Ferrari and Heindselman Stage Their Own Bedlam After Pokes Pound OU 31-3

Oklahoma State ran their Bedlam wrestling win streak to 15 in a row with a 31-3 demolition of the Sooners in the Lloyd Nobel Center on Sunday late afternoon and evening in front of a solid crowd that was close to half orange and half crimson and an ESPNU television audience. The wrestling was good, but the post-match festivities stole the show.

ESPN

Oklahoma heavyweight Josh Heindselman pushes Oklahoma State 197-pound wrestler A.J. Ferrari.

It was hard to tell exactly what happened or what was said, but as the two teams were shaking hands Oklahoma heavyweight Josh Heindselman, who had won his match in overtime sudden victory 3-1 over Oklahoma State’s Luke Surber, appeared to push the Cowboys top-ranked 197-pound star and defending NCAA Champion A.J. Ferrari.

It just ramped up from there as there was a skirmish and Ferrari, who may have been punched by Heindselman resorted to wrestling and got a solid two-leg shot or tackle in and put Heindselman on his back.

ESPN

Takedown Ferrari!

You can see OU head coach Lou Roselli in the screen of the ESPN shots of the brawl. Oklahoma State head coach John Smith was on the other side of the handshake line when the fracas broke out.

“I went back and looked at the film. We didn’t start it, I’ll say that.” John Smith said afterwards.

Oklahoma State assistant coach Chris Perry got control of Ferrari and ushered him off the stage and back toward the Oklahoma State dressing room.

Roselli and his staff picked up Heindselman and made sure that he left the stage and the floor and went back to the Oklahoma locker room. It was quickly stomped out, but the finish will quickly be added to Bedlam lore, which is quite colorful in wrestling the sport many believe was the birth of Bedlam as a label for the competition between the two schools.

ESPN

Coaches, teammates, and officials pull Ferrari and Heindselman apart.

The post-match fireworks will get a lot of attention, but the Cowboys wrestled a really strong match in dominating the Sooners from virtually start to finish. Oklahoma State came in ranked No. 4 and Oklahoma was No. 17. The difference between those two positions in the polls is apparently 28 points in a dual.

The exclamation point for the Cowboys was No. 2 Daton Fix at 133-pounds as he came out and buzz-sawed No. 19 Tony Madrigal as he racked up riding time and repeatedly took Madrigal down before finishing him in the third period by turning him over and getting the fall at 6:19.

Fix is no 4-0 on the season as are the Cowboys. Oklahoma State head coach John Smith said that he thought Oklahoma would be the toughest opponent thus far for his Cowboys, but it wasn’t close. Stanford and Minnesota appeared to be more competitive than the Sooners.

Oklahoma won the right to pick the starting weight and chose 149-pounds where their returning two-time Big 12 Champion from 141-pounds Dom Demas was making his season debut. Demas was unranked at 149-pounds and appeared to be sluggish like he had a hard time pulling weight. Kaden Gfeller for the Cowboys trailed 2-1 after the first period, but evened the match with an escape in the second period. In the third after a Demas escape, Gfeller got a double leg and picked up two near fall points. After Demas took an injury time out, Gfeller was on bottom and picked up another escape. He finished with a single leg shot and a takedown for the 9-3 win. Gfeller went to 3-1 on the season.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Wyatt Sheets working for control in his match with Justin Thomas.

The new overtime rule of a two minute sudden victory period before going to the 30 second timed periods got some work and at 157-pounds Wyatt Sheets of the Cowboys used it to his advantage with a single leg takedown and he had to pull Justin Thomas of Oklahoma around him before gaining control but he did for the 4-2 sudden victory and a 6-0 team lead for the Cowboys.

No. 5 Travis Wittlake kept it up at 165 pounds as he rolled to an 8-4 win over Joe Grello. Wittlake, who had three takedowns in the match goes to 3-1 on the season with his only loss to defending NCAA Champion Shane Griffin of Stanford.

At 174-pounds No. 9 Dustin Plott scored the first bonus points of the night with a 10-2 major decision over Anthony Mantanona of Oklahoma. Plott is now 4-0.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Dakota Geer wrestled impressively in Norman in his 8-2 decision.

No. 7 Dakota Geer was an 8-2 winner over No. 18 Darrien Roberts of Oklahoma. Geer is now 4-0 on the season and he is 3-0 over Roberts in Bedlam action.

A.J. Ferrari had nis first non bonus point win this season as No. 11 Jake Woodley battled with the top-ranked 197-pound Cowboy. Ferrari got a single leg flying shot takedown in the first period and led 2-1 going to the second. An escape followed by a hard working scramble for a takedown gave Ferrari a 5-1 lead, but Woodley escaped at the end of the second with just five seconds left. In the third Woodley got another takedown and Ferrari collected the riding time point for a 6-3 decision. Oklahoma State led 19-0 at that point.

Heindselman got the Sooners only points next but was thinking he would collect some more after the match. It didn’t work out for him as Ferrari again took him to his back in the post-match rumble.

Before Fix got his fall, No. 12 Trevor Mastrogiovanni got a 6-4 decision over Oklahoma’s Joey Prata.

Then after the Fix fall, Stillwater’s Carter Young made his Bedlam debut a winning one with a decision over Oklahoma wrestler Jacob Butler for the 31-3 final.

Oklahoma State will next wrestle Air Force Friday in the start of a three-match Big 12 road trip that will also include duals at Wyoming (Friday night) and at Utah Valley on Monday. We’ll also find out if there will be any disciplinary action coming out of the post-match activity.