EOU Men’s Wrestling Drops Home Contest to North Idaho College, 42-9

LA GRANDE, Ore. – Competing in just its second home match of the 2016-17 campaign, the (RV) EOU men's wrestling team battled perennial junior college powerhouse North Idaho College early, but the Mountaineers ultimately dropped a 42-9 decision to the Cardinals on Friday night at Quinn Coliseum.

North Idaho College entered the match with quite the résumé, which included a No. 7 ranking, 14 national team titles, 54 individual championships, 224 All-Americans, and 34 top-three finishes.

And it was the Mountaineers who tested the Cardinals early, as 125-pounder and third-ranked Matt Nguyen took down No. 8 Garrett White in a 9-3 decision to give the Blue and Gold an early 3-0 lead.

After the Cardinals took the 133-pound match by fall, the Mountaineers went back up by three (9-6) thanks to freshman Brendon Vladic. A native of Billings, Mont., Vladic pinned North Idaho's Trey Long at 141 pounds by fall at 3:51.

Perhaps the biggest turnaround of the match came during the 149-pound bout, as Cardinal freshman Thomas Stevenson scored on a last-second reversal to take a 10-8 decision over junior Jared Neiss, which tied the match at nine apiece and helped the visiting team seize the momentum.

At 165 pounds, junior Brandon Davidson took No. 2 Trey Meyer to overtime before Meyer secured the 6-4 sudden victory.

While the final score read 42-9, EOU actually forfeited the heavyweight match to yield the final six points.

NORTH IDAHO 42, EOU 9
125: Matt Nguyen (EOU) over Garrett White (NIC) (Dec 9-3)
133: Bryson Beard (NIC) over Terran Libolt (EOU) (Fall 3:35)
141: Brendon Vladic (EOU) over Trey long (NIC) (Fall 3:51)
149: Thomas Stevenson (NIC) over Jared Neiss (EOU) (Dec 10-8)
157: Brent Evans (NIC) over Terry Mason (EOU) (Fall 3:46)
165: Trey Meyer (NIC) over Brandon Davidson (EOU) (SV-1 6-4)
174: Alex Aguilar (NIC) over Jacob Dupuis (EOU) (Fall 4:42)
184: Levi Perry (NIC) over Zachary Wardle (EOU) (Fall 3:38)
197: Jeremy Merryweather (NIC) over Braeden Phillips (EOU) (Fall 3:42)
285: Connor Sullivan (NIC) over (EOU) (For.)

Print Friendly Version