Back On The Winning Track
MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/23/18)---Concordia won seven of the 10 individual matches, including four of the final five bouts, and rolled to a 33-9 win over St. John's. The wins ends a two-match losing skid for CC.
The Cobbers had five bonus point victories and earned another win by forfeit as they beat the Johnnies for the sixth straight season and 11th time in the last 13 dual matches.
St. John's cut the Cobber lead to five points at 11-6 after the 157-lb match but then Concordia rattled off two straight wins and four of the final five to win by 24 points.
Concordia earned a forfeit at 165 to push the lead to 11 points and then Joe Heinz recorded one of the two pins in the first minute of action at 174. Heinz got the pin at the 52-second mark and the Cobbers suddenly held a 17-point lead at 23-6.
The Johnnies would claim their third decision victory of the match at 184 but then two bonus point wins by CC ended the match at 33-9.
Nick Gravdahl stepped up a weight class and took a 17-5 major decision at 197. He is now 8-7 on the season.
Kody Van Den Eykel bettered Heinz' first-round pin by one second. He got his opponent on his back and finished off the dual with a pin at the 51-second mark. The win was Van Den Eykel's 15th of the season.
Concordia started the night with a solid streak of matches. The Cobbers went out to an 11-3 lead after winning three of the first four bouts. Jake Nohre started the dual with a 4-2 decision at 125. The victory evens Nohre's season record at 16-16.
Aaron Dick upped his team-leading win total with a 12-4 major decision at 133. Dick had four takedowns in the first period alone as he took control of the match from the opening whistle. Dick is now 19-11 on the season. The 19 wins are one more than he had in all of last season.
After a 10-5 loss at 141, Ty Johnson responded by recording a 9-1 major decision win at 149. He had a 2-point near fall in the first period and then completely neutralized his opponent in the second and third periods. Johnson allowed only one escape point in the final 30-seconds of play and put up over 3-minutes of riding time in the match. Johnson is now 12-11 on the year.
HIGH FIVE: With the major decision win at 197, junior Nick Gravdahl has now won matches in five different weight classes in his collegiate career.
NO ORDINARY JOE: Joe Heinz continues to be the hottest Cobber wrestler. He went 4-0 and won the 165-lb weight class at the Worthington Open last weekend. He is now 10-2 in his last 12 matches and is 18-9 for the season.
JOE HEINZ POSTMATCH INTERVIEW:
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia was scheduled to wrestled Dickinson State in a dual meet on Friday, Jan. 26 but the meet was postponed until a later date. The Cobbers will now have 11 days off to train for the Don Parker Open hosted by Wis.-Eau Claire on Saturday, Jan. 3.
Final Score:
Concordia-Moorhead 33, St. John's 9
Date: January 23, 2018
Location: Moorhead, Minn.
Arena: Memorial Auditorium
Start Time: 7:00 p.m.
End Time: 8:20 p.m.
Total Time: 1:20
Attendance: 123
Individual Match Results:
125 - Jake Nohre (CC) dec. Noah Becker (SJU); 4-2 (Concordia leads 3-0)
133 - Aaron Dick (CC) maj. dec. Andrew Smith (SJU); 12-4 (Concordia leads 7-0)
141 - Anthony Hennen (SJU) dec. Cole Kubesh (CC); 10-5 (Concordia leads 7-3)
149 - Ty Johnson (CC) maj. dec. Brandon Ortman (SJU); 9-1 (Concordia leads 11-3)
157 - Jerod Novak (SJU) dec. Keaton Long (CC); 9-7 (Concordia leads 11-6)
165 - Travis Ostby (CC) wins by forfeit (Concordia leads 17-6)
174 - Joe Heinz (CC) pin Daniel Gainer (SJU); 0:52 (Concordia leads 23-6)
184 - #9 Luke Dodd (SJU) dec. Jake Johnson (CC); 6-4 (Concordia leads 23-9)
197 - Nick Gravdahl (CC) maj. dec. Dominic Skawiniak (SJU); 17-5 (Concordia leads 27-9)
285 - Kody Van Den Eykel (CC) pin Nicholas Pegelow (SJU); :51 (Concordia leads 33-9)
