 Win over NWC
By RANDAL HOROBIK
Tribune Sports Editor
At a venue where they certainly had nothing to lose, the Northwest College Trappers, ranked sixth in the season-opening NJCAA poll, dropped a 24-13 decision to the University of Wyoming in wrestling dual action on Friday.
Northwest College athletes won four of 10 contested matches in the dual, including a 16-2 major decision win by freshman Cody Britt at 149 pounds. Also picking up wins for the Trappers were a pair of top 10 wrestlers according to the first NJCAA wrestling poll of the season in Briston Brenton and Nick Petersen.
Petersen, ranked 10th at 174 pounds, had the match of the night with a sudden-victory win after he and Dallas Hintz wrestled to a 5-5 stalemate at the end of regulation. Brenton, ranked fifth at 157, held off Mikah Kadera for a 3-2 victory.
Northwest's other win on the mat came from Powell sophomore Mak Jones. Like Brenton, Jones was able to score a one point win for the Trappers.
"Mak's match was a big one," said Northwest College coach Jim Zeigler. "He scored a takedown to tie the match with about 40 seconds to go and made the decision to cut the kid loose and try to take him down again rather than taking his chances in overtime. He wrestled for the win."
The Trappers narrowly missed scoring team points in a pair of other matches. Freshman Jesse Hillhouse dropped a narrow 3-2 decision at 133 pounds. Heavyweight Sergio Pedroza fought to within two points, 5-3, in his match at the upper end of the weight spectrum.
"Overall, I thought our guys wrestled hard," said Zeigler. "We wrestled hard and did a good job. In many ways, I think we took the dual a little more serious than they did. Some of our kids had a lot to lose. Our sophomores that can transfer, in some ways, it was an audition of sorts. If you do poorly, it might affect which schools try to recruit you."
The strong showing against the NCAA Division I Cowboys on Friday night was a prelude to an impressive performance by the Trappers in Saturday's Cowboy Open. Four Trappers advanced to the championship match of their weight class in the tournament.
Pedroza returned to Powell as the team's only tournament champion after carving a path through the heavyweight bracket. Pedroza's 11-5 win over Western State College's Kyle Graulus was part of a larger five-win day that included a pair of wins by fall.
"Watching Sergio wrestle this weekend was like watching him grow up in front of your eyes," said Zeigler. "He got better in each of his five matches. You could see him mature as the day went on on the mat."
Of the Trappers' other three championship participants on Saturday, Hillhouse and 141-pounder McCade Ford each lost by a single point. Jones was taken to overtime before falling by a 9-7 score at 197 pounds.
"Mak's match was a case of the wrong kid winning," said Zeigler. "He controlled so much of that match, but he got caught in a headlock early and the other guy scored five points. Then he comes back and dominates the match from there to get it to overtime. He's so close to winning it twice in overtime and then he slips and the other guy falls into the win. It was like driving for the winning touchdown, only to fumble at the one and watch the other team run it back for a score."
Petersen was the only other Trapper to find a place in the top four, placing fourth in the 174-pound division. Brenton sailed into the quarterfinals of the 157-pound bracket before being forced to default out of the tournament due to injury.
"It was mostly precautionary," Zeigler said of the decision to pull Brenton from the tournament. "His knee has bothered him and there's a lot of season left, so we want to be safe."
Seth Haas reached the semifinals of the 141-pound bracket and appeared to be on a possible collision course to meet Ford in the championship. Haas lost his semifinal contest by fall, then dropped an 8-2 decision to the eventual third-place finisher to end his day one win shy of a spot in the consolation finals.
"Seth is another guy who wrestled very well this weekend," said Zeigler. "He wrestled really tough and he's one of those redshirt kids that we'll probably have challenge for the position. Having someone like that creates competition within our team and I think that helps out all the kids."
In addition to the Trapper results, local wrestling fans will likely take interest in one other result at the Cowboy Open. Former Powell High School wrestler Trevor Donarski placed fourth in the 141-pound division in Laramie.
Northwest College returns to action on Wednesday night. The Trappers host Montana State University- Northern in a 7:30 p.m. dual. The team will also travel to the University of Northern Colorado this weekend for an open tournament.
"MSU-Northern is a tough NAIA four-year school," said Zeigler. "We'll be taking on their varsity team and that's always a challenge. They're more experienced than we are, but we expect to be right there in the middle of it. Hopefully we'll have a lot of people come out for our first home dual."