The No. 17 Northern State University wrestling team (6-3, 1-2 NSIC) took on the Augustana Vikings (4-2, 1-0 NSIC) Thursday night, but came up just short in a hard fought 20-14 loss.
The dual didn't start great for Northern with Landen Fischer falling to Ethan Cota in a 13-3 major decision at 125 and No. 5 Dayne Morton falling to Jack Huffman in a 9-4 decision at 133. Kenny Jones was able to put Northern on the board at 141 however, outmuscling his opponent Taylor Jeffries for a technical fall to bring the dual score to 5-7.
At 149, No. 8 Caden Moore had a chance to give Northern the lead, and that's exactly what happened after a convincing 9-3 decision victory over Keaton Schorr. No. 9 James Burks was able to build on the Wolves' newfound lead with a hard fought 7-3 decision over Jacob Tvinnereim at 157, bringing the score to 11-7 just before intermission.
Northern got off to another rocky start after the break as Billy Holton suffered a 12-5 decision defeat to Dylan Schuck at 165, and Tanner Wiese fell to Ben Kelvington in a 4-12 major decision at 174. The Wolves quickly bounced back however, as No. 11 Marcus Placide took a 12-5 decision victory at 184 over Tanner Brengle.
With the score knotted up at 14-14 Diego Gallegos took to the matt, but after a hard-fought match it was Daniel Bishop of the Vikings who took a 4-1 decision victory to give his team the lead. In the last match of the night Caleb Lefferdink took Steven Hajas all the way to overtime, but ultimately came up short in a 6-4 sudden victory at 285, ending the night at 20-14 in favor of the Vikings.
The Wolves' collected three decision victories and one technical fall on the night while giving up two major decisions, three decisions and one sudden victory.
Northern returns to action tomorrow at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minnesota. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the PE Gym on January 10.