CORVALLIS, Ore. – It was a tough conference opener for Little Rock on the West Coast this evening, falling 34-0 against Oregon State. With the home advantage, the Beavers took every match, despite seven of the ten matches ending as decisions.
The final score tells a different story than each individual match: the Trojans were in the thick of several bouts, but just couldn't find a way to finish.
"We have to raise our level and match them, and then also raise the bar," explained head coach
Neil Erisman. "We can match their intensity, but we don't set the intensity and hold it for a full match."
"We're always one takedown, or one single leg, or one escape away from being at that level," he continued. "We're so close, but it's what separates us from losing one match at the last second to us only having a couple losses right now. As bad as it looks, we're not far off. But that little bit is so much for our program right now."
"It's the same story over and over again, and we have to break the cycle. We have to get over this obstacle and get through this roadblock. Once we do, this team is going to be so different."
A handful of bouts stood out as being intense matches showing glimpses of greatness, but ultimately heartbreakers.
The biggest instance was
Josiah Hill's heavyweight bout, pushing #10 ranked Traub to triple overtime. Hill went after it for the first takedown of the match as well as the final takedown before sudden victory, tying it up 6-6. The redshirt freshman put up a fight for an additional five minutes of wrestling before conceding the 11-6 decision.
Triston Wills and
Brooks Sacharczyk also had close matches, with the former picking up momentum in a third-period scramble at the edge of the mat and nearly pinning #27 Olmos. A challenge block thrown during the brawl reversed the call, instead giving Olmos an escape and the go-ahead to finish on top, 8-5.
The latter was being taken down and cut for most of his match before collecting a big takedown and back points in the third period to put the redshirt freshman in a position to win. While Sacharczyk ran out of time to attempt one more attack, his match ended in only a 16-14 decision thanks to his grit.
"Brooks stayed in the fight," noted Coach Erisman. "The match was not going his way, but if you go out to win and stay in the fight, good things happen. That's a perfect example for if you keep wrestling and never believe that you're out."
The Trojans will now have to dust themselves off, reset, and prepare for a quick turnaround: Little Rock heads south in the morning to dual Stanford tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. CT.
As for the game plan, Coach Erisman says it'll be all mental.
"We're going to go out and let it fly. Any pressure that we feel is self-made. We have to go out and have a killer mentality if we want to be successful. We know the wrestling, technique, skills, but we have to have the attitude."
RESULTS vs. Oregon State
125: #16 Brandon Kaylor (OSU) MD
Jayden Carson, 12-4
133: #12 Devan Turner (OSU) MD
Jaylen Carson, 12-2
141: #14 Grant Willits (OSU) DEC
Conner Ward, 10-3
149: #28 Cory Crooks (OSU) DEC
Joseph Bianchi, 3-1
157: #17 Hunter Willits (OSU) DEC
Chase Tebbets, 7-2
165: Matthew Olguin (OSU) DEC
Tyler Brennan, 6-1
174: #27 Mateo Olmos (OSU) DEC
Triston Wills, 8-5
184: #15 Trey Munoz (OSU) TF
Tanner Mendoza, 25-10 (6:09)
197: Ryan Reyes (OSU) DEC
Brooks Sacharczyk, 16-14
285: #10 Gary Traub (OSU) DEC
Josiah Hill, TB-1, 11-6
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