Sooners defeat UALR, North Dakota State

NORMAN — The Oklahoma Sooners wrestling teams went 2-0 last weekend with two home dual victories — a 26-10 win over Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday, followed by a 29-7 victory over North Dakota State on Sunday — at McCasland Field House.

In Thursday’s win over UALR, after securing three titles at the Michigan State Open the previous weekend, the No. 20 Sooners kept their momentum going by winning seven matches against the Trojans, earning bonus points in two bouts. The non-conference battle was highlighted by a top-15 match-up in the 197-pound weight class, as No. 2 Stephen Buchanan earned a dramatic takedown in the closing seconds to defeat No. 15 Stephen Little of Arkansas-Little Rock.

The 149-pounders started the match, which meant No. 17 Willie McDougald was the first to take the mat for the Sooners. He faced Jake Adams and wasted no time getting points on the board. Five takedowns and four near fall points helped McDougald to his first tech fall of the year, winning 19-4 (6:38).

Next up was No. 33 John Wiley, who was still searching for his first win in dual action this season. At 157 pounds, Wiley fell to UALR’s Matty Bianchi via 10-2 major decision.

At 165, No. 15 Cael Carlson battled with Little Rock’s Brendan Abdon. Abdon carried a 7-4 lead into the second period, but a couple of big takedowns gave Carlson the 13-8 decision victory. Four of Carlson’s five wins on the year have come by decision.

No. 13 Tate Picklo lost his bout with Tyler Brennan via 4-3 decision. The junior from Mustang tied the match late with an escape, but Brennan managed to score at the buzzer to give the Trojans three team points.

No. 19 Giuseppe Hoose joined his teammate Buchanan in earning a 4-1 decision win. At 184 pounds, Hoose defeated No. 33 Triston Wills by scoring a third period escape and takedown.

At 285, No. 14 Josh Heindselman (5-0) put his undefeated record on the line against No. 28 Josiah Hill. The two heavyweights kept it close but a final period takedown proved to be enough for the redshirt senior, as Heindselman escaped with a 4-3 decision win.

Freshman Conrad Hendriksen found himself in another tightly contested and dramatic bout at 125 pounds. The Carrollton, Texas native flipped a tie with a takedown in the final seconds of the third period to secure a buzzer-beating 9-6 decision.

At 133 pounds, No. 26 Jace Koelzer was defeated by No. 23 Nasir Bailey via 6-2 decision.

In the final bout of the night, No. 9 Mosha Schwartz pinned Brennan Van Hoecke at 6:09. Schwartz earned his second win of the season as a top-10 competitor at 141 pounds.

Mannix Morgan and Kaden Smith competed in extra matches prior to the start of the dual. Morgan faced Bilal Bailey, a 165-pounder, and lost in a 6-3 decision. Smith earned a win by pinning Joshua Sarpy at 5:00 in a 133-pound bout.

In Saturday’s victory over North Dakota State, the Sooners (3-0 overall) used four bonus-point wins for their third straight contest scoring 26-or-more points. The win also capped off a perfect record in the month of November for OU.

After 12 years of lining up on the North Dakota State bench, Sunday’s dual marked the first time OU coach Roger Kish squared off against his former team.

Hendriksen got the first win of the afternoon for the Sooners, downing NDSU’s Carlos Negrete Jr. by 3-1 decision. Negrete Jr. gave up a pair of stalling points which proved to be the difference as both wrestlers scored only an escape on the mat in the 125-pound bout.

At 133 pounds, Koelzer secured an 8-2 decision win over Ryan Henningson. Koelzer earned a pair of takedowns and two escape points to give the Sooners a 6-0 lead. Koelzer last faced Henningson as a 125-pounder at Northern Colorado, beating the senior via 12-4 major decision in 2022.

Schwartz kept the momentum rolling for OU, downing No. 30 Gavin Drexler by 16-7 major decision in the 141-pound bout. No. 9 Schwartz got a takedown on Drexler early and turned it into four swipes. The senior would grow his lead to 13-0 before Drexler mounted a comeback with an escape and two takedowns of his own. One final takedown for Schwartz in the final minute earned the Sooners a bonus point.

In the 149-pound bout, McDougald got the win by 7-5 decision over Maxwell Petersen. Two takedowns and an escape were enough to tack on three more points for the Sooners.

Junior Jared Hill was defeated by NDSU’s Landen Johnson in his season-dual debut, via 7-3 decision at 157 pounds.

The most impressive win of the day came in the 165-pound bout, where Carlson, a Minnesota transfer, racked up three minutes of riding time to go with two takedowns to pick up a 9-0 major decision over Brendan Howes. Sunday marked Carlson’s first shutout since defeating Howes as a member of the Golden Gophers at the 2022 Bison Open.

Picklo bounced back from a loss on Friday by defeating the Bison’s 174-pound competitor, Gaven Sax. A late takedown resulted in a major as the junior rode out Sax for the 11-2 bonus point win.

At 184 pounds, No. 19 Giuseppe Hoose suffered his second loss of the season, losing to freshman Adam Cherne. In his Bison debut, Cherne added four takedowns to pull of the 18-6 major decision.

Buchanan, a senior, took control of the 197-pound match, dominating Spencer Mooberry via 17-2 tech fall in five minutes. The Wyoming transfer tallied four takedowns and a near fall en route to his fourth tech fall win of the season.

Heindselman finished the dual off with a 5-2 decision over Devon Dawson. An escape, takedown and riding time point improved the heavyweight’s record to a perfect 7-0.

OU returns to the mat next Friday in Colombia, Mo., at 7 p.m. for a Big-12 match-up with No. 4 Missouri. The Sooners travel straight to No. 24 West Virginia for a 1 p.m. contest on Dec. 3 in Morgantown.