UCO Upset Bid Falls Short

EDMOND (Feb. 3) – A thrilling battle between two long-time rivals came down to an overtime penalty point in the final match and unfortunately for Central Oklahoma the call went the other way.

Heavyweight Greg Wilson was docked for stalling late in the second tiebreaker period, giving Nebraska-Kearney's Jarrod Hinrichs the deciding point in a 5-4 victory that enabled the No. 2-ranked Lopers to hold off the No. 18 Bronchos 19-15 Sunday afternoon at Hamilton Field House.

Upset-minded UCO won four matches and lost three close decisions in its final home dual of the season.

Colton Looper had a big fall for the Bronchos at 197 to give Central a chance in the final bout, while 141 Nate Keim, 149 Brik Filippo and 184 Heath Gray also won. Briar Stopp lost a 1-0 match at 165 and Tanner Cole dropped a wild 19-17 decision at 125 in addition to Wilson's loss.

"I thought we showed a lot of fight today and I'm proud of our guys for that," head coach Todd Steidley said. "We wrestled hard and gave ourselves a chance. We lost a few tight matches that could have gone either way, but we battled."

UCO trailed 16-6 with three weights remaining before Gray and Looper came through.

The second-ranked Gray trailed 3-2 early in the third period before taking Isaac Deaton down and adding a four-point near-fall to prevail 8-3 for his 12th straight win.

Looper then recorded his team-high ninth pin of the season, wrapping up Brady Radik for the fall at the 4:26 mark to send the UCO crowd into a frenzy and pull the Bronchos within 16-15.

That left it up to the heavyweights to decide the final outcome and it took extra time to decide it.

Wilson -- outweighed by 50-plus pounds – broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown early in the third period, but Hinrichs quickly escaped to make it 3-2 and then tied it with a penalty point when Wilson was whistled for stalling.

Neither wrestler scored in the one-minute sudden-victory period, then Wilson escaped eight seconds into the first 30-second tiebreaker period to go ahead 4-3. Hinrichs escaped early in the second tiebreaker stanza and Wilson was again called for stalling seconds later to hand Hinrichs the winning point.

Keim and Filippo pulled off upsets to keep UCO in the dual and both redshirt freshmen were in control the majority of their match.

Keim notched two first-period takedowns in taking a 4-2 lead over No. 9 Jonathan Killingsworth and added two more in the final stanza to pull away for a 10-5 victory.

Filippo had a takedown in each of the first two periods in going ahead 5-1, then added two penalty points and a riding time point in the third to knock off No. 6 Nick Babcock 8-2.

Cole had the craziest match of the day to start the dual, falling 19-17 to second-ranked Josh Portillo. Cole trailed 13-11 in the final minute when he took Portillo down and added a four-point near-fall to take a 17-13 lead, but Portillo reversed Cole to his back in the final 10 seconds for a six-point move that gave him the win.

Stopp filled in for injured Wyatt Jordan at 165 and almost pulled off a monumental upset, dropping a 1-0 decision to top-ranked Calvin Ochs. The only point came on Ochs' third-period escape and Stopp couldn't come up with a winning takedown in the final seconds.

UCO, now 10-4 on the season, ends the dual schedule next weekend with road matches at Lindenwood and Central Missouri.

Nebraska-Kearney 19, UCO 15
125 – Josh Portillo, UNK, dec. Tanner Cole, 19-17.
133 – Wesley Dawkins, UNK, dec. Noah McQuigg, 8-2.
141 – Nate Keim, UCO, dec. Jonathan Killingsworth, 10-5.
149 – Brik Filippo, UCO, dec. Nick Babcock, 8-2.
157 – Matt Malcom, UNK, major dec. Ty Lucas, 12-4.
165 – Calvin Ochs, UNK, dec. Briar Stopp, 1-0.
174 – Zach Stodden, UNK, dec. Devin Crawl, 4-0.
184 – Heath Gray, UCO, dec. Isaac Deaton, 8-3.
197 – Colton Looper, UCO, pinned Brady Radik, 4:26.
Hvy – Jarrod Hinrichs, UNK, dec. Greg Wilson, 5-4 (TB).

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Tanner Cole: 5' 6"; Redshirt Freshman; 133/141

Brik Filippo: 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman; 149

Heath Gray: 5' 11"; Sophomore; 174

Nate Keim: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman; 141

Colton Looper: 5' 8"; Senior; 197

Ty Lucas: 5' 9"; Redshirt Freshman; 149

Noah McQuigg: 5' 5"; Sophomore; 125

Briar Stopp: 5' 8"; Senior; 157

Wyatt Jordan: 5' 11"; Junior; 165

Devin Crawl: 5' 10"; Junior; 174

Players Mentioned

Tanner Cole
: 5' 6"; Redshirt Freshman; 133/141

Brik Filippo
: 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman; 149

Heath Gray
: 5' 11"; Sophomore; 174

Nate Keim
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman; 141

Colton Looper
: 5' 8"; Senior; 197

Ty Lucas
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Freshman; 149

Noah McQuigg
: 5' 5"; Sophomore; 125

Briar Stopp
: 5' 8"; Senior; 157

Wyatt Jordan
: 5' 11"; Junior; 165

Devin Crawl
: 5' 10"; Junior; 174