Recap:
William Woods hosted their second home dual of the season against their NCAA DIII neighbor, Westminster College. Both teams entered tonight’s dual below .500 on the season. Both teams are looking to catch some momentum before heading into the second half of the season. The local fans who have a vetting interest in one or both sides of this contest were treated to some back-and-forth matches and a team score that came down to the wire. Everything a fan of the sport could want in a dual happened inside Anderson Arena on Tuesday night.
After some last minute lineup changes due to injury, dropping to a new weight class, or some of the student-athletes needing to complete their final exams/projects, etc. The teams would end up splitting forfeit points (125 lbs and 285 lbs) and there was a double forfeit at 197 lbs. This left 7 contested varsity matches and then three exhibition matches for several of each team’s backup wrestlers.
All of the contested matchups except for one, were bonus points wins for either Westminster or William Woods. Westminster would have had two pins and tech fall, while William Woods would earn a tech fall and two major decisions.
The highlight match of the night was at 174 lbs. featuring sophomore Elijah Brocksmith of William Woods and Westminster’s Freshman Aidyn Merchant. During the first period there was plenty of action with Brocksmith scoring first with a takedown. Merchant would escape quickly and then counter with a takedown of his own. Brocksmith would escape in the waning seconds of the first period but then gave up a last-second takedown near the edge of the mat. At the end of the first period, it was 7-4 in favor of the freshman Merchant. Merchant chose down to start the second period as he had the slight advantage in riding time. However, that would prove to be a costly mistake as Brocksmith was able to ride him out for the full two minutes, which would prove vital at the end of the match.
At the start of the 3rd, Brocksmith chose neutral and knew what he had to do to win. Takedowns. He would secure two takedowns and earn a stalling point while yielding one escape to complete a comeback victory for the William Woods Owls. With the riding time bonus point added, it was a final score of 12-8 for Elijah Brocksmith.
Despite the incredible tenacity on display by Brocksmith, it wouldn’t be enough as Westminster would edge out a 1 point dual victory by a final score of 23 to 22. William Woods dropped to 1-7 on the season and Westminster pulled even at 3-3 heading into their next dual tournament on Saturday.
Below is the link that you can use to watch the replay of the dual between William Woods and Westminster:
https://team1sports.com/wwuowls/?B=1810945
Below are the individual match-by-match results for the dual.
| 125 | Kannon Blagg (Westminster) over Unknown (For.) | ||
| 133 | Easton DeMilia (William Woods University ) over Henry Warfel (Westminster) (TF 17-2 2:32) | ||
| 141 | Wyatt Cooley (Westminster) over Kael Glenn (William Woods University ) (TF 23-8 7:00) | ||
| 149 | Lane Kimbley (William Woods University ) over Jonathan Roberts (Westminster) (MD 11-3) | ||
| 157 | Michael Roberts (Westminster) over Whit Nichols (William Woods University ) (Fall 0:27) | ||
| 165 | Alexander Sederburg (William Woods University ) over Brendon Marquess (Westminster) (MD 15-3) | ||
| 174 | Elijah Brocksmith (William Woods University ) over Aidyn Merchant (Westminster) (Dec 12-8) | ||
| 184 | Austen Wetzel (Westminster) over Dominic Mullin (William Woods University ) (Fall 1:59) | ||
| 285 | Camarion Raino (William Woods University ) over Unknown (For.) | ||
| 133 | Extra: Easton DeMilia (William Woods University ) over Kannon Blagg (Westminster) (Fall 3:28) | ||
| 149 | Extra: Austen James (Westminster) over Hudson Karr (William Woods University ) (Fall 0:42) | ||
| 174 | Extra: Josef Planansky (William Woods University ) over Austen James (Westminster) (Fall 3:24) | ||
Up Next:
The Westminster Blue Jays will travel to Nebraska this weekend to the Prairie Wolf Duals to close out their December schedule. Those duals will take place in Lincoln, Nebraska, hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University. Right after New Year’s, the Westminster Blue Jays are back at it with another dual tournament in which they have had previous success, the Fred Johnson duals in Chicago, IL. On the other hand, the William Woods Owls are off the competition schedule until after the New Year. When they return, they will be at the Dr. Tom Smith Open, hosted by Missouri Baptist University on January 11th in St. Louis. Westminster Blue Jays are also expected to attend the tournament hosted by Missouri Baptist.
The next chance you can catch either team at home will be Wednesday, January 22nd when Westminster will take their turn at hosting the second dual meet of the season against William Woods. William Woods will be hosting Grand View (Iowa) to close out their home season on January 27th.