Jason Bryant’s College Wrestling Wrap Sheet is a look at five topics from the world of college wrestling with highlights, things you know and things you don’t. Here’s the five for December 8, 2021.
Blugolds and Blue Hose get dubs
Those who are familiar with Division III wrestling know Tim Fader is a winner. He started the build at UW-La Crosse before doing the same at UW-Whitewater. After he left Whitewater, Fader landed at UW-Eau Claire and the build begin there as well.
It took Fader seven years, but he finally snapped UW-Eau Claire’s 14-match losing streak against UW-Whitewater with a 25-14 win on Wednesday night. The key swing bout came at 149 pounds where Eau Claire’s Zach Sato pinned fourth-ranked Jake Burford in the first period. It wasn’t a fluke either as Sato got up 6-0 early, then with a 6-1 lead, Sato scored two more before getting the match-ender with 10 seconds left in the first period. At 165 pounds, sixth-ranked Chase Schmidt fell behind 4-2 at the end of the first before putting on a nearfall clinic on top to score three full sets of backs to blow the match open and come away with an 18-7 major decision. UW-Eau Claire’s last win came almost 15 years to the day after the 21-18 win on December 6, 2006.
When Fader took the Eau Claire job in the 2015-16 season after a less than amicable end in Whitewater, the Blugolds had lost the previous five duals between the schools by an average score of 42.6-2.6. UW-Eau Claire also won eight of the 12 ECMs. It was also the first W for Fader over current Whitewater head coach Matt Zwaschka, who wrestled for Fader at UW-La Crosse.
In South Carolina, Presbyterian College evened its record at 1-1 with a 37-7 win over NAIA Truett McConnell on Wednesday. Presbyterian is the Blue Hose, while the aforementioned squad from Eau Claire is the Blugolds. Historically, this is the third win in Presbyterian’s new era and second against Truett McConnell. Presbyterian had a wrestling team for a short time back in the 1950s, which is why I can’t say “third win in school history.”
Generally Marooned
The first-year program at Roanoke College won its third dual of the season with a 20-18 victory over Greensboro College in North Carolina on Wednesday. Splitting the 10 bouts, the Maroons, coached by past Edinboro All-American Nate Yetzer, prevailed by scoring three bonus victories – a pair of major decisions and a fall. Andrew McDougal fell behind early, but got the fall over Reginald Snowden late in the first period. Greensboro fell to 2-4. Where’s the other pun from the title come from? The Generals of Washington & Lee beat Southern Virginia 48-4 in a matchup of a pair of Division III schools from my home state of Virginia. W&L heavyweight Clay Chadwick knocked off 10th-ranked Nico Ramirez 6-3.
Got the Life
I can’t resist a good Korn reference when given the chance. I’ve actually seen Korn twice in concert. The first came in Lollapalooza in Virginia Beach back after my senior year in high school in August of 1997. They played with Tool, Snoop Dogg and Orbital. Some crappy band called James was also on the ticket. They were terrible. I saw Korn 20 years later here in Minnesota at a club called Myth. It was an all-ages show and I saw one girl next to me with an X on her hand, which meant she wasn’t 21, and the song being played at that moment, Freak on a Leash, was older than she was. Anyway, the second-ranked squad in the NAIA, Life University, came way with a 40-9 win on Senior Night over fellow Georgia squad Brewton-Parker College. The Running Eagles earned four falls, but Brewton-Parker did pick up the most notable win of the night as Doug Peppers pinned returning NAIA finalist Austin Eichert in the second period for one of the two victories on the night for the Barons. The dual did see one head-to-head ranked matchup and it also went Brewton-Parker’s way as sixth-ranked Lucas DeSilva topped eighth-ranked Michael Gibson 6-5 at 184 pounds.
Purple Reign
Whether you like Prince or not and we know Matscouts’ Willie Saylor has an irrational obsessional hatred of the late diminutive rocker, purple is universally known as a royal color. Both Ouachita Baptist and the University of the Ozarks rock purple as one of their schools’ primary athletic colors and both are also located in Arkansas. I’ve actually seen both schools in person twice this season already, but on Wednesday, they actually faced off head-to-head and the Division III Eagles of Ozarks won six bouts to beat the Division II Tigers 24-15. So what else ties this together? Minnesota. Prince was from Minnesota and the latest Mat Talk Online patron and Ozarks head coach LeRoy Gardner is also from Minnesota. So there’s your tie-in. For the record, I hated Prince until my old boss at the newspaper, Mario Orlikoff, gave me The Gold Experience. When I heard P. Control and Endorphinmachine, my opinion changed. I still don’t like some of his slower jams, but he’s an amazing musician and I’ve found enough songs that actually rock, so Willie can stay wrong. None of those songs are Raspberry Beret. The other Minnesota tie is how I can slide in how Itasca beat Northland 46-7 in a dual between two junior colleges from Minnesota.
Iowa … conference things.
If you ever hear me say it, I’ll have to say American Rivers, since I have to live my shtick as a stickler for attribution and proper terminology, but I still miss the term “Iowa Conference.” That being said, Coe College improved to 4-0 after a 54-0 win over Buena Vista in conference action. The Kohawks won nine out of the 10 matches via bonus, including second-ranked heavyweight Kaleb Reeves scoring a fall in just 15 seconds. Rooting for new Buena Vista coach Sean White, though. He’s a good dude who I got to know when I had the BVU BeaverCast podcast back when Jeff Breese was the head coach in Storm Lake. But as far as Coe goes, all four of their ranked wrestlers won – Reeves, Alex Friddle, Brock Henderson and A.J. Patterson. Speaking of Iowa, but not in the Division III conference referenced earlier, NAIA Iowa Wesleyan beat Division III Fontbonne 44-3.
Bonus Point: Upset Time in Kentucky
The University of the Cumberlands topped Midway 28-15 in the only other NAIA dual on the schedule Wednesday. Of Midway’s four wins, two came over ranked wrestlers, with the biggest coming at 141 pounds where Midway’s Kyler Adams upended returning All-American and sixth-ranked Bryce Nickel 6-5. The second upset came at 149 where Midway’s Kaleb Clark beat 18th-ranked Chasen Brown 3-2.
