OSU gets big wins, pins when needed

By Brooks Hatch
Gazette-Times reporter

EUGENE — At first glance, Oregon State’s 35-7 decision over Oregon looked like another routine victory in a Civil War rivalry the Beavers have dominated for decades and now lead 105-24-4.

Appearances are often misleading, however, as two key matches resulted in a nine-point turnaround and turned what would have been a narrow OSU victory into a runaway and a season sweep of their arch rivals.

Wins by Brett Arand (165) and Kyle Bressler (184) enabled the 18th-ranked Beavers (15-2, 7-1) to take an insurmountable 26-7 advantage into the closing 197 and heavyweight bouts of their ninth consecutive win over the Ducks (6-12, 1-8). OSU also won 33-6 at Gill Coliseum on Dec. 8.

“It was a lot closer than the score looks,” OSU coach Jim Zalesky said, one aided by a combined eight team bonus points for Eric Stevenson’s major decision at 133 and falls by Arand and 197-pounder Travis Gardner.

“You always stress those bonus points, because when you get to tournament time they could be the difference with the Pac-10 race being so tight.

“We had some guys step up, like Derek Kipperberg (149), Keegan Davis (157) and Arand. They won some tough matches and we needed them because you never know what might happen at the end.”

The Beavers led 11-7 heading into Arand’s match with Jake McCoy. Arand dominated early but McCoy escaped, got a takedown and then a near fall after putting Arand on his back, inches close to a pin, as the first-period buzzer sounded.

“I thought I was out of bounds so I wasn’t too worried,” Arand said. “But I don’t like being on my back.”

Arand attacked quickly in the second period and pinned McCoy at 4:00. So instead of trailing 13-11, a definite possibility seconds before, the Beavers led 17-7.

“We got in a little scramble,” Arand said. “I thought he was being lazy so I tossed him over, put him on his back and that was it. It jump-started the team a little bit and got us going.”

Bressler and Brysen French were tied 2-2 heading into the third period at 184. Starting in the down position, French had 1:56 in riding time and victory was probable if he escaped.

However, Bressler didn’t let him break free, erased the riding time and forced an overtime.

He then prevailed 4-2 with a takedown with eight seconds remaining and the six-point turnaround sent OSU ahead 26-7 instead of 23-10 had he lost.

The Beavers got another big win from Stevenson, a senior, who moved up a weight class and earned a 17-4 major decision over fourth-ranked (Pac-10) Joey Lucas.

Stevenson stepped in for starter Bobby Pfennigs; Pfennigs and Kyle Larson (141) rested minor injuries that may also sideline them from Sunday’s duals against Stanford and North Dakota State at Gill Coliseum.

“The more matches the better,” Stevenson said. “I need the mat time.”