Cowboys Scramble in Finals and Earlier Sunday to Tie for Title

Oklahoma State is not used to drama at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships. The Cowboys aren’t used to anything but winning as they had won eight in a row. The Cowboys scuffled through the two days placing three wrestlers in the finals and it came down to the final wrestler for OSU in freshman 197-pound A.J. Ferrari, who upset the top seed at his tough weight just to make the finals. Ferrari went into his championship match needing a win to help Oklahoma State tie Oklahoma and bonus points and a win to get the Cowboys sole possession on the championship.

It started off well as the match between Ferrari and Stephen Buchanan of Wyoming was by far the most entertaining. In the first period with both wrestlers on their knees Ferrari got control of Buchanan’s right leg and then smothered him by working his way up the leg for the takedown. Ferrari rode out the first period for 1:25 in riding time.

In the second period the Cowboys freshman started down but quickly escaped for a 3-0 lead. Both wrestlers on the mat and Ferrari took control for the takedown and he was hoping to get more. In the pursuit of back points Buchanan was able to reverse Ferrari and after Ferrair escaped the second period ended with him leading 6-2 and still owning the riding time advantage.

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Ferrari rides Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan.

In the third period Buchanan worked an escape to make it 6-3 before Ferrari and the Oklahoma State bench with John Smith and Chris Perry working the corner looked to make the decision to go for a major by doing takedown-escape routine. In the middle of that approach with Ferrari up 10-5 with the riding time point coming, Buchanan ruined it with a takedown to narrow the score to 10-7. Neither wrestler gave in in the final second allowing for more scoring and in the end it was a 13-8 decision to Ferrari.

“He did a nice job,” head coach John Smith said of Ferrari. “He went out there to win the match and then found himself in a position to pick up a bonus point and a major decision, but give credit to the Wyoming kid for that takedown and that was really the difference (in holding the match to a decision). That was really good that (Ferrari) tried to work for the major decision. I know that he laid a lot on the line just to win the match.”

The 197-pound freshman was named the Big 12 Championships Outstanding Wrestler. The entire Oklahoma State team led by Daton Fix met Ferrari coming off the mat to congratulate or possibly thank him for saving the Cowboys bacon.

“He wrestled the way I want to wrestle in every match,” Fix said of his freshman teammate. “Say what you want about him but he wrestles hard all seven minutes and that is really special for a true freshman to go out and compete like that. I’m really proud of him.”

The 124-124 deadlock left the Bedlam rival as co-Big 12 Champions. The last time there was a tie was 2009 with Iowa State and Nebraska tying for the championship. The Cowboys were deducted a point for sportsmanship on Saturday night and John Smith wasn’t really in the mood to go into detail and he dismissed it and at the same time protested.

“I know what it was deducted for and … we probably have the toughest sport of anyone in that we find reasons to deduct points,” Smith said. “Things happen and you get emotional as a coach and you come out of the little triangle that they give you and you say something to an official and you don’t really have a lot of room.”

It was a save from what could have been worse and nearly happened. Oklahoma topping the Cowboys for the title.

After the morning consolation finals Oklahoma led by eight points over Oklahoma State 120-112. Two of the three finals for the Bedlam rivals were against each other.

It started with top seed Daton Fix, who got the first takedown in his final at 133-pounds against the Sooners Tony Madrigal. Fix had pinned Madrigal in the final Bedlam dual in Stillwater, but it was obvious that Madrigal was not wrestling necessarily to win, but not to lose by bonus points. He did his job well staying conservative and not allowing Fix to use any monster moves.

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Fix was limited by Madrigal’s consiervative approach.

In fact, Fix scored twice on controversial calls as he picked up a takedown late in the first period that the officials had to review and did award the Cowboy wrestler the two points for a 4-1 lead. Fix picked up another takedown as he grabbed the ankle of Madrigal and literally flipped him over starting from a down position to get the takedown. No riding time to factor in the match and Fix won a 6-1 decision. Oklahoma State trailed OU 120-116.

“I’m happy to be a Big 12 champion, but I wanted to get the major and get the team the outright lead, so I’m disappointed in that,” Fix said after the finals ended.

“He (Madrigal) had a good game plan to slow me down and those are the kind of people that I’ve had trouble with my whole career,” Fix said of his match with Madrigal. “That is something that I have to keep working on and work on different ways to fire off late attacks and really create more wrestling. That is what I will work on these next two weeks leading up to nationals.”  

Fix will move on and is expected to be a top seed in St. Louis at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

At 141-pounds Dom Demas of Oklahoma had to wrestle the distance even through overtime and picked up a point on a locked hands call on Iowa State’s Ian Parker to win a 7-6 decision. That made the score 124-to-116 in favor of Oklahoma in the team race.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Lewallen was one of three Oklahoma State individual Big 12 champions.

