Article by Luke Paider. Photo by Nathaly Delgado-Enriquez.
The St. Cloud St. Huskies proved themselves worthy of the country’s No. 1 ranking on Friday night when they defeated the Parkside Rangers at Halenbeck Hall. It was a tightly contested night that saw two overtime periods and zero pinfalls in all ten matchups.
The action started in the 125 weight class between St. Cloud’s Conor Knopick and Parkside’s Shane Corrigan, who is currently ranked No. 12 in the nation. The first period was an extended feeling-out stage with long lockups with neither wrestler wanting to give up an early edge and the first three minutes went by without a point scored. Corrigan started the second period in the down position and scored an escape point to take a 1-0 lead into the third and final period. While Knopick was unable to get an escape point to tie it in the third he did do so by scoring the riding point and the match was sent to overtime tied 1-1. Knopick came alive in the third period and continued the momentum into overtime, scoring a takedown to get the 4-1 win giving the Huskies the early 3-0 lead.
Head Coach Steve Costanzo said after the match that getting that win to build momentum was huge for the night overall and “really sparked us.”
Parkside was not going to go away quietly though and the competition was only getting stiffer with five straight ranked matchups set to take place. Next up at 133 was No. 8 Sam Spencer battling No. 5 Matthew Chi. This match started fast with Spencer scoring a takedown in the first 15 seconds of action, and he would use that momentum to take a 4-2 lead into the third frame. Chi found an extra burst in those three minutes and earned two takedowns to win the match 8-6 and tie the score at three all.
In the 141 division, Parkside sent out No. 1 Cayden Henschel and he looked the part in his match against St. Cloud’s No. 13 Alyeus Craig. Craig fell behind 4-0 in the opening three minutes and never recovered, falling 5-1 which gave Parkside a 6-3 edge. St. Cloud was quick to tie the match back up in the 149 division when Colby Njols won a hard-fought battle with Easton Woracheck. Njols went into the 3rd period with a 1-0 lead after scoring an escape point in the second. Njols started in the top position and racked up 1 minute and 56 seconds of ride time with some excellent wrestling, and despite Woracheck escaping to tie the score with four seconds left, Njols would score the ride time point to win 2-1 off the back of a spectacular third period.
It was St. Cloud’s turn to bring out their No. 1 ranked wrestler as Joel Jesuroga took to the mat. Ben Durocher who is ranked No. 7 gave Joel a real fight, keeping it scoreless through one and only one allowed Jesuroga one escape point in the second. Jesuroga would finally break through with a takedown with a mere 75 seconds remaining in regulation and would earn three more points for the Huskies with the 5-1 victory.
Nick Novak was out next for St. Cloud and the former national champion dominated No. 9 Dajun Johnson getting a takedown within 50 seconds of the match starting and transitioning into a near fall just 20 seconds later to take a commanding 6-1 lead into the first break. A lead he would use to cruise to an 8-1 victory. It was hard to find fault in Novak’s win over Johnson and maybe it takes a fan to put what he’s done as a Husky into perspective.
Sam Holroyd put it plainly, “he is simply the best.”
With the score 12-6 in favor of St. Cloud the two teams would split the next two matches No. 2 Bryce Dagel extended the lead to 15-6 for the Huskies winning the 174 bout 8-5 and Parkside struck back with a victory for No. 3 Reece Woracheck in the 184 8-6. That brought the overall total to 15-9 with only two matches to go, a win of any kind in the next match would clinch the night for St. Cloud and Dominic Murphy stepped on the mat. In the high stakes dual both Murphy and Chase Stegall of Parkside aired on the side of caution in the scoreless first. Murphy would start in the down position in the second and perform a crucial reversal for the first two points before Stegall earned an escape to make it 2-1 heading to the third. Stegall came out hot in the final period getting an escape from the bottom in just six seconds but didn’t capitalize and Murphy got a takedown 11 seconds after the escape. Murphy got one more takedown in the period to win his match and the overall night for the Huskies with his 8-3 win.
Parkside’s Lloyd Reynolds did beat La’Ron Parks 2-1 in sudden victory to close the night in 285 but it wasn’t enough for the Rangers and No. 1 St. Cloud State finished with the victory at 18-12.
Coach Costanzo said “playing tough teams every week gets them ready for postseason,” and after a big win like Friday’s this Huskies team is looking as dangerous as ever heading into next month.
The challenges won’t let up with a trip to Aberdeen to face Northern State is next on the books for the top ranked Huskies as they continue their chase for a sixth national title.
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