(RV) Warrior Men’s Wrestling Battles Valiantly in Loss to No. 12 Embry-Riddle
SALEM, Ore. – The (RV) Corban University men's wrestling team hosted the No. 12-ranked Eagles of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Friday evening in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center for another difficult test in the inaugural season of Navy and Gold wrestling. In what was a tight contest through seven weight-classes, the Eagles finished strong, with victories from each of their final three grapplers, pushing the final score to 34-16.
After earning a free six points by way of forfeit in the opening 125-pound class, the Warriors would drop the three following matches, the first by technical fall (16-0) in the 133-pound class, the second by major decision (10-2) at 141, and the final of the three was a defeat by fall (0:48) in the 149-pound decision. After four matches, the tally stood at 15-6 in favor of the visiting Eagles.
At 157, Cooper McCullough has been on fire for the past two weeks, having won each of his three dual matches by pin, including tonight's strong display, defeating Dawson Javier by way of the fall at 4:25. He also earned his first collegiate tournament championship at the Boxer Open this past weekend, only adding to his recently bolstered resume. Cooper's quiet yet sheer dominance of late has been a joy to watch for the Corban faithful.
No. 7-ranked Levi Perry dominated in his match at 174 pounds with Stone Aguirre, who replaced the injured No. 2-ranked Daniel Butler of ERAU. It took Perry less than one full period to rack up 16 points in comparison to Aguirre's one. He triumphed by way of the technical fall (16-1).
The Warriors headed into the final three matches of the evening with just a 19-16 deficit to overcome, unfortunately for the Navy and Gold, Noah Sickles was pitted up against a buzz-saw in No.3-ranked TJ Hall in the 184-pound division. Hall was the victor after pinning Sickles after 4:25 had elapsed off the clock. Now trailing by nine, Corban needed wins from their final two wrestlers, unfortunately it would not happen.
Falemalama Van Weggen dropped his match at the hands of No. 10-ranked Oliver Myers. Van Weggen and Myers were neck-a-neck the entire way, finishing the match in a 2-2 tie. Myers was given the advantage due to his amount of riding time, which added one point to his match total, giving him the 3-2 victory.
The Warriors would fall in the final match of the night as well. This time it was ERAU's Garrette Branson picking up the win by pinning Jack Farley just 14 seconds before time expired in the third period.
Corban (5-8) has just two more events to participate in during the 2019-20 regular season. The Navy and Gold will venture to Cheney, Wash. to compete in the Eastern Washington Tournament next Sunday, February 2. The Warriors will then head back home to round out their campaign at C.E. Jeffers against conference foe Eastern Oregon University on February 7 at 1 p.m.