PELLA — On a night full of low-scoring bouts, the Central College wrestling secured a 34-1 non-conference win over Augustana College (Ill.) Thursday night.
Central (2-0 overall) triumphed in nine of 10 matches on the night, winning six times by decision against Augustana (2-2).
"I thought Augustana put up a good fight," coach
Eric Van Kley said. "It wasn't a pretty night, we had to do the work for all three periods and for the most part we did that."
Miles Berg (junior, 285 pounds, Indianola) was a great example of that according to Van Kley, after winning the final match of the night 3-2 at 285 pounds. After exchanging escapes, Berg used a third-period takedown to go ahead.
"It was great to finish that way," he said. "The winning points came in the last period and I thought we scrapped and battled pretty hard the whole match.
The only match not to make it to third period was
Colby Tool's (freshman, Reasnor, PCM HS) first-period pin at 165 pounds. Tool ended the match just over a minute in.
"He's aggressive," Van Kley said. "I love his toughness and he went out and got it tonight. Bonus points like that are big in duals."
Gage Linahon (junior, 197 pounds, Newton) also notched a pin at the 6:41 mark that felt even longer after the match was stopped four times for blood.
"The match took 20 to 25 minutes and stopped 10 times for blood," Van Kley said."To mentally keep your focus and work through that is a testament to his toughness."
Rheiner Stahlbaum's (sophomore, 125 pounds, Johnston) 20-9 major decision to the start the match was Central's only other bonus point win.
Brock Beck (junior, 133 pounds, Grinnell), Pierre Baldwin (freshman, 141 pounds, West Chicago, Ill.), Duncan Delzell (junior, 149 pounds, Burlington), Luke Condy (senior, 157 pounds, Memphis, Tenn, Christian Brothers) and Peyton Hammerich (senior, 184 pounds, Princeton, Ill.) each won by narrow decisions. Delzell and Condy won by a single point each while Beck and Baldwin had two-point advantages.
Central travels to the Milwaukee School of Engineering Invitational Saturday in Wisconsin.
"It's a huge tournament," Van Kley said. "We'll see some of the best teams in our region and out of the region. We need to keep getting better and be consistent."
