Corvallis, Ore. – The Oregon State wrestling team downed Lehigh 28-10 Thursday night in front of Beaver Nation.
The Beavers started the night with a bang as Toney Chay (165) pinned Lehigh’s Ben Haas in 4:33, giving Oregon State an early six point lead, and setting the tone for the rest of the match.
Teammate Joe Latham (174) kept the ball rolling as he upset No. 16 Elliot Riddick by a 5-2 decision, extending the Beaver’s lead to nine. Oregon State’s Austin Morehead (184) followed that performance with an 11-1 major decision over Zach Diekel, bringing the score to 13-0.
Moving into 197, No. 13 Taylor Meeks collected six points for the Beavers off a Mountain Hawk forfeit, giving Oregon State a 19-0 lead. No. 15 Amarveer Dhesi (HWT) then topped Lehigh’s Doug Vollaro with an 8-4 decision moving into the lighter weight classes.
The Mountain Hawks earned the next 10 points of the match in three consecutive bouts. Lehigh’s Darian Cruz defeated Joey Palmer (125) by a 9-4 decision, followed by No. 7 Mason Beckman who topped Drew Van Anrooy (133) by a 4-0 decision. At 141, Lehigh’s No. 15 Laike Gardner defeated joey Delgado with an 11-3 major decision, bringing the score to 19-10 heading into the final two bouts.
No. 12 Scott Sakaguchi (149) brought the house down with an exciting 6-4 sudden victory decision over Lehigh’s No. 11 Mitch Minotti. Tied at 4-4, the bout was sent into overtime, where Sakaguchi grabbed an early takedown to claim the victory, bringing the crowd to their feet.
No. 11 RJ Pena finished the night off for the Beavers with an 8-6 decision over Lehigh’s No. 10 Joey Napoli, finalizing Oregon State’s 28-10 victory over their ranked opponent.
Oregon State hosts No. 6 Oklahoma on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. PT in Gill Coliseum. The match will air live on the Pac-12 Networks, while live stats and updates can be found at www.Trackwrestling.comand Twitter.com/OSU_Wrestling.
The Beavers will also be celebrating Senior Day to honor their six senior wrestlers for their years of hard work and commitment to the program. Senior Day celebrations will starts at 11:15 before the match gets underway.
Head Coach Jim Zalesky on Toney Chay’s pin in the first bout…
“I was happy with tonight. Toney is our guy and he’s had some success… He kept at it and got the takedown, and we worked on that, and then he got the pin. Instead of letting the guy go, he turned him over and got the pin. It was a great way to start, with six points.”
On Joe Latham upsetting his ranked opponent…
“I think he could have wrestled better, but I think it was a good win for him against a ranked opponent. He wrestled a good match.”
On Scott Sakaguchi’s performance…
“I think Sakaguchi kind of woke up. He came out a little too slow and the guy had a higher pace than him. But he found a way to win; sometimes you just have to find a way to win.”
Scott Sakaguchi on his matchup…
“I just kept hustling. I knew he was just trying to hold on for the win at that point and I started getting frustrated… I refocused and realized I just had to go and get a lot of points really quick. That’s probably the most fun of a dual I have ever wrestled in.”
On the team’s win…
“I felt like the team all around was getting excited and scoring a lot of points and hustling. For the team, and for myself, it’s the most fun dual I have been a part of, for sure… We started in the middle and those guys did an awesome job, they got us all excited. Jess (Lewis) gave us a good speech before and it got us all fired up.”
Results:
165: Toney Chay fall Ben Haas, 4:33 (OSU 6, LU 0)
174: Joe Latham decision Elliot Riddick, 5-2 (OSU9, LU 0)
184: Austin Morehead major decision Zach Diekel, 11-1 (OSU 13, LU 0)
197: Taylor Meeks forfeit John Bolich, FFT (OSU 19, LU 0)
HWT: Amarveer Dhesi decision Doug Vollaro, 8-4 (OSU 22, LU 0)
125: Darian Cruz decision Joey Palmer, 9-4 (OSU 22, LU 3)
133: Mason Beckman decision Drew Van Anrooy, 4-0 (OSU 22, LU 6)
141: Laike Gardner major decision Joey Delgado, 11-3 (OSU 22, LU 10)
149: Scott Sakaguchi decision Mitch Minotti, 6-4 OT (OSU 25, LU 10)
157: RJ Pena decision Joey Napoli, 8-6 (OSU 28, LU 10)
