COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho. – The EOU men's wrestling team faced a tough task Friday evening going up against a nationally known powerhouse in North Idaho College and despite winning in four different weight classes, ultimately fell to NIC, 30-12.
 
"We are still improving and wrestled well in most of our matches," said head coach Dustyn Azure. "We still need to work on wrestling a full match, we let up a few times in our matches and it cost us. This is something we will work on for next week and continue to build on our strengths."

Sophomore Mhar Caballa (125) got EOU on the board first collecting three team points, winning his first match via a 9-4 decision over NIC's Garrett White. The Cardinals answered right back in the next match as junior Matt Nguyen (133) dropped a 9-4 decision to Bryson Beard.

In the 141 weight class, freshman Brendon Vladic defeated Hasaan Hawthorne in an 8-2 decision, giving the Blue and Gold a 6-3 lead. The following match, freshman Jared Neiss (149) lost by major decision to Thomas Stevenson, putting the Cardinals up by one (7-6).

Sophomore Ryan Middleton (157) and junior Brandon Davidson (165) went on to win their matches by decision, giving EOU a 12-7 lead but NIC performed well in the upper weights and collected 23 points in the final four matches to secure the victory.

EOU returns to action Dec. 18 when it heads to Reno, Nev. to take part in the Reno Tournament of Champions.  
 
MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
125: Mhar Caballa over Garrett White (NIC) (Dec 9-4)
133: Bryson Beard (NIC) over Matt Nguyen (Dec 9-4)
141: Brendon Vladic over Hasaan Hawthorne (NIC) (Dec 8-2)
149: Thomas Stevenson (NIC) over Jared Neiss (MD 14-6)
157: Ryan Middleton over Jaren Sumauang (NIC) (Dec 5-3)
165: Brandon Davidson over Wyatt Butler (NIC) (Dec 9-6)
174: Alex Aguilar (NIC) over Jacob Dupuis (TF 20-4 6:23)
184: Levi Perry (Nic) over Pancho Saldana (Fall 1:52)
197: Jeremy Merryweather (Nic) over Zachary Wardle (Fall 3:14)
285: Cooper Thomas (NIC) over Unknown