Cowboy senior Brandon Mason takes down sophomore Rocco DePaolo during Friday’s victory against Northern Colorado. Mason followed up his third pin with a 1-0 victory against the Sooners’ Ryan Smith. Mason improved to 11-1 on the year, but the Cowboys fell short in Bedlam, 18-15.
The OSU wrestling team breezed past Northern Colorado University on Friday night.
The No. 9 Cowboys recorded three falls, a tech fall and three major decisions for a 41-3 victory.
Coach John Smith said he was pleased with the performance of most of the wrestlers, but there are still areas they need to improve on.
“You enjoy seeing the pins; there was a lot of hard wrestling,” Smith said. “I thought that overall there were a couple of them who were not ready to go full seven-minute matches.
“We thought it might be easier than what it was, and it wasn’t. A lot of takedowns and good back points, and that’s what we need against a team like Northern Colorado.”
The first of the three falls came at 157 pounds when senior Newly McSpadden charged the mat and pinned redshirt freshman Tanner Weiks in 36 seconds. McSpadden said the results of the match were because of a good week of practice.
“We had a great week of training, and I just came out and did what we had been training to do,” McSpadden said. “I had the opportunity to go for the pin, so that’s what we want to do when we have that opportunity. Hopefully I can get on a roll now and keep things going.”
A tough week of practice paid off for junior heavyweight Jared Rosholt and senior captain Brandon Mason (165) as they recorded a pair of falls.
Rosholt (11-1) appeared to be the smaller wrestler in the match, but he used his speed and agility to work junior Justin Tuell to the ground in the first 15 seconds.
Rosholt recorded two near fall points in the first 20 seconds of the match, and by the time the clock read 1:56 he had recorded his seventh fall of the year.
Mason (10-1) recorded his third pin of the season after he took sophomore Rocco DePaolo to the mat and finished him off with more than a minute left in the first period.
Mason said his match went well, but he thinks he needs to be calmer on the mat.
“I just tried to go out there and attack,” Mason said. “I got the take down and then got my leg in and ended up turning him over and pinning him.
“I was a little sloppy. My mind was racing a little bit too much. I need to stay focused in my mind. My body can race, but my mind needs to just stay calm.”
Calm and relaxed is exactly how sophomore Clayton Foster looked as he stepped on the mat to try to continue his undefeated season.
Foster dominated the match, winning by a technical fall in the third period. His opponent, sophomore Patrick Carey, scored one point off an escape in the first period, but would not score another as Foster recorded a 16-1 victory, giving him an 11-0 record.
“[Being undefeated] feels pretty good, but I got to clean up a lot of stuff. I’m not quite there yet,” Foster said. “Going undefeated through [OU] would be a good thing because the OU guy is pretty tough. I’m looking forward to that match because he’s ranked above me.”
NCU’s lone victory came from Mitchell Polkowske, an unranked freshman, who continued his 13-match winning streak after beating redshirt freshman Luke Silver in a 7-3 decision.
Polkowske earned the first points of the match in the second period after a reversal and then scored two near fall points before Silver earned an escape point.
Coach Smith said he thought the only loss of the night was because of a lack of preparation.
“I don’t think he prepared that he was going to have to be in on his opponents legs scraping and fight just for a takedown,” Smith said. “I think [Silver] was like, ‘Jeez, I didn’t think it was going to be this hard.’ Well, welcome! This kid’s 12-1 for a reason. He may not be ranked, but he has beaten 12 people.
“I just don’t think he was prepared for that. It was good learning experience for him.”
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