Almost Perfect Dual for the Oklahoma State Freshmen, But Redshirt Freshmen Cliched Win

STILLWATER – Freshmen, freshmen, freshmen, and freshmen. The Cowboys have four young first-year guys. You know them Vega, Forrest, Robideau, and Lockett. They actually wrestled three redshirt freshman, amking seven total freshmen in the dual. The bravado of the young and there’s nothing quite like calling your shot. In a way the Cowboys 141-pound No. 2-ranked freshman Sergio Vega did just that. When meeting with the media on Wednesday of this week, Vega was asked what he expected on Sunday for the rivalry dual with Iowa. 

“For it to be loud and fun,” Vega said. “And hopefully confetti.”

He called his shot/ It was loud as 12,629 mostly Cowboy fans kept up the noise. Then after two periods of good action but no scoring with Iowa’s Kale Peterson, Vega hit the accelerator and after an escape from bottom in the third period he got Peterson is a very firm cradle and got the takedown. Vega put on the tilt and the count started, but it ended with Peterson’s shoulder on the mat and the fall at 6:31 in the third. Down came the confetti and up went six more team points for a 14-0 Oklahoma State lead.

“Sergio tried like four different cradles that didn’t work and then got the fifth one, that was good,” head coach David Taylor said of one of his two unbeaten true freshmen. “He’s just a freshman and what, that was his 15th college match in his career. He is still learning. These guys are competitors. They get a pin and this place starts rocking.”

That was just part of the fun for Oklahoma State as they needed a pair of redshirt freshmen to come through in the back half of the dual. Zack Ryder returned at 184 and Cody Merrill got aggressive at 197 and the Cowboys won 32-11, scoring the most points the Cowboys have ever scored against Iowa.

“We have 10 guys and I love going to battle with these guys,” Taylor said. “It’s exciting and it’s entertaining. Sometimes you don’t know exactly what you are going to get but you know something cool is coming.”

Another new sheriff in town didn’t take long to introduce himself to Iowa. They didn’t see Jax Forrest back in November in the Paycom National Duals Invitational. The second semester enrollee, Forrest made his presence known to the Hawkeyes and their No. 9-ranked 133 pounder Drake Ayala and Iowa head coach Tom Brands. 

The place went nuts when Forrest came out to start and make it absolutely clear that his unbeaten record and quick rise to No. 6 in the rankings was no fluke. He and Ayala got tangled in a wild scramble that finished with no score. Then with just under a minute left in the first, Forrest got both Ayala’s legs and the takedownForrest on top. The period ended with Forrest up 3-0 and :50 seconds of riding time. 

In the second Forrest started down and escaped and then with former head coach John Smith looking on, literally scrambled his was out of what looked like a bad position on bottom to putting Ayala’s shoulders on the mat. It was a takedown and two near fall points. Forrest kept it up and piled on the near fall points nearly getting the fall and leading 16-3 at the end of the second.

In the third Forrest finally got the final takedown he needed to finish it off.  No riding time point awarded, even though Forrest had 2:06, and the tech fall final was 19-3. Oklahoma State led 8-0 on the team scoreboard. 

“It was surreal, you know wrestling somebody that is that high caliber and just feeling in the flow state,” Forrest said in the match that officially ended any possibility of him redshirting and made his record 10-0. “Everything I’m doing is perfect timing, perfect amount of strength, really that was like the best version of myself.”

No. 5 Landon Robideau took on former Cowboy and Tulsa native No. 14 Jordan Williams at 157 pounds. Robideau started with a single leg that had Williams hopping around and hoping to avoid the takedown but he couldn’t. The first three minutes ended with Robideau up 3-1 and 1:22 in riding time. All the while as Robideau wrestled, in the corner his personal mascot stared out on the mat. Thr familiar face of Michael Myers of Halloween fame was keeping watch. 

Robideau started the second period down and got the escape to go up 4-1, but the riding time had slipped to :44. Not a problem as Williams was on bottom to start the third and he stayed there. Robideau with a ride out in the third and 2:44 of riding time to win 5-1 and at the intermission OSU led 17-5.

The fourth true freshman for the Cowboys No. 2 Dee Lockett at 165 pounds was looking for a sweep of No. 4 Mikey Caliendo after Lockett beat the Hawkeye in their first meeting in Tulsa at the National Dual Invitational. Caliendo was careful with Lockett as he used a first period takedown and a second period escape to get a 4-2 decision. 

Lockett, who has had some late match heroics, did all he could in the final period but Caliendo was stayng clear of Lockett and held off for the win. 

The Hawkeyes Dean Peterson came out with his own February salute to stamping out cancer as he had his hair dyed pink. It didn’t phase Troy Spratley, who started quick single leg to a whizzer and eventually the takedown. He collected 1:21 in riding time before Peterson escaped to make it 3-1 after one period. Spratley started down in the second period and escaped to make it 4-1. A Peterson escape and 1:41 of riding time for a point made it a 5-2 decision for Spratley. OSU led 3-0 out of the gate.

Iowa got their first points in a big way as No. 18 Ryder Block at 149 pounds drew OSU redshirt freshman Kolter Burton, The starter and ninth-ranked Casey Swiderski did weigh in but did not go. Pokes Report has learned he should be back for the Big 12 Championships. Block had his way with Burton scoring early and often leading to a 19-4 tech fall at 5:36. The team score was 14-5 Oklahoma State.

After the loss by Lockett at 165, the dual got closer. No. 3 Patrick Kennedy controled his match with the Cowboys No. 7 Alex Facundo and won an 8-3 dec. to make the team score the closest it had been since the first match at 17-11.

Next, one for the books as No. 8 Zack Ryder made his return from a shoulder injury to take on Gabe Arnold. The two wrestlers traded escapes and near takedowns to finish 1-1 after three periods. It was on to sudden victory and Ryder with the crowd chanting “let’s go Zack” Ryder got single and was trying to pull Arnold back on the mat. The official called them off but Ryder apparently didn’t hear and kept going. Arnold must have said something and a penalty point was accessed. Ryder won 2-1 in sudden victory.

“Great stall call, great stall call,” Taylor said when asked to explain what happened. “I was really proud of him and he has had an up and down season. I thought he had a good calm presence, fought off that takedown. It was a hard match. The way the call is on the edge, if you kick and turn out-of-bounds that is a stall. You look in the rule book.”

Cody Merrill had the double thrill of hearing the Gallagher-Iba crowd chant his name and they always explode over his walk-up song “Kung Fu Fighting”. He also had his coach from back in California, Daniel Cormier, here for the match. The UFC Champion and former Cowboy All-Amwerican led the team in and was focused on watching his former pupil. Merrill, who has not been overly aggressive early in his matches may have learned a lesson last week in a close loss at Virginia Tech.

Merrill came out and scored fast and never let up as he finished with a fall at 4:47 of the match. It was his second pin of the season and it clinched the dual at 26-11. 

The dual finished with Iowa sending out backup heavyweight Gage Marty and No. 8 Konner Doucet finishing with the third pin of the night for the Cowboys as the fall came at 5:54 and the final score of 32-11. The third fall of the night led to the biggest margin of victory over Iowa in the 70 meetings with 21 points.

Oklahoma State (15-1/7-0) has finished the regular season and will wrestle next in Tulsa on March 6-7 at the Big 12 Championships.