Cowboys Dominate Air Force Grapplers from 149-Pounds and Up
(Pokes Report staff contriibuted to this story.)
COLORADO SPR,INGS, Colo. – No. 4 Oklahoma State moved to 5-0 on the season with a 33-6 win over Air Force in the East Gymnasian on the Air Force Academy campus. There were no fans witnessing the Big 12 conference opener between the Cowboys and Falcons.
The Cowboys trailed Air Force 6-3 after the Falcons won decisions in two of the first three matches. After Trevor Mastrogiovanni won the first bout of the day with a hard-fought 2-1 decision the Cowboys lost at 133 and 141-pounds. Fortunately Mastrogiovanni secured his fifth victory of the season by riding out Cody Phippen the entirety of the third period.
Senior 133-pounder Andrew Nieman’s struggles continued as he lost a 6-0 decision to Jared Van Vleet. Then Dusty Hone made his season dual debut for OSU and lost a controversial decision. Late in the third period up 4-2, Hone got taken down and looked to take the lead back with a reversal, but his points were deducted after review ruled the reversal took place after time had expired. The ruling gave Lenny Petersen the 5-4 advantage with riding time.
Boo Lewallen put a stop to the Falcons’ momentum and returned the lead to the Cowboys with a 22-3 technical fall over Dylan Martinez. The No. 4th ranked 149-pound wrestler came out like a ball of fire and got his first takedown in the opening seconds of the match in picking up his third technical fall of the season, which is tied for the team lead.
Lewallen gave the Pokes an 8-6 lead and OSU never looked back winning the final seven matches of the dual.
Jalin Harper picked up his third-consecutive win in a 3-1 decision following his solid performance in Little Rock last Sunday. Fourth-ranked Travis Wittlake added another tech fall for the Cowboys at 165 pounds to separate the score even more before Dustin Plott improved his record to 5-0 in his freshman campaign with a 5-3 victory over Cody Surratt.
“Boo stands out to to me,” Oklahoma State head coach John Smith said. “Travis Wittlake looked pretty good and our three upper weights did a good job at the end to close the dual out.”
For the second weekend in a row Dakota Geer and AJ Ferrari went back-to-back technical falls. The duo at 184 and 197 tied Lewallen with their third tech falls of the season against Air Force.
Geer did his work early carrying an 8-1 lead into the second period before adding more points in the second and needing just 12 seconds in the third period to clinch the 22-3 tech fall. Contrary to Geer, Ferrari used an escape and four takedowns in a nine-point third period to secure the victory.
Austin Harris ended the night for the Cowboys with his first bonus-point victory of the season, a 12-2 major decision over Wyatt Hendrickson.
Oklahoma State will look to stay unbeaten next Saturday when the Pokes travel to Northern Iowa for a 1 p.m. dual before a bout with No. 9 Iowa State in Ames at 7 p.m.
No. 4 Oklahoma State 33, Air Force 6 Jan. 22, 2021 | East Gym | Colorado Springs, Colo. Air Force did not allow fans into the arena.
125: No. 13 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OSU) dec. Cody Phippen (AF), 2-1
133: No. 19 Jared Van Vleet (AF) dec. Andrew Nieman (OSU), 6-0
141: Lenny Petersen (AF) dec. Dusty Hone (OSU), 5-4
149: No. 4 Boo Lewallen (OSU) TF Dylan Martinez (AF), 22-3
157: Jalin Harper (OSU) dec. Parker Simington (AF), 3-1
165: No. 4 Travis Wittlake (OSU) dec. Chase Diehl (AF), 9-2
174: No. 19 Dustin Plott (OSU) dec. Cody Surratt (AF), 5-3
184: No. 9 Dakota Geer (OSU) TF Calvin Sund (AF), 18-1
197: No. 14 AJ Ferrari (OSU) TF Kayne Hutchinson (AF), 20-5
HWT: Austin Harris (OSU) MD Wyatt Hendrickson (AF), 12-2