Pokes Hammer Fresno State 41–0 to Finish Out Regular Season in Dean Heil’s Last Dual

We knew going into today the Cowboys were heavy favorites in Fresno, and they looked the part. The Cowboys won every match on Sunday and pretty comfortably controlled all of them.

At 125 Nick Piccininni gave up an early takedown and after getting the escape it was all Nick the rest of the way as he picked up a third period tech fall. Kaid Brock at 133 got a few quick takedowns then picked up a fall in the 1st period. Dean Heil wrestling in his final dual match picked up a fall in the second period.

At 149, we got into some more interesting matches. Both 149 and 157 were two that we had pegged to be the best of the day and they lived up to it. At 149 Boo Lewallen got a reverse early in the second and back points to take a 6-0 lead. Khristian Olivas then came back with some scoring, but was never much of a threat to get back in it and Lewallen took the match 9-4.

At 157 Tristan Moran stepped in for the injured Jonce Blaylock. Moran was bumping up from 149 and wrestled at 141 last year, so he was very undersized here and it showed. But he hung in and kept it close into the third where he countered a shot for a takedown, locked up a cradle, and got back points. That ended up being the difference and he took the match 6-2.

At 165 Fresno State planned to forfeit and did. When they made that move Chandler Rogers was bumped up to 174 to get a match in, so both teams took a forfeit with no team points in either direction. Chandler then picked up a quick fall in the first period. Jacobe Smith is still out with an injury here.

Both 184 and 197 ended up being somewhat similar matches with the Cowboys picking up majors. Both guys really dominated on their feet and picking up a bunch of takedowns to separate the scores enough to get their bonus points.

Heavyweight was another match that we had pegged as one that could be interesting and Derek White completely dominated AJ Nevills from start to finish to pick up a major. I’m really intrigued to see what White will do at the NCAA tournament. The top two guys nationally at this weight are incredible. There are 8-10 guys that are on a tier right behind them and White has been a very impressive part of that tier, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can run through that second group and finish as an All-American.