Augsburg is not a typical NCAA Division III wrestling program. A victory against Division I North Dakota State on Friday night is evidence of that.
The Auggies pulled off a couple of surprise wins in the middle weights to defeat the Bison 22-18 at the Bison Sports Arena.
Not that beating a Division I team is anything new for the Auggies. The 10-time Division III national champions beat Oregon and Oregon State in 2005.
"It's a big deal for us, beating a Division I opponent," Augsburg coach Mark Matzek said. "Our guys were talking about it all week, how we couldn't have a letdown coming of the national duals (which Augsburg won). We stepped up."
Augsburg got victories from three Division I transfers, including former Bison wrestler Zach Molitor at 174 pounds. But Tony Valek at 141 and Zach Hansen at 149 might have provided the most crucial points for the Auggies after NDSU's Trent Sprenkle pinned Seth Flodeen at 125.
ADVERTISEMENT
Freshman Valek edged Bison senior Gabe Mooney, who is battling an injury to his right shoulder, by a 7-4 score. A two-point reversal at 1:35 of the second period was the key. Hansen surprised Ryan Adams with a three-point near fall at 1:21 of the third period to pull an upset.
"We figured on getting bonus points at 141 and 149 and we end up losing both of them," Bison coach Bucky Maughan said. "It was a good match, an exciting match. It came down to one match either way. We win one more match, we've got them."
The Bison trailed 16-12 going to the 197 match, but Augsburg's Jared Massey pinned Drew Ross in 6:38 to give the Auggies a 22-12 lead. Massey is a transfer from Wisconsin who hasn't wrestled since the 2003-04 season.
"He's a 24-year-old man," Maughan said. "He was one of the top recruits in the country coming out of high school. He'd place in Division I."
The Bison have lost five straight matches, are fighting injuries and have seen a couple of starters leave the team. They begin their Western Wrestling Conference schedule a week from today against Northern Colorado.
"We've had a super frustrating year with everything happening. But everybody is having problems at this time of the year," Maughan said. "This is the part of the year that counts. Wrestling is all about the end. We'll do some tinkering, maybe move some guys around. We'll be all right. This team we just wrestled was very good and I knew this was going to be a good match. I knew we could win it or we could lose it, but it was worth wrestling."
125: Sprenkle, NDSU, pinned Flodeen, 5:33
133: Trvis Lang, Augsburg, major dec. Steinwand, 16-6
ADVERTISEMENT
141: Valek, Augsburg, def. Mooney, 7-4
149: Holst, Augsburg, def. Adams, 5-4
157: Adams, Augsburg, def. Vice Salminen, 7-6
165: Johnson, NDSU, def. Bahr, 10-8
174: Molitor, Augsburg, def. Aho, 3-0
184: Massey, Augsburg, pinned Ross, 6:38
Hwt: Hemmesch, NDSU, pinned Witzel, 4:58.
Inforum searchword: Bison
ADVERTISEMENT
Readers can reach Forum reporter
Mike McFeely at (701) 241-5580.
His blog can be found
