PELLA — Facing the No. 2 ranked team in NCAA Division III without a pair of starters, the Central College wrestling team lost to Loras College 35-6 Thursday night.
Central fell to 6-3 (1-2 conference) while Loras climbed to 7-0 (2-0 conference).

The Dutch did not have their two ranked wrestlers as Shandon Akeo (senior, 125 pounds, Honolulu, Hawaii, Kapolei HS) and Rob Areyano (senior, 149 pounds, Selma, Calif.) were not in the lineup.

"We were a little bit short-handed tonight," coach Eric Van Kley said. "We competed hard but any time you don't have all of your fire power it makes it tough, especially against a team like Loras."

Sophomore Duncan Delzell (Burlington) did pick up the win in Areyano's absence at 149. Tied 3-3 at the start of the third period, Delzell was taken down before scoring a reversal and two-point nearfall to secure an 8-5 decision.

"It's great to see Duncan step in," Van Kley said. "You have to have athletes you can count on to step up and Duncan did that to tonight and really represented us well."

An first-period takedown was punctuated with a riding-time point to give 285-pounder Samuel Zook (senior, Oak Harbor, Wash.) a 3-2 to end the nmatch

"He's been in a lot of those matches," Van Kley said. "Coach Lee and Coach Steele have helped make him comfortable in those matches. A lot of those 285-pound matches come down to one point and he's pretty confident in those type of matches."

Central heads back to Dubuque next Saturday, this time going to the University of Dubuque for the American Rivers Conference duals against the Spartans, Wartburg College and Buena Vista University.