No. 2 Bronchos Flatten No. 8 Maryville

UCO Scores Four Falls In Dual-opening Rout

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Eli Kirk's stunning fall in an upset win highlighted a dominating performance by No. 2-ranked Central Oklahoma in a 42-4 drubbing of No. 8 Maryville Saturday night.

The two-time defending national champion Bronchos racked up six bonus-point wins in the season-opening dual and Kirk had one of four falls, decking fourth-ranked Evan Bider midway through the second period at 133 pounds.

UCO also got pins from 125 Garrett Steidley, 174 Zane Colemand and 184 Garrett Wells, while 157 Gabe Johnson had a technical fall and 141 Dylan Lucas a major decision. The Bronchos also got wins from 149 Bam West, 165 Hunter Jump in a showdown of top-four individuals and 197 Emmanuel Skillings in recording their 23rd straight win.

"I was proud of our grit, proud of our conditioning, proud of our toughness," head coach Todd Steidley said. "Overall as a team I'm just really proud of the effort we gave. Our kids took care of business.

"We preach to our guys to score the next point, no matter what the score is, and I thought we did a good job of that."

UCO has an even bigger challenge tomorrow as the Bronchos move on to Lebanon, Ill. to take on No. 3 McKendree in a 2 p.m. dual.

"We have to put this behind us and get ready for tomorrow now," Steidley said. "It's going to be a big challenge for our guys and I'm looking forward to seeing how we respond."

The dual started at 174 and Coleman got UCO off to a great start. The senior broke a scoreless tie with an escape to open the second period, then turned a headlock takedown into a fall at the 4:35 mark to put the Bronchos in early control.

Wells didn't take long to add to that. The fourth-ranked sophomore struck for a quick takedown and picked up the fall in just 1:51 to give UCO a big 12-0 lead.

Skillings used a third-period rally to keep Central's early momentum going. The junior trailed 8-3 early in the final stanza, but had three takedowns the rest of the way – the final one with 20 seconds remaining – to pull out a 12-9 victory.

The Saints earned their only win at heavyweight from fourth-rated Ryan Herman, but it was all UCO after that.

Garrett Steidley scored a takedown in the opening seconds at 125, added a three-point near-fall to go up 6-0 and then ended the match at the 2:02 mark.

That set the stage for Kirk against Binder and he was up to the challenge.

The redshirt freshman took the lead on a takedown with 1:18 left in the first period and rode Binder the rest of the way. Kirk chose neutral to begin the second stanza, tacked on another takedown to go up 6-0 and then methodically worked Binder over before ending it at 4:00.

Lucas continued the dominance with a 10-0 major decision at 141. The fourth-rated senior had two takedowns, a reverse, penalty point and nearly four minutes riding time in the easy win.

West prevailed 6-4 in a tough battle at 149. West took a 6-3 lead on a reverse with 54 seconds left and controlled JP Homfeld the rest of the match to secure the win despite Homfeld picking up a riding time point.

Johnson wasn't challenged in a 16-1 romp as the defending national champion and top-ranked junior simply overwhelmed Javier Gutierrez behind a three-takedown, two-near fall attack.

The second-rated Jump ended the dual in emphatic fashion with a 10-4 triumph over No. 4 Cole Ritter. Jump led 4-3 early in the second period before scoring a reverse, then followed a Ritter escape with a takedown to go up 9-4 and added a riding time point by controlling Ritter the enter final period.

UCO 42, Maryville 4
174 – Zane Coleman, UCO, pinned Evan Morris, 4:35.
184 – Garrett Wells, UCO, pinned Dalton Litzsinger, 1:51.
197 – Emmanuel Skillings, UCO, dec. Jeramiah Larson, 12-9.
Hvy – Ryan Herman, MU, major dec. Paul Sharp, 12-3.
125 – Garrett Steidley, UCO, pinned Sam Shafer, 2:02.
133 – Eli Kirk, UCO, pinned Evan Binder, 4:00.
141 – Dylan Lucas, UCO, major dec. Lucas Laux, 10-0.
149 – Bam West, UCO, dec. JP Homfeld, 6-4.
157 – Gabe Johnson, UCO, tech. fall Javier Gutierrez, 16-1.
165 – Hunter Jump, UCO, dec. Cole Ritter, 10-4.

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Players Mentioned

Zane Coleman: 5' 10"; Senior

Gabe Johnson: 5' 8"; Junior

Hunter Jump: 6' 2"; Senior

Eli Kirk: 5' 6"; Redshirt Freshman

Dylan Lucas: 5' 6"; Senior

Emmanuel Skillings: 6' 1"; Junior

Garrett Steidley: 5' 5"; Junior

Garrett Wells: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Bam West: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Paul Sharp: 6' 3"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Zane Coleman
: 5' 10"; Senior

Gabe Johnson
: 5' 8"; Junior

Hunter Jump
: 6' 2"; Senior

Eli Kirk
: 5' 6"; Redshirt Freshman

Dylan Lucas
: 5' 6"; Senior

Emmanuel Skillings
: 6' 1"; Junior

Garrett Steidley
: 5' 5"; Junior

Garrett Wells
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Bam West
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Paul Sharp
: 6' 3"; Sophomore