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Trapper Wrestling Loses On Tiebreaker
For Northwest College wrestling coach Jim Zeigler, it’s all about the little things.
On Wednesday, the little things were the difference between a close Trapper win and a loss by tiebreaker.
Despite tying Montana State University-Northern 19-19 in a dual meet at Cabre Gym in Powell, NWC was handed the loss after losing in head-to-head match victories 5-4.
The Trappers trailed 19-16 heading into the 285-pound battle between NWC’s Jorge Rodriguez and MSU-N’s Jorrell Jones. Needing just four points to win, Rodriguez almost had Jones pinned in the early going of the match, and led 5-0 after a takedown and near fall. But Jones battled back to eventually take a 6-5 lead.
Rodriguez was saved by his riding time advantage to force overtime, and scored a takedown of Jones before the one-minute period ended to secure the win.
But the victory only tied the match, leaving it up to the head-to-head battle to decide the winning team. Rodriguez’s near-fall, mixed with a few other missed opportunities throughout the match, left Zeigler a little frustrated.
“Overall, it’s ridiculous we didn’t win that dual,” Zeigler said. “The problem is, guys fight real hard and they wrestle real well, but I hate that for two seconds they stick their head out of the foxhole and they’re dead.”
Riley Miller defeated the Trappers’ Robert Gomez 6-1 at 125 pounds to give MSU-N an early 3-0 advantage, but after NWC’s Eduardo Pehna earned a pin at 133 pounds, John-David Henderson defeated his opponent 12-3 at 141, and Jeff McCormick earned a fall at 149, NWC was ahead 16-3. And that’s when things began to fall apart.
At 157, Batista Covolow was in position to add to the Trapper lead, nursing a 2-1 cushion over the Lights’ Tommy Cooper with 1:08 left in the bout
But a takedown 18 seconds later resulted from a failed spin move by Covolow in an attempt to gain control. Covolow fell on his hip, and Cooper recovered for two points and a 3-2 lead. Covolow earned an escape to tie the match with 28 seconds to go, but another Cooper takedown sealed his win.
“The other guy gets a gift, it’s a gift,” Zeigler said of the finish of the match. “It’s like throwing an interception in the final seconds of a football game.”
NWC’s frustrations continued when Kaelen Loveless lost an 8-0 major decision to Ethan Hinebauch at 165 pounds, and Jacob Beck made his debut at 174 pounds in which he was pinned by Jared Miller.
Zeigler was upset with the pin, as Beck was attempting to prevent a reverse by opponent Jared Miller with 1:36 left in the match. Had Beck allowed the reverse, there was a chance the match would’ve ended in a standard decision, giving the Lights three points as opposed to the six they received when Beck was abruptly tossed to his back and pinned with 55 ticks remaining.
“It was a fatal error on [Beck’s] part,” Zeigler said. “He’s out of position, he’s about to be reversed. Everybody in the gymnasium can tell he was about to get reversed.
“All he has to do is give [Miller] the two points ... instead he tries to hang on, and goes to his back and gets pinned,” he said. “That’s three bonus points for them.”
Miller’s triumph knotted the team scores before Garrett DeMers downed NWC’s Jonathan Wixom 8-5 at 197 pounds for the Lights’ 19-16 advantage. Rodriguez’s near-pin in the heavyweight match was the Trappers’ last hope at the dual victory.
“They’re young, they’re going to get better,” Zeigler said of his team. “I know some of my words may sound a little harsh on these guys, but there are harsh realities in life and they’re going to have to face these things and overcome them.
“So when I get on them, I get on them about it and then I’m the first one to hug them and tell them ‘Every day we get better, we learn from everything that happens and get better.’”
Montana State University-Northern 19, Northwest College 19
(MSU-N wins on 5-4 head-to-head tiebreaker)
Results
125 - Riley Miller (MSU-N) def. Robert Gomez, dec. 6-1
133 - Eduardo Pehna (NWC) def. Justin Rodgers, fall 6:16
141 - John-David Henderson (NWC) def. Logan Foster, maj. dec. 12-3
149 - Jeff McCormick (NWC) def. Drew Randall, fall 5:50
157 - Tommy Cooper (MSU-N) def. Batista Cowolow, dec. 5-3
165 - Ethan Hinebauch (MSUN) def. Kaelen Loveless, maj. dec. 8-0
174 - Jared Miller (MSU-N) def. Jacob Beck, fall 6:07
184- double forfeit
197 - Garrett DeMers (MSU-N) def. Jonathan Wixom, dec. 8-5
285 - Jorge Rodriguez (NWC) def. Jorrell Jones, SV-1, 8-6