Max Steigauf / Sports Director / @MSteigauf

The #5 St. Cloud State Huskies beat the #10 Upper Iowa Peacocks yesterday 27-9.

The match started at heavyweight with #10 Zach Ryg beating Huskies’ freshman Elijah Novak by a narrow 2-0 margin.

The Huskies wouldn’t be kept down for very long. #7 Paxton Creese would outlast Colby Lopez 5-3 to tie the dual at three apiece.

At 133 Caleb Meekins ended the match :27 seconds into the second period pinning the Peacocks’ Kaden Anderlik in the cow catcher. St. Cloud wouldn’t look back after taking a 9-3 lead.

#11 Alyeus Craig squared off against #4 Tate Murty. Craig would start off strong taking Murty down in the first period. Murty would reverse Craig late in the first and would ride Craig out in the next two periods as well as getting a stall point. By the end of the match Murty escaped with a 4-2 win over Craig.

#8 Joey Bianchini looked great in his 149 match. After a flurry of action in the first period Ethen Doty would jump out to a 4-0 lead in the final minute. Bianchini would reverse Doty in the final five seconds to cut into the lead 4-2. In the second Bianchini would easily handle Doty but couldn’t find a way to turn him. Bianchini would tie the match up early in the third finishing a double leg takedown to tie the match 4-4. Bianchini would ride Doty out to finish the match with three minutes of ride time, more than enough for the extra riding point to give Bianchini a 5-4 win.

At 157 Blake Legred faced Eric Faught. The first period would end scoreless, but Legred would lock up a tilt to score two-points of the near-fall in the second period. Legred would score a takedown late in the third to take a 4-0 lead. Legred would receive the ride point at the end of the match to win 5-0.

The Huskies won the next two matches thanks to a 5-3 decision from Anthony Herrera. With his win Herrera now has 75 career wins in college.

The Huskies followed that up with Bryce Dagel at 174. Dagel would ride a crucial three-point second period to a 3-2 victory over Scott Kellenberger.

The Peacocks would answer back with a win at 184 when Colter Bye beat Bryce Fitzpatrick in overtime 8-6. St. Cloud would then collect a free six points thanks to the peacocks leaving 197 open.

St. Cloud won the dual 34-6 with great performances from some of their younger wrestlers. The Huskies are now 12-1 in the overall and 5-1 in the NSIC which is good enough for second place. St. Cloud will wrestle U of Mary and Minot State next week. St. Cloud is starting to pick up steam as the season wraps around into the final stretch.