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NWC WR Home Opener Saturday
The NWC wrestling team beat Western Wyoming Community College 26-17 in a Friday dual that came down to the last match.
Team points are decided on individual victories, depending on a win by decision, major decision, technical fall or fall.
The dual started off with the 184-pound weight class, where NWC wrestler Heber Shepherd faced off once again against Jared Sargent.
The previous week, at the Cowboy Open tournament in Laramie, Shepherd took a 16-1 technical fall victory over Sargent. But last week in Rock Springs, Shepherd beat Sargent by a 12-4 major decision.
A major decision — awarded when a match has a margin of eight to 14 points — gives the winning team four points.
At the 197-pound weight class, Jeffrey Oakes got some revenge against WWCC’s Aspen Naylor.
At the Cowboy Open tournament, Naylor had pinned both Oakes and NWC wrestler William Kisphaugh. On Friday, however, Oakes beat Naylor by a 18-4 major decision, giving the Trappers another four points.
Five more points were added to Northwest’s team score with wrestler Lisiante ‘Richard’ Anau’s 19-2 technical fall victory over WWCC’s Wade French at 285 pounds.
A technical fall occurs when a wrestler has a 15-point lead on their opponent. Matches are stopped when an opponent has a 15 point margin unless there is a pinning situation. In a pinning situation, the match is allowed to play out by the referee, giving the offensive player a chance to score a fall.
A technical fall awards the team five points whereas a fall awards the team six points.
Western Wyoming got their first five points at the 125-weight class, with Cole Verner defeating Trapper Matthew Barfuss; Verner won by a 19-1 technical fall.
Western Wyoming received another six points at the 133-pound weight class due to an uncontested match.
That narrowed Northwest’s team score advantage to 13-11.
Next, at 141 pounds, Riley Loveless of Northwest pinned Lane Hunt to get six points for the Trappers. Samuel Freeman of Western Wyoming then won a 10-5 decision over Garrett Wood in the 149-pound weight class.
Three points are awarded for decision when the match score has a margin of one to seven points.
Western Wyoming collected another three points in the 157-pound weight class with Ryan Winger’s 6-5 decision victory over Cameron Braden.
Winger had beaten NWC wrestler Nic Urbach by technical fall the previous week at the Cowboy Open.
With the victories for Western Wyoming in the 149 and 157-poundweight classes, Western Wyoming trailed 19-17.
The Trappers, however, claimed the last two matches.
At 165 pounds, Andrew VonRein of NWC won by a 4-3 decision over Marco Frias, awarding three points to NWC.
Matthew Widdicombe of NWC then won the 174-pound weight class over Matt Hebel by a 12-0 major decision. That clinched Northwest’s dual win.
With the tough competition the last two weeks, wrestlers Jeffries, Anau and Widdicombe will not be competing this week; NWC head coach Jim Zeigler said they’re questionable right now and will be reevaluated after Thanksgiving.
On Wednesday, the wrestling team took on MSU-Northern at Laurel High School. Results will appear in next week’s issue.
The Northwest College wrestlers will have their season home opener, the NWC Open, on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.