Westminster vs. William Woods Dual (Take Two)

With mutual respect coming from both programs, it is a no-brainer that these teams scheduled each other twice a year.  It also helps that their campuses are mere blocks apart.  It was also senior night for the Westminster Blue Jays.  Seniors JT Roberts and Wyatt Cooley were honored prior to the dual.  Both wrestlers will be graduating this spring upon the completion of the semester.  

Earlier this season, when these two teams met it was a close dual and the fans were anticipating another close, hard-fought dual.  That is exactly what they got.   With multiple lead changes throughout the night., and with each team claiming five matches each of the ten contested weights, it was a quality dual that both teams have something they can use to build momentum as they approach the postseason in less than six weeks.  It should be noted that Westminster won the dual earlier in the season by just one point with a score of 23-22.  

Each team claimed a win in the first two weights with Westminster taking a narrow 6-3 lead.  Westminster would follow up at 141 and 149 with their two seniors in the lineup, they built their up to 15-3.   Due to injuries in both of their lineups, there was some shifting in each to their lineups.  These shifts favored William Woods as they won three consecutive matches from 157 lbs. Through the 174 lbs match.

These three wins gave William Woods Owls the lead (17-15) entering the 184 lb match.  With sophomore Austen Wetzel going for Westminster, the Owls’ lead wouldn’t hold for long as he needed just over one minute to tech fall his opponent 18-3.  With the tech fall, Westminster took the lead back (20-17).  Cole Harrell returned to the Westminster lineup and took a forfeit at 197 lbs. weight class to give Westminster the dual cliniching points needed to secure the win.  In the heavyweight match, Ben Stephens pinned Michael Carpenter in the first period.  The final score of the dual was 26-23 in favor of Westminster.  Westminster improves to 8-7 on the year in duals and William Woods drops to 1-8.  

It should be noted that there was one exhibition match for these teams and the William Woods wrestler claimed victory in that match via a pin in the first period.  

Up Next:

Both teams will be on the road the remainder of the season and postseason.  The Westminster Blue Jays’ next scheduled competition is the tough Missouri Valley Open on Saturday February 1st.  The William Woods Men’s team will also be traveling to Missouri Valley over the next two weekends.  This weekend is the Missouri Valley Invite (Just NAIA schools) and there are 55 teams scheduled to attend with several teams ranked in the top 25 at the NAIA level along with many individually ranked wrestlers as well.  The following weekend at the Missouri Valley Open, there are 80+ teams (NAIA, NCAA, and Juco) scheduled including Westminster and William Woods.  

Below are the individual match results for the dual between Westminster and William Woods.