Forrest Wins an Instant Classic, Cowboys Beat Hokies 19-12

A rematch of last year’s 133-pound Pennsylvania state final might end up being the 2025-26 college wrestling season’s match of the year.

Oklahoma State beat Virginia Tech 19-12 on Sunday in Blacksburg in a dual that featured two freshmen phenoms slugging it out at 133 pounds in No. 10 Jax Forrest vs. No. 6 Aaron Seidel.

Both men came into the bout unbeaten in their freshman seasons. Forrest joined the Cowboys at the semester after starting the school year at Bishop McCort High School in Pennsylvania. Seidel entered this dual at 12-0, winning all of those matches via bonus points.

They last met in that high school state final, where Forrest denied Seidel a fourth state title, beating him 7-1 in a match that was closer than that score indicated. Seidel had to go for a big throw late and ended up giving up a second takedown.

So, that was all the set up. And then the match lived up to the hype.

Seidel was on the attack first, scoring a pair of takedowns in the first period. He took a 6-1 lead into the second.

Forrest escaped to start the second and turned a takedown into four nearfall points, quickly flipping the match on its head to take a 9-6 lead.

Seidel scored another takedown in the third. While trying to fend it off, Forrest nearly threw himself on his back, but he was quick enough to roll back over to not give up any back points. Forrest escaped to make it 10-9 and was able to hold onto that to win.

Forrest lost the takedown count 3-1 but was able to win because of his ability to keep Seidel on his back. There were a few occasions where Seidel was close to back points but Forrest would find his way out just in time.

That marks Forrest’s fifth date, meaning if he wrestles again, his redshirt is gone. Ronnie Ramriez is in the same boat, so whichever guy runs out against Iowa next weekend is almost certainly OSU’s guy for the postseason.

That was one of two must-watch matches for this dual, but the Cowboys came out on the wrong end of the other.

In a rematch of last season’s NCAA semifinals, Troy Spratley dropped his match against Eddie Ventresca 2-1 in tiebreakers. It had some similarities to that NCAA semifinal, which also went to tiebreakers.

In Sunday’s tiebreaker period, Ventresca got out in just six seconds, but Spratley instantly jumped back in on a takedown attempt. He was able to finish that takedown at NCAAs last year but ran out of time Sunday. Ventresca was then able to ride Spratley in the next frame to win it.

Spratley was the aggressor throughout the match. But in a dual that featured a liberal amount of stall calls, Ventresca wasn’t flagged for one until late and never picked up a second, which would’ve given Spratley a decisive point.

Outside of those two bouts, it was a bit of a funky dual. Virginia Tech won four matches but didn’t get a takedown in any of those bouts. In fact, the only takedowns the Hokies got all dual were those three from Seidel.

The Cowboys also wrestled a pair of backups in Beau Hickman at 149 and Trevor Dopps at 184. Hickman lost in sudden victory, and Dopps lost 2-0.

Sergio Vega got bonus points for the Cowboys at 141, beating No. 22 Tom Crook 11-2. Vega was up 4-0 heading into the third and turned it on with two takedowns in the third to push into bonus territory.

The bout at 197 pounds was a Top 15 matchup that went the Hokies’ way. No. 14 Sammy Sasso beat No. 7 Cody Merrill 2-1 off a somewhat controversial call.

Merrill had a 1-0 lead to start the third period and was trying to ride Sasso out for a win. Sasso separated himself on the edge of the mat only for Merrill to dive right back in. The official initially ruled no escape, but then after a review, he ruled an escape and Merrill got hit with a stall, his second. That made it 2-1, where it finished. Merrill was in on a takedown attempt late but ran out of time.

That meant the dual went to heavyweight with OSU leading 16-12, but Konner Doucet pulled out a nice 6-1 win against No. 17 Jimmy Mullen to put it on ice.

That was the Cowboys’ last road dual of the season, as all that’s left before the Big 12 Championships is a date with Iowa next Sunday.

Results

Up Next

What: Oklahoma State vs. Iowa
When: 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Watch: ESPN