CHOTEAU, Mont. – A cameo appearance in Choteau, Montana went well for (9) Argo wrestling, as the team won its tenth dual of the year in dominant fashion, 31-10 over Dickinson State (N.D.).
UGF traveled to the nearby town to be a part of the high school tournament in the same location and the Argos did well in showing the youngsters how it's done. The Argos won all but two of the 10 matches and one of the losses was a match UGF forfeited heading into the event.
"They exceeded my expectations tonight. It was a complete turnaround from Menlo duals," UGF Head Coach Caleb Schaeffer said. "When we have all of our weapons healthy and making weight, this might one of the best dual teams I've ever had."
The first two matches of the night put UGF on solid footing. Redshirt-junior (11) Isaac Wilson got things started with a 19-9 major decision victory at 125, the first of four extra point victories for UGF. Next came redshirt-freshman (15) Jarren Komac who was the only Argo wrestler to win by Fall, pinning his opponent at 133.
Freshman (5) Shonn Roberts was next up at 141, and while he didn't earn better than three points, his 15-8 decision was still a confident performance.
It was at 149 that UGF forfeited to the Blue Hawks, instead choosing to have an exhibition against 2016 All-American Seth Ehlang of Dickson. While it didn't show up on the scoresheet, Dobson handled Ehlang, winning the match.
Next came the only non-forfeit loss of the night for UGF at 157, but after that it was all Argo wins. (4) Khaldoon Rashid earned a 12-7 decision at 165 and then (12) Randy Keesler put together an impressive 24-8 Technical Fall victory of DSU's Jason Zecchini who wrestles with a style that is hard to score on. Keesler scored eight takedowns against Zecchini with two near falls.
The biggest win of the night came at 184 where UGF senior Sam Voigtlaender faced off against Dickinson's Jon Solano who finished fourth in the country at the 2016 NAIA Wrestling Championship.
An earlier takedown for Voigtlaender and a subsequent escape for Solano was rare piece of action in the match until the third period. It was then that both grapplers began to take more risks in order to win the match but two escapes and two penalty points for Voigtlaender game him a 7-5 win.
"Sam wrestled outstandingly well tonight. That kid for Dickinson is a good wrestler and Sam did a great job," Schaeffer said. "He started off the season kind of slow but he focused right now and really performing like you expect a senior to."
The final two matches of the night went to UGF's two closers, who didn't have to worry about putting in a clutch performance to seal a win. They still wrestled well anyway with redshirt-freshman (4) John Hensley winning by Major Decision (16-5) and sophomore Matt Hopkins taking a 9-6 decision at 285.
The win brings UGF's dual record to 10-2 on the season, a start improvement from last year's 3-7. Next for the Argos will be a neutral site dual in Missoula, Montana against North Idaho College on Saturday, January 14 at 3 p.m. The two teams already faced once this year, with UGF pulling out a 25-16 victory.
