#7 Ranked Tiger Wrestlers Move To 2-0 With Win Over Newman
Jan. 9, 2007

The Fort Hays State wrestling team hosted Newman University Tuesday night at Gross Coliseum in Hays in their first home dual of the season. The Tigers won the match 39-6 over a banged up Newman squad which was only able to wrestle six of the 10 weights in the match.

Four open weights, at 125, 174, 184 and 285 pounds, spotted the Tigers 24 points in the match. Of the six matches that were wrestled, four of the matches went in Fort Hays State's favor.

The action opened at 133 pounds after FHSU's Devin Schwartz was declared the winner at 125 pounds. Isaac Wall of Newman University dashed the hopes of FHSU winning all their matches early with a 9-2 decision over Derek Patterson. Wall ran his overall record to 13-6 and was the only Jets wrestler in action with a winning overall record. Patterson fell to 4-5 overall with the loss.

At 141 pounds, the Tigers' Josh Pfannenstiel took on Aeron Hill. The match was tight throughout, but Pfannenstiel would hold off Hill in the end by a 4-3 decision. The win put the dual score at 9-3 in the Tigers' favor. Pfannenstiel is now 8-4 this season.

FHSU would build to their lead in the dual when Bryce Bahe defeated Isaac Cervantes by a 9-0 major decision in the 149 pound match. It was Cervantes' first match of the season and Bahe improved his record to 2-4 on the year with the win. Bahe had a scare in the first period when his leg was tweaked by an awkward position. Bahe battled through the pain though to blank Cervantes in the match. FHSU moved to a 13-3 lead with Bahe's win.

In the 157-pound match, FHSU's Danny Grater picked apart Andrew Nash of Newman to score a 14-3 major decision. Grater picked up several takedown points throughout the match, running his record to 17-5 overall this season. Grater's 17 wins leads the team this season. That made the score 17-3 in FHSU's favor at intermission.

In the 165-pound match, FHSU's Patrick Keane faced off against Nate Alvarez. The match was tight throughout but Alvarez came back from a deficit scoring takedown points twice in the third period which put him ahead 8-7. In Keane's last ditch effort to score an escape point, Alvarez was able to get three back points just before the buzzer sounded. Alvarez won the match by an 11-7 decision, making the score 17-6 in FHSU's favor. Keane is now 3-8 overall this season.

The 174 and 184 pound weights were open, giving wins to Blake Malloy and Nick McGovern of FHSU. It ran the FHSU lead to 29-6 before the final match of the evening was wrestled at 197 pounds. Tyler Gonzales of FHSU matched up against Florian Temengil of Newman University. Gonzales turned in a dominating performance and almost shutout Temengil, grabbing a 10-1 major decision. Gonzales, a redshirt freshman, moved to 11-4 with the win giving FHSU a 33-6 advantage.

Andrew Ubben, ranked #4 in the nation, was declared the winner at 285 pounds to make the final 39-6 in favor of Fort Hays State. The Tigers sit at 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as they resume action at the NWCA Division II National Duals this coming weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Tigers will take on Shippensburg (Pa.) in the first round of the tournament. The Tigers have been placed as the #6 seed in the bracketing. The event will last two days, January 13-14. Brackets are available on the "schedule" link of the http://www.fhsuathletics.com wrestling menu.