NWC WRESTLING BATTLES IN THE ROCKIES

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

The Northwest College wrestling team battled hard at the Battle of the Rockies Duals and Open in Great Falls, Montana. The Trappers split a pair of duals on Friday before placing seven wrestlers on Saturday to wrap up first semester action.    

BATTLE OF THE ROCKIES DUALS
Kicking off the action in Great Falls, the NJCAA No. 8-ranked Trappers took on the NAIA No. 9-ranked Montana State University-Northern Northern Lights in a dual.

MSU-Northern took the lead after a forfeit at 125 pounds, but Northwest cut that lead in half at 133 after a 14-10 sudden victory by Kaiden Rubash.

The Northern Lights pushed the lead back out, after an 18-1 tech fall of Treyson Davila in the second period to make it 11-3.

Another Trapper victory came at 149 pounds when Caleb Nadig earned a 12-6 decision to make the team score 11-6.

The lead for MSU-Northern grew with another forfeit by the Trappers at 157 and two straight tech falls at 165 and 174 pounds against Orrin Jackson and Jesse Thornton by scores of 18-1 and 19-2 respectively.

Northwest got points back at 184 pounds, when Aziz Fayzullaev got a pin in the first period (2:50) to cut the lead down to 27-12.

A 7-2 decision over Gavin Carter at 197 pounds gave the Northern Lights a 30-12 lead, and Cody Pinkerton earned a pin in the second period (4:26) to make the final score 30-18.

The Trappers' second dual was against a fellow NJCAA opponent in Snow College out of Utah.

A forfeit at 125 pounds gave Snow the early lead, but that was the only time the Badgers led.

Rubash earned a first period pin (1:13) at 133 pounds, Davila earned a 24-8 tech fall at 141 pounds and Nadig earned a 16 second pin to establish a 17-6 lead.

Kendell Cummings wrestled up for the Trappers at 157 pounds, earning an 11-7 decision to make it 20-6.

"Kendell is pretty good at wrestling bigger guys," coach Jim Zeigler said. "We went out and got some momentum going then just started pinning them."

Jackson got a major decision by a 15-3 score at 165, before Snow earned the win at 174 over Thornton with a 47 second pin.

Fayzullaev got a pin at 184 pounds (2:20), Carter lost a narrow decision 12-10 at 197 pounds before Pinkerton got a first period pin at 285 (2:03) to finish with a 36-15 dual win.

"I was pleased to beat Snow. That feels good," Zeigler said.    

BATTLE OF THE ROCKIES OPEN
Remaining in Great Falls the Trappers took part in the Battle of the Rockies Open on Saturday.

Fayzullaev carried his momentum over from Friday, going 4-0 including three pins at 184 pounds to take first.

The next highest placer for Northwest was Jackson, who went 3-1 but fell via tech fall 15-0 in the title match to finish second.

Nadig went 3-1, falling by pin in the semifinal but battling back to win the third place match by a 5-3 decision.

Rubash went 2-2 and fell by an 8-7 decision in the third place match to finish fourth at 133 pounds; Davila went 2-2 at 141 pounds and fell via pin in the third place match and Pinkerton finished 2-2 at 285, losing by pin in the third place match.

Thornton placed fifth after going 2-2 and earned a medical forfeit in his final match.

Cummings went 1-2 at 149 pounds; Robby Ortega went 0-2 at 184 pounds and Carter went 0-2 at 197 pounds.

"It was really good to get matches for everybody," Zeigler said.    

LONG BREAK
Northwest will now take the remainder of this week and next to train while preparing for finals and wrapping up the first semester.

"There's a lot of things we need to work on," Zeigler said. "Now that we are this far maybe I am seeing them better or maybe I'm a little more aggravated with them but we need to fix these things. It was a tournament where I got to take a lot of notes."

The Trappers will then split off campus for winter break before returning in January and preparing for their first competition in the new year on Jan. 12 and 13 at the NJCAA Duals in Miami, Oklahoma.