The action was fast and furious at 149 pounds as top seed Boo Lewallen went against Oklahoma’s Mitch Moore. The two had wrestled tight matches in Bedlam this season with Lewallen winning 4-0 in Norman and 6-4 in Stillwater.

In the first period Lewallen used a double leg shot to put Moore airborne and get the takedown and Lewallen put Moore on his back and got two near fall points. Suddenly off the move that put him on his back, Moore reversed Lewallen and put him on his shoulder and picked up near fall points. The action was so fast the officials needed to go review the video and came back with a confirmation that it was 4-4.

Moore took the lead in the second period with a takedown and Moore was wrestling very physical with an arm bar smashing Lewallen in the face. The Cowboy wrestler finally got an escape but Moore had earned a riding time advantage with 1:17 on the clock. Lewallen got a takedown late in the period to go up 7-6.

The third period started with Lewallen on top and just like he did in the match in Norman he rode Moore the entire period and erased the riding time advantage to take the 7-6 decision.

Still no bonus points but the Cowboys had closed the Oklahoma advantage to 124-120 and take to Ferrari at 197.

Earlier on Sunday morning in the consolation and placing finals Travis Wittlake and Dakota Geer each claimed a third-place finish helping position the team to stay in contention for a ninth-straight Big 12 tournament title Sunday night.

The two third-place finishes were followed up by a fourth-place finish from Dustin Plott at 174-pounds, a fifth-place finish from Trevor Mastrogiovanni at 125 pounds and an eighth-place finish from 141-pounder Kaden Gfeller.

Combining Saturday’s and this morning’s results, OSU secured seven automatic bids to the 2021 NCAA Championships in St. Louis, including 125, 133, 149, 165, 174, 184 and 197 pounds.

The team combined for a 6-3 record in Session III, which moved the Cowboys from third to second in the team standings and cut its deficit from 11 points to eight points before Sunday night’s finals.

Wittlake claimed his 165-pound title with a 9-3 win over second-seeded Peyton Hall of West Virginia and Geer’s third-place match win came against fourth-seeded Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado, 7-1. They both got there after cruising to wins in the consolation semifinals, winning 11-4 and 12-4, respectively.

Plott also won his consolation semifinal with a 6-4 decision before coming up short in his third-place bout, falling to higher-seeded Hayden Hastings of Wyoming, 4-2.

In the Cowboys’ lone fifth-place match, Mastrogiovanni recorded an 18-1 technical fall over Iowa State’s Kysen Terukina, bouncing back after he was upset in the consolation semifinal round.

Gfeller reached the seventh-place match after his performance Saturday, but had to record a medical forfeit Sunday morning.

The Cowboys now go back to work to prepare for the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis that start on Thursday, March 20. The three wrestlers that did not qualify were Gfeller and he has no shot to get a wild card entry into the NCAA. Wyatt Sheets at 157-pounds and heavyweight Austin Harris would be longshots but could get a wild card. That news will be announced on Wednesday of this coming week.

2021 Big 12 Wrestling Championship
March 7, 2021 | BOK Center | Tulsa, Okla.

Team Standings (Top 4)

1. Oklahoma State - 124.0

1. Oklahoma - 124.0

3. Iowa State - 117.5

4. Wyoming - 105.5

Sunday Championship Finals

133: No. 1 Daton Fix (OSU) dec. unseeded Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma), 6-1

149: No. 1 Boo Lewallen (OSU) dec. No. 3 Mitch Moore (Oklahoma), 7-6

197: No. 4 AJ Ferrari (OSU) dec. No. 2 Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming), 13-8

Consolation Semifinals (Sunday Morning)

125: No. 4 Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) dec. No. 3 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OSU), 7-1

165: No. 1 Travis Wittlake (OSU) dec. No. 7 Austin Yant (Northern Iowa), 11-4

174: No. 3 Dustin Plott (OSU) dec. No. 5 Cody Surratt (Air Force), 6-4

184: No. 3 Dakota Geer (OSU) MD No. 5 Sam Colbray (Iowa State), 12-4

Third-Place Matches (Sunday Morning)

165: No. 1 Travis Wittlake (OSU) dec. No. 2 Peyton Hall (West Virginia), 9-3

174: No. 2 Hayden Hastings (Wyoming) dec. No. 3 Dustin Plott (OSU), 4-2

184: No. 3 Dakota Geer (OSU) dec. No. 4 Alan Clothier (Northern Colorado), 7-1

Fifth-Place Match (Sunday Morning)

125: No. 3 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OSU) TF No. 7 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State), 18-1, 6:00

Seventh-Place Match (Sunday Morning)

141: No. 6 Chris Sandoval (Northern Colorado) Medical. Forfeit. Kaden Gfeller (OSU)