Upper Iowa's No. 19 wrestling team closed out their 2021 regular season on Thursday night at St. Cloud State University against the No. 1 Huskies. SCSU won nine of the ten matches in the dual including three bonus-point wins to secure a 33-6 win. Upper Iowa's Zach Ryg remained undefeated at 197 pounds with a win representing UIU's team points in the dual. The victory earned the Huskies a share of the Northern Sun Conference Championship and pushed their current dual win streak to 69. SCSU and Northern State University were both 5-0 this season in NSIC competition.
 
Upper Iowa fell behind 9-0 after No. 1 Kameron Teacher posted a major decision (12-4) over Bodie Garnier at heavyweight and Paxton Creese notched an 18-1 technical fall over Dakota Henry at 125 pounds.
 
At 133 pounds, Donny Schmit gave No. 1 Garrett Vos a run for his money. After Schmit scored a reversal early in the third period, he trailed by two, 4-2, but dropped one final takedown to Vos while going for the tying score. Vos won the bout 6-2.
 
Tate Murty had a battle with No. 4 Joey Bianchini at 141 pounds using a three-point second period to finish the seven minutes tied 5-5 with Bianchini. The Husky wrestler came out on top thanks to a takedown in the sudden victory period to win 7-5 and push the home lead to 15-0.
 
No. 12 Eric Faught came out on the wrong end of a 3-2 decision at 149 pounds against Garrett Aldrich. An early takedown by Aldrich was the only offensive points scored in the match. The loss was Faught's first of the season.
 
No. 3 Chase Luensman toed the line for the 157-pound match and led 3-2 heading into the second period against Coby Njos. A 7-0 second period for Njos, fueled by a takedown and four nearfall points, put Luensman in a big hole heading into the final frame. UIU's top-ranked wrestler controlled the third period with an escape, a takedown and forced two stalling calls, but came up shy in his rally attempt dropping a 9-7 decision.
 
The Huskies sent No. 1 Devin FitzPatrick into the circle for the 165-pound bout against Scott Kellenberger. FitzPatrick grabbed an early 6-1 lead and then closed out the match at the 1:57 mark with a win by fall to push the Husky lead to 27-0.
 
Colter Bye and Devin Donovan met in the middle at 174 pounds; Donovan scored an escape and takedown in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. Bye escaped in the final period, but couldn't find the tying takedown as Donovan kept the SCSU momentum rolling with a 3-1 decision.
 
No. 10 Dalton Hahn faced off against No. 8 Billy Pitzner at 184 pounds in the only bout between ranked wrestlers on the night. Pitzner scored a takedown and scored two nearfall points in the first period and added a reversal in the second period to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Hahn had a long ride on top during the second period up until the reversal and posted a takedown in the third period, but couldn't get a turn to score any back points and lost 6-2.
 
In the final bout of the dual, UIU's Zach Ryg put his undefeated 5-0 record on the line against No. 5 Noah Ryan. Ryan was first to score in the second period with an escape, while Ryg evened the match quickly at 1-1 with an early escape in the third period. Ryan scored a quick takedown on Ryg, but UIU's redshirt freshman escaped again and then got a takedown with 32 seconds to go in the final period. The takedown gave Ryg a 4-3 lead, but the match was stopped due to an injury for Ryan. Ryg was awarded the victory by injury default setting the final score to 33-6.
 
In the two extra matches, the Huskies came out on the winning end as well. Dominic Murphy outlasted Myron Crawford by decision 4-1 and Riley Vanik ended the night with a win by fall at 6:58 over Jordan Baumler.
 
Upper Iowa will now have two weeks to prep for the NCAA Super Region V Championship in Aberdeen, S.D. Northern State University will host the regional event on Saturday, Feb. 27 in the Wachs Arena.
 
#1 St. Cloud State 33 – #19 Upper Iowa 6
285: Kameron Teacher (SCSU) over Bodie Garnier (UIU) (MD 12-4)
125: Paxton Creese (SCSU) over Dakota Henry (UIU) (TF 18-1 3:23)
133: Garrett Vos (SCSU) over Donny Schmit (UIU) (Dec 6-2)
141: Joey Bianchini (SCSU) over Tate Murty (UIU) (SV-1 7-5)
149: Garrett Aldrich (SCSU) over Eric Faught (UIU) (Dec 3-2)
157: Coby Njos (SCSU) over Chase Luensman (UIU) (Dec 9-7)
165: Devin Fitzpatrick (SCSU) over Scott Kellenberger (UIU) (Fall 1:57)
174: Devin Donovan (SCSU) over Colter Bye (UIU) (Dec 3-1)
184: William Pitzner (SCSU) over Dalton Hahn (UIU) (Dec 6-2)
197: Zach Ryg (UIU) over Noah Ryan (SCSU) (Inj. 6:28)
 
Extra Matches:
174: Dominic Murphy (SCSU) over Myron Crawford (UIU) (Dec 4-1)
285: Riley Vanik (SCS) over Jordan Baumler (UIU) (Fall 6:58)