Max Steigauf / Sports Director / @MSteigauf

St. Cloud State wanted to make a statement in their final dual match of the season against the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs on Thursday.

The Huskies would establish dominance early thanks to #7 Paxton Creese’s third pin of the year. Creese caught Ben Emrich in a Peterson tilt and kept the Mustang on his back to give St. Cloud a 6-0 lead.

After a forfeit at 133 the Huskies would jump out to a 12-0 lead over the Mustangs. At 141 #11 Alyeus Craig would edge out SMSU’s Hunter Pfantz 5-3. Moving to 149 St. Cloud’s Cameron Riggs made his first appearance in a dual match since December 4 against San Fransico State, but Riggs showed no sign of rust easily dispatching Tyler Soltau 12-4 for a major decision. Through the first five matches the Huskies had catapulted themselves out to a 17-0 lead.

The Huskies didn’t stop Blake Legred would cling to a 1-0 lead and ended up winning the 157 match 1-0 in his senior night performance. St. Cloud would head into the intermission riding high with a 20-0 lead, but no one in Halenbeck hall could’ve seen what was coming up next.

Resuming the match at 165 Anthony Herrera put on a clinic, teching Lucas Hodges to give the Huskies a 25-0 lead. The real fireworks were about to come up with the 174 184- and 197-pound weight classes. At 174 #1 Abner Romero would catch Elijah Sterner in a highflyer and pin SMSU’s 174 pounder. At 184 Bryce Fitzpatrick would pin Kevin Bostwick in a power half late in the first period. Finally at 197 Dominic Murphey would cap off the pin parade winning his match in the third period.

St. Cloud would go on to blank the Mustangs 48-0 and finish the season 15-1 in dual matches. St. Cloud now will head to the Super Regional tournament in Aberdeen South Dakota on Feb. 25.