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Cowboys Control Bedlam Wrestling with 18-15 Win
December 10, 2001 | Cowboy Wrestling
Dec. 9, 2001
STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State hosted the Oklahoma Sooners today in the 143rd Bedlam wrestling matchup in front of 7,023 fans inside Gallagher-Iba Arena, and defeated the Sooners, 18-15.
The Cowboys got on the board first with No. 15 Jerrod Sanders upsetting second-ranked Jared Frayer of Oklahoma in the 149-pound weight class.
Sanders scored the first points of the dual with a takedown at 1:12 in the first period. Sanders earned a point on a Frayer technical when Frayer locked his legs around Sanders' head. It looked as if that point was going to be the determining factor until Sanders scored a takedown with one second left in the match giving Sanders a 7-4 victory.
Sanders was one of three upsets the Cowboys tallied in the afternoon. The other OSU upsets consisted of No. 4 Pat Popolizio defeating top-ranked Josh Lambrecht and Willie Gruenwald sneaking by No. 13 Tom Grossman.
Popolizio took on Lambrecht in the fifth match of the afternoon. Neither wrestler was able to tally up a point until Popolizio got a technical point from Lambrecht in the second period. Each wrestler then had takedowns in the third, but Popolizio came out with the win, 3-2, with the technical being the deciding factor.
Gruenwald's matchup between Grossman resemble that of Popolizio's. Each wrestler scored one escape point until Gruenwald took down Grossman with three seconds left in the match giving him a 3-1 decision.
"That's what it is all about," said OSU head coach John Smith. "For this team to advance you have to beat the people you aren't supposed to. Pat Popolizio, you can't say enough about him. It didn't look like there was much hope in the match and then all of a sudden things turned around."
Third ranked Shane Roller followed Sanders up in the 157 weight class matching up against No. 12 Doug Cieleski. Roller kept control of Cieleski the whole third period, earning him 1:50 riding time and a score of 3-0.
Third-ranked Tyrone Lewis kept the win streak going by edging No. 4 Robbie Waller in the 165 weight class, and made the overall score 9-0.
OU finally got on the board with an upset of their own in the fourth match of the day. No. 11 Michael Barger took on seventh-ranked Ty Wilcox in the 174-pound weight class.
With both Ty Wilcox and Chad Reid weighing in at the 174-pound weight class, the call went to Wilcox to face Barger. With the two alternating back and forth between takedowns and escapes, the match went into overtime and turned out to be the most exciting match of the day. Barger pulled out the win with a takedown at 1:08 in overtime, earning him a score of 10-8.
No. 13 James Huml took on third-ranked Leonce Crump in the heavyweight division. The match went into overtime with each wrestler only having an escape point. Neither wrestler was able to put up a point in the overtime and was drawn out to a tiebreaker period. The flip of a coin allowed Huml to start on bottom with only an escape to win. Crump held onto Huml for the last 30 seconds to hang on to a 2-1 win.
No. 2 Skyler Holman took on fifth-ranked Matt Ridings at the 125 spot. Holman drew first blood with an escape five seconds into the second period. Ridings countered back with a couple of takedowns in the second and one more escape point in the third for the second OU upset, 5-2.
In a matchup that couldn't be any closer on paper, top-ranked Johnny Thompson took on No. 2 Witt Durden in the 133-pound weight class. It was a match that did exactly what it was supposed to do, go down to the last minute. With the score even at 2-2 going into the third period, Thompson got an escape and a takedown in the third to beat Durden for the third straight time, 6-3.
"It was good to see Johnny Thompson battle back from a disappointing loss last week and bounce right back up this week," said Smith. "He wrestled and worked out all week with a an injured hamstring and there is no doubt in my mind that it was a big win for him and an even more important win in the dual."
After Thompson's win, the score was 18-9 and no way OU could win with one match remaining. The win over OU allowed head coach John Smith to move into second place all time with 141 wins behind Tommy Chesbro's 227.
Finishing off the afternoon was Ronnie Delk battling Nate Parker. Parker was a late weigh in for No. 16 Melvin Lofton, but made a huge impression. Parker came after Delk hard and pinned him with 19 seconds remaining in the first period.
The Cowboys added another win to the Bedlam series this year and improve the wrestling series to 110-24-9. The Cowboys have yet to lose to the Sooners since the 1995-96 season when OU won, 19-18.
The Cowboys will hit the road next week and head out west to take on Oregon and Oregon State on Dec. 16.
Match Results OSU OU
149 Sanders (OSU) dec. Frayer (OU), 7-4 3 0
157 Roller (OSU) dec. Cielski (OU), 3-0 6 0
165 Lewis (OSU) dec. Waller (OU), 5-3 9 0
174 Barger (OU) dec. Wilcox (OSU), 10-8 OT 9 3
184 Popolizio (OSU) dec. Lambrecht (OU), 3-2 12 3
197 Gruenwald (OSU) dec. Grossman (OU), 3-1 15 3
285 Crump (OU) dec. Huml (OSU), 2-1 2OT 15 6
125 Rindings (OU) dec. Holman (OSU), 5-2 15 9
133 Thompson (OSU) dec. Durden (OU), 6-3 18 9
141 Parker (OU) Fall Delk (OSU) 2:41 18 15
