Cotter picks up 75th win as Packers lose a close match to Century
Published 10:43 pm Thursday, December 19, 2013
Austin’s Nathan Brinkman tries to avoid being turned by Rochester Century’s Frankie Villeneuve during their match at 138 pounds Thursday night in Ove Berven Gym. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin wrestling team was hoping to finally catch a break in a close match, but it didn’t go their way as they lost on criteria in a 39-39 outcome against Rochester Century in Ove Berven Gym Thursday.
Austin’s Aiden Wilson wraps up Rochester Century’s Logan Corkill at 126 pounds Thursday night in Ove Berven Gym. Wilson got the win by pin. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Panthers (4-8 overall, 3-1 Big Nine) won the match because they had scored first in more matches than Austin and the Packers (1-7, 0-4 Big Nine) have now lost five duals by one match this season.
Austin junior Brandon Cotter notched his 75th career win when he picked up a first period pin at 152 pounds.
“Seventy five wins makes me want to go harder that much more so I can get to one hundred by the time I’m a senior,” Cotter said. “I had no idea I was close to seventy-five. It was a surprise.”
Cotter would’ve rather picked up the milestone in a team win, but fate wasn’t on Austin’s side.
“We wanted it bad,” he said. “We’ve been going slow so far and we just need to pick it up. We should’ve won this match.”
Austin stormed to a 39-25 lead in the dual when their experienced wrestlers stepped up. Braden Eggum, Kole Igou and Mitch Tebay all picked up first period pins and Alec Estrada scored a big second period pin at 182 ponds.
“Estrada had a really big match for us,” Austin interim head coach Jer Osgood said. “Momentum was really on our side and he kind of ran with it. The guys in our upper weights are doing what they need to do and they’re getting pins.”
Austin sophomore Brandon Edgar picked up a big win at 145 for the Packers when he recorded an escape and a take-down in the third period to win 5-2. He said his team was hoping to get the win, but it did wrestle much better on Thursday than it had been wrestling.
“It was pretty tough to lose. We worked really hard and that’s all we practice is first take-downs,” Edgar said. “We took a huge step. A lot of guys that weren’t expected to win, won there matches.”
The Packers will host their ‘Shooting to Take Down Cancer night’ when they host Winona Jan. 9 and they’re encouraging everyone to wear pink as the team will raise funds for cancer research.
“If you’ve never been to a wrestling match before, it would be a great night to go,” Osgood said.
RESULTS
106: Jared Larsen (C) pinned Christopher Romero (A) (1:43)
113: Nick Pastika (C) pinned Danny Albarran (A) (1:36)
120: Ronnie Lyles (C) pinned Juan Rodriques (A) (3:20)
126: Aiden Wilson (A) pinned Logan Corkill (C) (3:12)
132: Donyae Funches (C) pinned Jon O’Hara (A) (:58)
138: Frankie Villeneuve (C) 7-2 dec. over Nathan Brinkman (A)
145: Brandon Edgar (A) 5-2 dec. over Elijah Clark (C)
152: Brandon Cotter (A) pinned Tanner Hall (C) (1:15)
160: Braden Eggum (A) pinned Miguel Benjamin (C ) (:44)
170: Kole Igou (A) pinned Matt Kallis (C) (1:29
182: Alec Estrada (A) pinned Isiah Domally (C) (3:15)
195: Mitch Tebay (A) pinned Edgar Saenz (C) (:59)
220: Luke Wilson (C) pinned Eli Kaercher (A) (2:33
285: Gunnar Simonson (C) pinned Mitch Wahlen (A) (:26)
