Cowboys’ John Smith Relives Most Recent Bedlam, “I Wouldn’t Change a Thing.”
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach John Smith admitted it was closer than you’d want it to be. His Cowboys lost four of the first five matches and left the last five Cowboys going to the mat with a hefty deficit to make up. Oklahoma led in their gym on their crimson and gray mat 12-4.
“Those first five matches, it wasn’t that we didn’t wrestle well,” Smith recounted. “We had some common-sense decisions to make to win the matches.”
Oklahoma won all of their matches by decision and two of those came in overtime and two others came with points scored in the final seconds of the third period.
“It wasn’t we didn’t compete. We just didn’t make some good common-sense decisions in the heat of the moment,” Smith said.
Fix won a 14-5 major decision, but in between was an overtime loss at heavyweight and a two-point decision loss by 125-pounder Trevor Mastrogiovanni. On the other side after Fix were losses at 141 and 149-pounds with the 149-pound loss in overtime.
It led to a Bedlam dual closer than most. Smith said he wouldn’t have it any other way. Some people have said since the dual that Oklahoma State needed to win going away.
“This was different, and they took us deep in the dual meet and we had to ask more of ourselves,” Smith told me. “I think our motto is we win bedlam, and we talk about it.”
For this team it was too late for talk, it was time for action. After the intermission the action started with Kaden Gfeller and a move that has become somewhat of a personal trademark for him.
“He tumbled over the top of him and went from a 0-0 score to a 6-0 in a matter of eight seconds. Bam!” Smith was getting ultra-enthusiastic at that point.
“It wasn’t just a reversal, but we talk about how reversals can lead into back points and that is what we saw, a reversal into back points,” explained Smith.
Smith points to the two Tuttle (Okla.) products from that point on. He pointed out that they got 11 points out of Tuttle wrestlers.
“I think the thing that people need to recognize is that (Dustin) Plott had wrestled his opponent three or four times and they were all challenging tough and down to the wire,” Smith said of the match with No. 19 Darrien Roberts. “This time he just pummeled him. Finally, and I shouldn’t say finally, but I had someone that stepped up and said I’m not just going to win, but I’m going to dominate. I’m going to get the pin and if I can’t get the pin then I’m going to get as much as I can. They finally stopped the match with the 15-point lead. It was good to see that, and it took us to another level. Plott, really was a guy that set us on fire for those last three matches.”
After Travis Wittlake got that hard earned decision at 184-pounds then came the moment of Bedlam lore for years after years in the future. It will go right there with the double DQ and the Mitch Shelton pin back in the early 80’s.
“When I saw him come from the back to take the mat. I hadn’t seen that look. This is the first time I’m saying this. I saw a lot and I thought, ‘hell, yes, we’re winning this thing.’ You just saw it,” Smith said of the look on Luke Surber’s face. “Maybe he’s come full circle in knowing what it takes to step on the mat and win in big situations. That kid wasn’t a slouch. He wrestled at OSU, and he ended up an eyelash from being an All-American last year. I saw something I hadn’t seen, and I hope I see it a lot more.”
Then just 34 seconds later after the pin for the win, Surber was heading straight for Smith to pick him up.
“I saw him coming at me and I was a little scared, but it was a good feeling,” Smith said. “He is a big guy,”
No time for rest. The Cowboys will head to the Southern Scuffle and Chattanooga, Tenn.
“We’ll take 20 plus guys, and we’ll double the number of matches (wrestled) by our starters,” Smith said of the Jan. 1-2 event. “We need the work, and we have things to get straight for the push in January and February.”
Work easier to get done thanks to some special Bedlam momentum.