WVU Wrestling Defeats Air Force, Northern Colorado to Sweep Weekend Road Trip

The WVU wrestling team rebounded from its first loss of the season by picking up two victories on the road over the weekend.

The Mountaineers defeated Air Force 27-11 Friday night before taking down Northern Colorado 31-9 on Sunday afternoon to improve to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12.

West Virginia has won six of its first seven matches for the second consecutive season. The Mountaineers’ triumphs gave both Air Force and Northern Colorado their first losses of the year.

Six different Mountaineers were unbeaten in both matches. Jett Strickenberger shrugged off his first individual loss of the year against Oklahoma by defeating two ranked opponents.

Jordan Titus improved his individual record to 11-0. He and Brody Conley (12-1) are the only two Mountaineers still undefeated in dual meet action. Peyton Hall upped his mark to 14-2. Freshman Ty Watters recorded two more pinfall victories to add to his team lead.

West Virginia took six of the first seven matchups against Air Force to put the meet out of reach.

Strickenberger and Titus picked up decision victories before Watters pinned Joe Fernau in 3:51, putting the Mountaineers in front 12-3. Three straight major decision wins from Hall, Caleb Dowling and Conley increased West Virginia’s advantage to 24-3.

Air Force (2-1, 0-1) claimed two of the final three bouts to close the match. West Virginia’s Dennis Robin fell to No. 8 Sam Wolf 3-1 at 184, Austin Cooley grabbed a 4-2 win over Cal Sund for the Mountaineers at 197 and the Falcons’ No. 2 ranked Wyatt Hendrickson defeated Michael Wolfgram by technical fall in the heavyweight match.

Cooley’s victory over Sund avenged a slim 4-0 loss last season. Hendrickson also defeated Wolfgram in the teams’ previous matchup.

Against Northern Colorado, Strickenberger began the match at 125 pounds by knocking off No. 6 ranked Stevo Poulin by an 11-6 decision.

After Davin Rhoads fell via technical fall at 133, Titus defeated Armando Garcia by a 13-2 major decision at 141 and Watters pinned Benji Alanis in 2:42 at 149 to give West Virginia a 13-5 lead.

No. 10 ranked Vincent Zerban got Northern Colorado (4-1, 0-1)  back on the board by defeating Dowling by an 8-0 major decision at 157, but Hall followed for the Mountaineers by scoring a 19-0 technical fall victory over Derek Matthews at 165 to increase the West Virginia advantage to 18-9.

Conley, Robin and Cooley then added three straight decision victories at 174, 184 and 197 to seal the win for the Mountaineers.

At 285, Wolfgram closed the match by getting back in the win column, earning a 10-2 major decision over Xavier Doulin.

The Mountaineers will return to the WVU Coliseum for their next match on Dec. 19 against Fairmont State.