Mavericks dominate Marauders, 33-7

Minnesota State romped the University of Mary on the mat in a lopsided affair that saw the Mavericks come out victorious 33-7 with matches that ranged from 125 pounds to 285 pounds.

“Little disappointed in the way we started and there are definitely things we need to work on and get better at,” said Minnesota State head coach Jim Makovsky of the team’s performance. “But we celebrate a win tonight because we had some good performances tonight and once we got to the middle and upper weights, I thought we moved better and that’s where we were good.”

The night started out well for the University of Mary, as Josh Jenson and Tate Barnhardt defeated Trevor Schultz and Paul Selman of MSU, jumping out to a 7-0 lead over the Mavericks early. The Marauders only could muster those points during the entire match.

“He’s an athlete and one of the fastest guys I’ve ever met. If you’re not using [those attributes], it’s a problem,” said Makovsky of Selman’s disappointing finish. “There’s definitely a mental block there and some fear we have to overcome [as the season goes on].”

Louie Sanders and Reed Cronin took the mat in a tight bout, as Sanders edged out Cronin 11-10 to put the Mavs on the board 7-3. The next men up were Daniel Close for MSU and Hunter Eckert for the Marauders. Close made short work of Eckert in a blowout match 8-1, and propelled the Mavericks squad to within one in a 7-6 affair midway through the night.

Minnesota State gained their first lead of the night on Logan Saltou’s performance over Donnie Leuer, as they matched take-down for take-down early, but Saltou was able to outlast him in a 15-8 win that further increased the Mavericks’ lead up to 9-7. The fastest bout of the night went down between MSU’s Dylan Herman and Mary’s Paul Michaelson. In the second period, Herman launched a viscous series of attacks that lead to a swift pin and win over Michaelson. The Mavericks lead 15-7, with more matches remaining.

When the All-American Adam Cooling took the stage against Dane Fischer, the night really seemed to slip away for the Marauders. Cooling was bigger, stronger and faster than his opponent. He was in control the entire match and won 12-4, putting MSU up 19-7. However, the Cooling bout did draw drama, as a twist of Cooling’s ankle late from Fischer brought the entire Mavericks coaching staff to their feet in protest.

“There was emotion there, I didn’t like it, but I’ll have to watch the tape once the heart rate is down,” said Makovsky on the questionable play. “I’m all for playing physical but I don’t like when you put a guy in a position where you are trying to hurt him, so I wasn’t a fan of that.”

The showdown between Matt Blome and Jonathan Pleach finished in the first period on Blome’s dominating 15-0 start, which gave him the default win immediately, putting the Mavs up a stunning 24-7 score.

Minnesota State’s Chaydon O’Fallon had the easiest match on the night as he put the Mavericks up 30-7 on a forfeit from the Marauders. The final event saw MSU’s Chris Zimmer take on Dominic Tubor in the heavy weight round. It was a tightly contested match, but it was Zimmer who came out with the 6-2 victory to help the Mavericks seal the 33-7 victory.

“From a team perspective, it is nice to see guys take good, calculated risks,” said Makovsky. “We have to trust our stuff a little more and get after it and try to get points.”

Minnesota State will be back at home this Thursday to take on Upper Iowa and try to extend their winning streak to four.