SALEM, Ore. – Their 133-weight class forfeiture eventually resulted in a six-point dual loss for the No. 13-ranked Corban University Men's Wrestling program earlier tonight against fellow Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) member, No. 8-ranked Southern Oregon University, where the Warriors won half of the bouts yet were unable to put technical falls and pins on the board to suffer their first head-to-head dual loss of the 2024-25 season.
To view the complete results from today's dual, click HERE or see below for a weight class summary.
"It was a tight dual with a lot of close matches," Corban head coach Nolan Harris stated. "We lost some close ones that we were battling in but ultimately the result didn't fall in our favor. We wrestled well on our feet, but only had two bonus point victories to their four. Even though we won half of the matches, you can't win a close dual against a tough team without winning the bonus. But overall, I thought we fought well and I'm looking forward to fine tuning certain areas and building off our successes."
Starting at 125lbs, Warriors' junior Brayden Boyd entered tonight's dual ranked No. 23-overall in the NAIA, yet was tabbed as the underdog with SOU's Vonn Fenn, ranked No. 12-nationally, slated as his Saturday night opponent. A pair of early takedowns was more than enough for Venn to secure the opening weight class victory despite two reversals by Boyd and a near pin late in the third period, dropping the decision 13-10 in full time to provide the Raiders (11-0) an early 3-0 lead on the scoreboard.
Following a 133-weight class forfeit by Corban, Southern Oregon held a 9-0 team score advantage and made some late round magic happen to avoid giving up their first result of the dual, as the CCC's second-highest ranked wrestler at 141lbs, Simon Graeber, trailed 4-0 to Corban junior Blake Runion but reversed his loss into a pin with 28 seconds remaining in the bout, giving the Raiders a 15-0 team score advantage through three classes.
The tides finally turned in favor of the Warriors in the 149-weight class, as sophomore Jr Downing provided Corban with the first upset victory of the night with a 7-3 decision over Raiders' Travis Thorpe. Downing's victory over the No. 23-overall wrestler in the NAIA for 149lbs while he is still currently unranked in the weight class, along with his impressive outing last weekend will provide him with the consideration he needs in the next national poll and for tonight, the first three team points for the Navy and Gold who still trailed 15-3.
The bout of the night that everyone in attendance was waiting for between two of the top three wrestlers in the nation for 157lbs was just as thrilling as expected, as it took three overtime periods for a winner to be determined between Warriors' redshirt senior David Rubio and Raiders' Aaron Gandara. After failing to escape in the second overtime period, Rubio elected to let Gandara escape on the start to force a 30-second takedown period, where he took down Gandara with under 10 seconds remaining to keep his second-overall ranking in the country via extra time and give his team an extra dose of momentum heading into the second half of today's head-to-head CCC dual.
After Downing and Rubio's decisions netted the Navy and Gold six points on the scoreboard, Southern Oregon earned four of those points back at 165lbs via a major decision for SOU's Paul Ortiz over Warriors' freshman Armando Nicacio, 9-0, to lead 19-6 with four weight classes remaining.
An incredibly even matchup at the 174-weight class was quickly erased by Corban senior Tyson Stover, who earned a pair of takedowns in the third period alone to emerge with a 10-3 major decision over SOU's Noah Talavera. Stover entered as the No. 11-ranked grappler for their division, compared to No. 19-overall for Talavera, and displayed his experience in full with a four-point team point victory to bring his team to within nine points of the Raiders, 19-10.
Despite a clear advantage for the Warriors at 184lbs with No. 12-ranked sophomore Isaiah Twait matching up with Southern Oregon's unranked Braylin Rutchi, the first period was the first to experience controversy after Twait scored a late takedown with just seconds remaining in the period, which was immediately challenged by SOU and eventually netted no change and the call to stand on the mats. Twait earned his escape point in the second period and several takedowns later, earned another major decision for Corban via a 10-1 result and pushing the Warriors to within five points on the team scoreboard.
With the Warriors failing to net pins and settling for major decisions, the Raiders needed just one more weight class victory to secure the dual win, and found just that at 197lbs in their CCC top ranked wrestler Asher Ruchti, as he was able to defeat Warriors' junior Asaiah Kamplain via major decision at 16-3 and make the 285-weight class all but obsolete on the team scoreboard.
Despite not being able to help on the scoreboard for Corban regarding a possible dual win, redshirt junior Antonio Garcia was still able to defend his No. 9-overall national ranking with an 8-4 decision over Raiders' Sebastian Echeverria, concluding the match scoring with another three points to the Warriors for their 23-17 final score.
No. 8 SOU 23, No. 13 Corban 17
125: Vonn Fenn (Southern Oregon) over Brayden Boyd (Corban University) (Dec 13-11)
133: Dylan Clark (Southern Oregon) over Unknown (For.)
141: Simon Graeber (Southern Oregon) over Blake Runion (Corban University) (Fall 6:33)
149: Jr Downing (Corban University) over Travis Thorpe (Southern Oregon) (Dec 7-3)
157: David Rubio (Corban University) over Aaron Gandara (Southern Oregon) (TB-1 4-2)
165: Paul Ortiz (Southern Oregon) over Armando Nicacio (Corban University) (MD 9-0)
174: Tyson Stover (Corban University) over Noah Talavera (Southern Oregon) (MD 11-3)
184: Isaiah Twait (Corban University) over Braylin Ruchti (Southern Oregon) (MD 10-1)
197: Asher Ruchti (Southern Oregon) over Asaiah Kamplain (Corban University) (MD 16-3)
285: Antonio Garcia (Corban University) over Sebatian Echeverria (Southern Oregon) (Dec 8-4)
Following the Christmas break, the No. 13 Warriors will next be in action at the Mat 'Cat Invitational on Sunday, January 5th, hosted by NCAA DIII Linfield University at Ted Wilson Gymnasium in McMinnville.
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