No. 1 Oklahoma State closes strong to beat No. 8 Cornell, 23-19 in Stillwater
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by Roger Moore, Special to TheMat.com
Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State celebrates his pin over Cornell's Joey Galasso at 149 pounds, a key win in the Cowboy victory over the Big Red. Photo by Austin Bernard.
STILLWATER, Okla. – Top-ranked Oklahoma State trailed Cornell 13-6 halfway through Friday night’s dual. But a dominating stretch that included a major decision from Kaid Brock, a pin from Anthony Collica, and a major decision from Joe Smith in his season debut sparked the Cowboys to a 23-19 victory over the eighth-ranked Big Red.
Brandon Womack stunned the partisans when he pinned Chandler Rogers to finish the evening at 165 pounds. In the end, the hosts won 6 of 10 and improved to 5-0 for the season.
“You give up two pins, it kind of drowns the win out,” OSU head coach John Smith said. “You don’t get pinned twice against a team like Cornell and win very often. I don’t think we had a great match, but I was glad we grinded out matches we needed to win. Preston Weigel, last year, I’m not sure he would have found a way to win that match.
“From 133 to 157, it was pretty important we won those four straight.”
The Big Red, visiting Stillwater for the first time, opened the dual with back-to-back wins by Brian Realbuto and Gabe Dean. Realbuto, an NCAA finalist in 2015, used a third-period ankle-pick to edge fellow All-American Kyle Crutcher at 174 pounds to open the dual. It was Realbuto’s 100th career victory.
Dean, a two-time national champion, improved to 131-6 for his career with a dominating major decision of All-American Nolan Boyd at 184 pounds. Boyd beat Dean in Ithaca last year, but Friday was not contest.
When rookie Noah Baughman scored a neutral position fall at 125 pounds, the visitors led 13-6.
The hosts then mounted a mid-dual rally that included a dominating 16-6 major decision by Brock at 133 pounds over veteran Mark Grey; a workmanlike 6-1 decision by national champion Heil at 141 pounds of Will Koll; and a second-period cradle for a pin by Collica over Joey Galasso to give OSU its first lead of the night.
Smith, an All-American as a freshman in 2015-16, took the mat for the first time this season. An anticipated matchup with fellow All-American Dylan Palacio will possibly have to wait until the Southern Scuffle. Friday, Smith handled Taylor Simaz, 15-6.
"As a team we aren't where we need to be," Collica said. "But we don't need to be there yet. It's not the end of the year; that's when it counts. We just have to keep getting better and things will start coming together towards the middle and end of the year."
“We have some young kids that people don’t know about,” Cornell head coach Rob Koll said. “Not anymore, though. We battled all night and we are a match away from maybe winning the dual, so that is certainly a positive for this team, where it is right now. Are we a contender? Not right now, but hopefully by the end of the year we could be. You need seven or eight guys at nationals and we don’t really have that right now.
“We are going to be good; we are always going to be good as long as we keep developing the guys we bring in.”
Womack, a sophomore, was all over Rogers, leading 4-0 when he scored a fall at 165 pounds to fashion the final score.
“He is kind of under the radar,” said Koll of his 165-pounder. “But he is going to be really tough, he already is.”
The visitors nearly made it three-for-three to open the night, but Weigel, after getting ridden out in the second period by Ben Honis, scored a takedown with 40 seconds remaining, then rode out the remainder of the clock for a narrow 3-2 decision. Weigel’s takedown proved very large in the outcome of the evening.
OSU senior heavyweight Austin Schafer improved to 8-0 with a 7-3 decision of Craig Scott.
Friday night marked just the sixth meeting all-time between two tradition-rich programs that hit the mats before World War I. It was Cornell’s first visit to Gallagher-Iba Arena.
“It is hard to believe,” admitted Koll. “This really is a destination place.”
Both Cornell and Oklahoma State will be in Chattanooga for the Southern Scuffle. The Big Red first wrestle at Oklahoma on Sunday.
#1 Oklahoma State 23, #8 Cornell 19
174-Brian Realbuto (C) dec Kyle Crutchmer, 3-2
184-Gabe Dean (C) maj dec Nolan Boyd, 14-6
197-Preston Weigel (O) dec Ben Honis, 3-2
285-Austin Schafer (O) dec Craig Scott, 7-3
125-Noah Baughman (C) pin Nick Piccininni, 4:25
133-Kaid Brock (O) maj dec Mark Grey, 16-6
141-Dean Heil (O) dec Will Koll, 6-1
149-Anthony Collica (O) pin Joey Galasso, 3:31
157-Joe Smith (O) maj dec Taylor Simaz, 15-6
165-Brandon Womack (C) pin Chandler Rogers, 1:03
STILLWATER, Okla. – Top-ranked Oklahoma State trailed Cornell 13-6 halfway through Friday night’s dual. But a dominating stretch that included a major decision from Kaid Brock, a pin from Anthony Collica, and a major decision from Joe Smith in his season debut sparked the Cowboys to a 23-19 victory over the eighth-ranked Big Red.
