Today while most of us were getting ready for the Super Bowl, the Cowboys wrestling program squared off against conference rival North Dakota State University. The Cowboys 22-21 loss to North Dakota State today brings their record to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the Western Wrestling Conference.

NDSU jumped out to a quick 12 point lead by earning pins in the first two matches of the evening as Mitch Bengston and Clay Ream pinned Cole Mendenhall and Jake Elliot in their matches.

The next two Cowboys came out fired up and earned a pair of Technical Fall’s, adding a couple more bonus points to the team score. Archie Colgan beat Grant Nehring, and Dakota Friesth dominated Trevour Chavez. Andy McCulley followed up with a solid performance and earned a 4-1 decision over Kurtis Julson.

Ben Stroh came out next for the pokes against NDSU’s Hayden Zillmer, in a batlle of ranked wrestlers. Zillmer secured the decision for the Bison winning the match 10-4.

In the next match Shane Woods came out and got the pokes a bonus point by earning a major decision over Tommy Peterson.  

The next two matches both went the way of the Bison as Evan Knutson defeated Tanner Harms with a 6-4 decision. Followed by an incredibly intense overtime match between ranked opponents, NDSU’s Josh Rodriguez won 9-7 after earning two near fall points after returning Cox to the mat as he attempted an escape.

In the final match of the dual, Drew Templeman tied the score at 21 with his major decision victory over Hunter Weber. NDSU was awarded a bonus point for having earned more falls than the Cowboys, bringing the final score to 22-21 in favor of the Bison.