BROOKINGS – Seth Gross stepped up with another clutch pin as 17th-ranked South Dakota State beat No. 25 North Dakota State 20-18 in an intense Big 12 Conference wrestling dual Sunday afternoon at Frost Arena.
“It was a great win by our guys,” said SDSU coach Chris Bono. “Put the winning aside, it was a great effort by our guys, a great team effort. We’re a little banged up as everybody can see, and we had some guys step up and do the things that we needed to do to win the dual meet.
“So I’m really proud of our effort and really happy with our fans and that atmosphere in there; that’s a great scene that we had.”
The Jackrabbits retained the Border Bell in front of a raucous crowd of 1,606, beating the Bison for the third consecutive time.
“It means a lot to us; it means a lot to our guys,” Bono added. “You have to remember, we took our beatings to these guys my first couple of years. It wasn’t easy; that’s a tough place to wrestle up there, tough crowd.
“It’s not fun to lose to your rival, and it’s a school rival; this isn’t just a wrestling rival, this is a school rival. I didn’t like taking our licks so it’s fun – and I think it’s okay to say this – but it’s fun to beat those guys. You know, that’s a rival, man; and we had to make it a rivalry (because) it was lopsided. We’ve won the last three and we need to keep it going.”
SDSU trailed 15-14 when Gross, the second-ranked 133-pounder in the country, stepped to the mat to face Arthur Payne.
The sophomore built a 10-0 lead in the first period and there was only one thing on his mind after that.
“I scored 10 pretty quick so I knew I could tech. him if I needed to; so after that, I was just like ‘I got to pin this dude,’” he said. “I looked over at the coaches (near) the end of the first period and they wanted me to let him up (with 3 seconds left) to give him a free point so it took longer to tech. him and I could work for the pin.
“So yeah, I was trying to pin that dude. He was ready for the cradles and stuff; I could get the tilts pretty easy but I couldn’t really cradle him up. So I kept working and found something.”
Gross actually gave up a takedown in the second period and led 14-4 heading to the third. But he kept working and finally stuck Payne at the 5:28 mark.
“It was all pin; we wanted the pin to go up by five points,” Bono noted. “... It started getting scary a little bit (and looked like) he wasn’t going to get the pin. So I was like, ‘go tech. him,’ and he said no, no; give me a chance on my feet at the end there.
“You know what, I don’t argue too much with Seth on the mat. If he tells me something, I usually go with him because that guy is a wrestling genius. He’s three steps ahead of us out there on the mat and what he wants to do. He beats to a little different drummer, so his mind is a little different than how we think. I’m not going to mess with this kid right now; he’s doing a heck of a job for us.”
Gross improved to 27-1 and became the first SDSU wrestler in the Division I era to go undefeated (17-0) in duals in a season.
Gross has earned bonus points in 25 of his 27 wins – 12 pins, seven technical falls and six major decisions.
NDSU’s Cam Sykora, who is ranked 20th at 133, moved up to 141 and picked up a 4-0 decision over Henry Pohlmeyer to close out the dual.
Senior Night got off to a solid start for the home team as the lone senior in the lineup, 15th-ranked Alex Kocer, picked up an 8-0 major decision over Kyle Gliva at 149 pounds.
“It was like any other match, but it was a little emotional there at the end; finishing out,” Kocer said. “I got to go first so I got to kick it off; I wasn’t really expecting that but I’m kind of happy I did. And then I got to watch the whole match; it was a good experience.
“It’s important in any dual to get the first win, I think. Everybody was expecting a win from me and kind of wanted to get bonus points; I just knew I had to go out there and wrestle it like any other match and I figured the results would pay off.”
Kocer improved to 24-6 (16-3 duals) with his 20th bonus-point victory of the year.
He upped his career record to 89-39.
“It couldn’t be any better for a senior, right?” Bono said. “The kid is an animal. … He’s really grown up this year. He’s ready to go. This kid is going to go down to the Big 12 Tournament and have a great tournament and the NCAAs. The sky is the limit for him.”
The Bison answered with a major decision of their own as No. 7 Clay Ream beat Logan Peterson 14-2 at 157.
The 165-pound bout featured former high school teammates as SDSU junior Luke Zilverberg edged NDSU redshirt-freshman Andrew Fogarty 3-2.
Fogarty escaped in the second period but the 15th-ranked Zilverberg did the same in the third. A late takedown proved to be the difference.
Fogarty beat Zilverberg 6-4 (sudden victory) at the Midlands Championships earlier this season.
“That was tough, it hurt; so I really wanted this one and to come back and avenge it was good, it was really good,” Zilverberg said.
Zilverberg improved to 22-6 (15-3 duals).
“That’s a huge match. … Zilverberg is a little different, too. He said, ‘don’t worry, I’m going to win,’” Bono noted.
No. 15 David Kocer followed with a 6-1 decision versus Dylan Urbach at 174, putting SDSU ahead 10-4 in the dual. He reached the 20-win mark – against seven losses – for the season and finished 15-4 in duals.
At 184, NDSU’s Tyler McNutt held off a late flurry by Martin Mueller for a 12-7 decision.
McNutt led 9-2 with a significant riding-time advantage, before Mueller used a late escape, takedown and two-point nearfall to pull within 9-7. However, McNutt’s reversal sealed the victory.
Seventh-ranked Nate Rotert provided the Jackrabbits with some more bonus points at 197 pounds, beating Cordell Eaton 12-3. He was up 5-2 heading to the third before coming up with a takedown and a four-point nearfall en route to the major decision.
Rotert, who has a 19-5 (12-4 duals) record, gave SDSU a 14-7 cushion in the dual.
NDSU’s Benjamin Tynan beat Alex Macki 1-0 at heavyweight. He escaped in the third period.
Bison 125-pounder Josh Rodriguez, who is ranked fourth, picked up a 24-7 technical fall over backup Kahlen Morris at 125. He recorded eight takedowns and a pair of four-point nearfalls in the bout that lasted 5:00.
Rodriguez moved to 21-1 (18-1 duals).
The back-to-back wins gave the Bison a 15-14 lead, setting the stage for Gross.
The Jackrabbits finished with a 14-5 dual record, including an 8-1 mark in the Big 12. Four of the five losses came to teams currently ranked in the top 13 – No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Iowa, No. 5 Virginia Tech and No. 13 Minnesota.
“Preseason is over; preseason is over,” Bono said when asked about the dual portion of the schedule. “We are battle tested, prepared. We traveled the road, wrestled the best in the country. We’ve come out unscathed; we’re 99 percent healthy and we’ve wrestled everybody we need to wrestle to go perform at the next level in the championship season.
“And that’s what the schedule was for. People said you’re crazy for doing this and everybody talked about the schedule early on, but it worked out. It worked out.”
The Big 12 Tournament is March 3-5 in Tulsa, Okla., followed by the NCAA Tournament on March 16-18 in St. Louis, Mo.
Notes: Gross sat out a pair of duals at the South Dakota Showcase on Dec. 4. His lone loss was a 2-0 sudden victory to Nebraska’s Eric Montoya on Dec. 30 in the semifinals of the Midlands, a tourney in which he placed third. … Ben Gillette, one of three seniors on the roster, was not in the lineup Sunday after getting injured in Friday night’s loss to Purdue. Bono said Gillette could have wrestled but they decided to get him ready for the postseason. … The other senior, 184-pounder Brady Ayers, who went 25-9 this season, is redshirting. … The Bison also ended up 14-5 (4-3 Big 12).