Brandon Womack stunned the partisans when he pinned Chandler Rogers to finish the evening at 165 pounds. In the end, the hosts won 6 of 10 and improved to 5-0 for the season.
“You give up two pins, it kind of drowns the win out,” OSU head coach John Smith said. “You don’t get pinned twice against a team like Cornell and win very often. I don’t think we had a great match, but I was glad we grinded out matches we needed to win. Preston Weigel, last year, I’m not sure he would have found a way to win that match.
“From 133 to 157, it was pretty important we won those four straight.”
The Big Red, visiting Stillwater for the first time, opened the dual with back-to-back wins by Brian Realbuto and Gabe Dean. Realbuto, an NCAA finalist in 2015, used a third-period ankle-pick to edge fellow All-American Kyle Crutcher at 174 pounds to open the dual. It was Realbuto’s 100th career victory.
Dean, a two-time national champion, improved to 131-6 for his career with a dominating major decision of All-American Nolan Boyd at 184 pounds. Boyd beat Dean in Ithaca last year, but Friday was not contest.
When rookie Noah Baughman scored a neutral position fall at 125 pounds, the visitors led 13-6.
The hosts then mounted a mid-dual rally that included a dominating 16-6 major decision by Brock at 133 pounds over veteran Mark Grey; a workmanlike 6-1 decision by national champion Heil at 141 pounds of Will Koll; and a second-period cradle for a pin by Collica over Joey Galasso to give OSU its first lead of the night.
Smith, an All-American as a freshman in 2015-16, took the mat for the first time this season. An anticipated matchup with fellow All-American Dylan Palacio will possibly have to wait until the Southern Scuffle. Friday, Smith handled Taylor Simaz, 15-6.
"As a team we aren't where we need to be," Collica said. "But we don't need to be there yet. It's not the end of the year; that's when it counts. We just have to keep getting better and things will start coming together towards the middle and end of the year."
“We have some young kids that people don’t know about,” Cornell head coach Rob Koll said. “Not anymore, though. We battled all night and we are a match away from maybe winning the dual, so that is certainly a positive for this team, where it is right now. Are we a contender? Not right now, but hopefully by the end of the year we could be. You need seven or eight guys at nationals and we don’t really have that right now.
“We are going to be good; we are always going to be good as long as we keep developing the guys we bring in.”
Womack, a sophomore, was all over Rogers, leading 4-0 when he scored a fall at 165 pounds to fashion the final score.
“He is kind of under the radar,” said Koll of his 165-pounder. “But he is going to be really tough, he already is.”
The visitors nearly made it three-for-three to open the night, but Weigel, after getting ridden out in the second period by Ben Honis, scored a takedown with 40 seconds remaining, then rode out the remainder of the clock for a narrow 3-2 decision. Weigel’s takedown proved very large in the outcome of the evening.
OSU senior heavyweight Austin Schafer improved to 8-0 with a 7-3 decision of Craig Scott.
Friday night marked just the sixth meeting all-time between two tradition-rich programs that hit the mats before World War I. It was Cornell’s first visit to Gallagher-Iba Arena.
“It is hard to believe,” admitted Koll. “This really is a destination place.”
Both Cornell and Oklahoma State will be in Chattanooga for the Southern Scuffle. The Big Red first wrestle at Oklahoma on Sunday.
#1 Oklahoma State 23, #8 Cornell 19
174-Brian Realbuto (C) dec Kyle Crutchmer, 3-2
184-Gabe Dean (C) maj dec Nolan Boyd, 14-6
197-Preston Weigel (O) dec Ben Honis, 3-2
285-Austin Schafer (O) dec Craig Scott, 7-3
125-Noah Baughman (C) pin Nick Piccininni, 4:25
133-Kaid Brock (O) maj dec Mark Grey, 16-6
141-Dean Heil (O) dec Will Koll, 6-1
149-Anthony Collica (O) pin Joey Galasso, 3:31
157-Joe Smith (O) maj dec Taylor Simaz, 15-6
165-Brandon Womack (C) pin Chandler Rogers, 1:03
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