Mavericks dominate Northern State on the mat
The Mavericks stay undefeated in conference after defeating the Wolves
John Laforest
Staff Writer
Over the weekend, the MSU wrestling team stayed undefeated in the NSIC with a pair of dominant victories over strong opponents.
The Mavericks started the weekend of wins with a dominant effort, capturing a 25-9 dual victory against No. 25 Northern State.
The two teams were closely contested through the first six matches Friday night as the two teams split to a 9-9 score early.
Freshman Trevor Turriff (184 lbs.) gave the Mavericks a lead of 9-3 with a big 9-3 decision over Kaden Campbell.
Caleb Lefferdink (285 lbs.) of Northern State had his hands all over, early in the sixth match and walked away with a 10-4 decision over freshman Max Villnow to knot up the score at 9-9.
MSU’s Andrew McFall (125 lbs.) later gained a forfeit victory moving the teams score to 15-9.
The Mavs wouldn’t look back after the miscue on NSU, as they went 3-0 in the final three matches, including a big major decision victory by senior George Farmah (133 lbs.) over Kenny Jones.
Saturday’s string of matches went unlike those from Friday but ended like the result of Friday’s games.
Minnesota State overcame a slow start to dominate Southwest Minnesota State at the Taylor Center Jan. 26 afternoon in a 22-9 victory as the Mavericks improve to an impressive 6-1 overall record (4-0 NSIC), while the Mustangs remain winless on the season as they fall to 0-6 overall (0-5 NSIC).
The Mavericks were able to gather themselves as a team after a troublesome start against the Mustangs as they took two out of the first three matches.
After the shaky start MSU really locked in taking seven of the eight remaining matches. Ignited by junior McFall (125 lbs.) who won by 4-1 decision.
No. 1-ranked senior Farmah (133 lbs.) also came out and had a dominating performance winning a 7-2 decision against Brock Buysse of Southwest Minnesota.
This was followed by a come from behind 5-4 victory by way of junior Louie Sanders as he broke the tie and put the Mavericks ahead.
The last two matches of the afternoon featured No. 4-ranked junior Zach Johnston (174 lbs.) and freshman Turriff (184 lbs.) who were both able to capture a pair of very thrilling victories with scores of 7-4 and 6-5 respectively. This put the final score at 22-9 in favor of the Minnesota State Mavericks.
Minnesota State returns to the mat at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31 at Taylor Center as they end their five-game home stretch in Mankato.
Feature photo by Samuel Oluwadoromi | MSU Reporter.