COEUR D'ALENE – A third win in four days for (RV) Argo wrestling gives the team as many dual victories as it had all of last season, and keeps UGF undefeated on the year. The young Argos traveled to Idaho to face an always difficult junior college opponent, North Idaho College, and beat the Cardinals 25-16.
"Man, I'll tell you what, I was so impressed. This dual compared to the one against Eastern Oregon, they wrestled so much better. Even though we got the win over EOU, it wasn't even the same team that went out there for us tonight," UGF Head Coach Caleb Schaeffer said. "It was a pleasure to see."
The first four matches of the dual all went in UGF's favor, starting with freshman Jake Garrison at 125 who won a 6-5 decision in his first action in an NAIA dual. While the 125 match was close, the match at 133 was not. Jarren Komac, one of many talented redshirt-freshman for UGF, got the first pin of the night, winning by Fall (2:29) to give UGF an early 9-0 lead.
That lead was extended by a confident win from junior Clinton Garvin who wrestled up a weight class and still came one point shy of a major decision, winning 7-0. Redshirt freshman did get a major decision, getting two 4-point near falls in the 2nd round to win 13-2 at 149.
North Idaho roared back with a pin and a major decision in the next to weight classes to bring the score to 16-10. The two teams traded minor decision, bringing the score to 19-13 with two matches to go.
While the Cardinals needed points at 197 to have a chance at winning the dual, they would have to face redshirt-freshman John Hensley who despite wrestling in just his third collegiate dual has already begun a reputation as a closer for the Argos.
The Great Falls native came up with a huge pin two night earlier against Eastern Oregon University to turnaround a match that the Argos were trailing in by three. Against NIC things would be more difficult but ultimately had the same result.
Hensley and his opponent, Jeremy Merryweather looked to evenly matched for the first two rounds. The Argo got two takedowns in the first period but those were equaled by two escapes for Merryweather followed by a takedown of his own. In the second round Hensley took a slim lead with an escape, but his opponent did the same at the start of the third to tie the score up at 5-5.
Then things looked dim for Hensley as he was taken down by Merryweather with little time remaining. He then made his move, earning a reversal to tie the score and then finishing the deal, pinning his opponent with less than 30 second on the clock. His win by Fall (6:36) put the match out of reach for the Cardinals.
"We couldn't really count on our upper weights in the past few years and that's kind of where we take care of business. John Hensley, as well as Randy Keesler have been really, really impressive," Schaeffer said. "I'm going home a lot happier this year than I was last year."
The exciting start to the season will continue on November 17 with a road trip to (7) Southern Oregon University as UGF looks to stay undefeated on the year. That match will start at 9 p.m. MT in Ashland, Ore.
