Northern Iowa wrestlers let one slip away in a 19-17 loss to No. 16 Oklahoma State

CEDAR FALLS — The Northern Iowa wrestling team eyed its third dual-meet win in four years over mighty Oklahoma State on Saturday night, but instead let a winnable conference contest slip away in a 19-17 loss to the 16th-ranked Cowboys.

Bonus points stood up as the difference on this night. Both teams won five matches, but Oklahoma State prevailed thanks in part to Carter Young’s 15-7 major decision over Cael Happel at 141 pounds and Wyatt Sheets’ stunning pin over Austin Yant at 165.

The Panthers countered with a pair major decisions — from Kyle Gollhofer, a 14-5 winner over Zach Blankenship at 125, and Parker Keckeisen, in a 20-6 win over Gavin Stika at 184 — but ultimately dropped to 4-3 overall and 2-2 against Big 12 opponents.

“For us, I think we gave that one away,” Northern Iowa coach Doug Schwab said afterward. “In the matches we lost, we don’t plan on giving up bonus points in those situations.”

A fun rivalry may be brewing between these two programs. The Panthers have beaten Oklahoma State only four times in 33 all-time meetings, but two have come in the last four years: a 19-15 win here in 2020, then a come-from-behind 19-15 win in Stillwater last season.

On Saturday, the announced 3,102 here at the McLeod Center was treated to another exciting, back-and-forth contest. There were three separate lead changes, and the dual was also tied 7-7 after the first four weights. But Sheets’ pin, in the first match out of the intermission, gave the Cowboys a 13-10 lead. They never trailed again.

The Cowboys, now 9-1 and 5-0, are a younger team this year, but showcased excellent fight against Northern Iowa, scoring the first points in nine of 10 matches. The Panthers punched back viciously, finishing with 19 total takedowns to Oklahoma State’s 10. They also scored more total match points, 61-56, throughout the dual.

“They came with a purpose tonight,” Schwab said. “You could tell they were not going to get out-fought in matches. The last couple of times, when we beat them, in some situations, we out-hustled them and out-fought them.

“They were getting us to come out of our stance. They came ready to fight tonight.”

So this dual was even, and unfolded as such, too. Because even despite two of Northern Iowa’s top wrestlers taking tough losses on this night, the Panthers still had a shot to knock off the Cowboys in the end.

After Gollhofer’s win, Oklahoma State rallied with back-to-back wins for a 7-4 team lead. Daton Fix took Kyle Biscoglia to his back early and won 8-1 at 133, then Young built a 12-1 first-period lead en route to his third win over Happel in the last two years.

The Panthers responded with a pair of hard-fought wins for a 10-7 lead at half. Colin Realbuto rallied for a 5-4 win over Victor Voinovich at 149, thanks to a third-period takedown and 90 seconds of riding time. Derek Holschlag followed with a 6-4 win in sudden victory over 11th-ranked Kaden Gfeller at 157.

“Those are wars,” Schwab said. “That was exciting wrestling.”

But then came Sheets’ pin over Yant. Tied 1-1 with less than a minute left in the third period, Yant dropped into a head-outside shot and picked up Sheets’ right leg. Sheets grabbed Yant’s head, laced his left arm underneath Yant’s right arm, rolled through Yant’s finish attempt and put Yant on his back. The ref called the pin at 6:24.

The McLeod crowd fell silent while the Cowboy bench erupted. It was the first time Yant had been pinned since January 2020, and just the third time in his college career that he’d lost by fall. On this night, it swung the dual in Oklahoma State’s favor.

“Yant was trying to finish a hold,” Schwab said. “His butt came out a little bit, he got underneath the arms, so we need to be a little more disciplined there. But I’m not going to be upset about a guy who’s trying to attack and win a match.”

The Panthers were down, but not out, at least not until the Cowboys won two of the next three matches, a 7-3 win for Dustin Plott over Lance Runyon at 174 — last year, Runyon pinned Plott to fully ignite Northern Iowa’s rally in Stillwater — then a 2-1 win for Luke Surber over true freshman Wyatt Voelker, making his dual debut, at 197.

Even then, Tyrell Gordon’s big-move capability gave the Panthers hope at heavyweight. In the third period, Gordon came up with a double overhook tie and took Konner Doucet to his back on the edge. Doucet rolled through, so Gordon scored only a reversal. He won 3-2, but for a brief moment, the McLeod crowd woke back up.

“Oklahoma State is a good team,” Schwab said, “but if we want to be a great team, we have to consistently beat these teams and consistently show up.”

The good news is that Schwab and the Panthers could flush this bad taste quickly. Oklahoma, fresh off a 25-12 loss to No. 6 Iowa State on Friday night in Ames, comes to town on Sunday afternoon. A win over a sneaky Sooner squad may not fully ease the sting of Saturday night’s loss, but it’ll make it easier to digest the whole weekend.

“We’ll start seeing what your team has, what kind of grit and staying power,” Schwab continued. “Do we buck up and respond? Or do we tuck our head?

“I know what kinds of (guys) are on our team. I know how they train, how they’ve been raised, how they prepare, and they will respond.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

No. 16 Oklahoma State 19, No. 18 Northern Iowa 17

• 125: Kyle Gollhofer (UNI) maj. dec. Zach Blankenship (OSU), 14-5

• 133: #2 Daton Fix (OSU) dec. #11 Kyle Biscoglia (UNI), 8-1

• 141: #32 Carter Young (OSU) maj. dec. #8 Cael Happel (UNI), 15-7

• 149: #14 Colin Realbuto (UNI) dec. #20 Victor Voinovich (OSU), 5-4

• 157: #26 Derek Holschlag (UNI) dec. #11 Kaden Gfeller (OSU), 6-4 (SV)

• 165: #26 Wyatt Sheets (OSU) pinned #10 Austin Yant (UNI) in 6:24

• 174: #6 Dustin Plott (OSU) dec. #13 Lance Runyon (UNI), 7-3

• 184: #2 Parker Keckeisen (UNI) maj. dec. Gavin Stika (OSU), 20-6

• 197: #18 Luke Surber (OSU) dec. Wyatt Voelker (UNI), 2-1

• 285: #13 Tyrell Gordon (UNI) dec. #24 Konner Doucet (OSU), 3-2

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Northern Iowa wrestlers let one slip away vs. No. 16 Oklahoma State