APODACA DUALS COMMENCE FRIDAY

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

Nearly three months competing away from home will come to an end for the Northwest College wrestling team, as they host the Apodaca Duals on Friday and Saturday. That will be the first action after returning home from the NJCAA Coaches Duals on Jan. 12 and 13 in Miami, Oklahoma, where the Trappers had strong individual performances but finished 1-3 in duals.    

APODACA DUALS
The annual event will kick off on Friday night at 6 p.m. with an awards ceremony that will present the Apodaca Award to one Trapper wrestler.

That ceremony will be followed by a pair of duals, where No. 6-ranked Northwest will take on North Idaho and Northeastern Junior College will take on Snow College.

Action will resume on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., with the fixtures shifted as Northwest will take on Northeastern and North Idaho will take on Snow.

At 11:30 a.m. a new opponent will join the rotation, as Northwest will take on No. 1-ranked Western Wyoming and North Idaho will take on Snow.

Apart from a top 10 dual, the matchup will feature a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2 as Northwest's Aziz Fayzullaev will attempt to take the No. 1 spot at 184 weight from Darion Johnson of Western.

"Hopefully we will get a chance to settle that, at least for the time being. They are both high quality kids and excited for that match," coach Jim Zeigler said.

Finishing up the day at 1 p.m. the Trappers will take on Snow and North Idaho will take on Northeastern.

"This time of year you are going to get everyone's best lineups," Zeigler said.    

NJCAA COACHES DUALS
Earlier in January the Trappers made the long trip to Oklahoma to take part in the national duals, matching up with top teams from around the country.

"It was a good trip for the team, good team bonding," Zeigler said. "The team handled everything really well and conducted themselves well on the road."

In pool play, Northwest matched up with Triton College out of Illinois, the team the Trappers are tied with for the No. 6-ranked position nationally.

A forfeit at 125 pounds put Northwest behind, and an 11-6 decision at 133 pounds made it 9-0 in favor of Triton.

A 9-5 decision at 141, a 7-5 decision at 149 and a pin at 157 pounds helped Triton expand its lead and make it 21-0.

The first win for Northwest came at 165 pounds via Orrin Jackson, who got a major decision at 14-0 to make it 21-4.

A 19-4 tech fall at 174 pounds followed and a 19-11 major decision at 184 pounds secured the win for Triton at 30-4.

"Aziz was still out and it's a big turn. In a lot of cases at 184 we were giving up six points and that's a place we usually get six points. That's a 12-point swing in almost every dual for us," Zeigler said.

Josh Womack got a forfeit at 197 before Cody Pinkerton got a pin in 57 seconds at heavyweight as part of his strong weekend as the top ranked wrestler in his weight class.

"Cody did a great job, he was undefeated through the whole weekend," Zeigler said. "Josh entered the lineup for the first time and did a good job."

In the second pool play matchup the Trappers came up against Cowley College out of Kansas.

A forfeit at 125 and major decisions at 133 and 141 pounds helped Cowley build a 14-0 lead.

Caleb Nadig got Northwest on the board with a pin in 4:28 to cut into the lead.

Cowley answered with three straight pins and a forfeit at 157, 165, 174 and 184 pounds to put the contest out of reach before Northwest got two wins late.

Womack got a pin in 3:51 and Pinkerton followed with a pin in 3:26 to make the final score 36-18 after Cowley was deducted two points due to unsportsmanlike conduct.

The two losses placed the Trappers in the consolation bracket, taking on Morton College out of Illinois.

A forfeit at 125 gave Morton a lead before Kaiden Rubash earned a pin in 28 seconds to jumpstart the Trappers.

Treyson Davila got a forfeit at 141 pounds, Nadig earned a 19-1 tech fall, Jack Lounsbury earned a 20-1 tech fall, Jackson got a pin (1:30) and Jesse Thornton earned a pin (2:08) to make it 34-6.

"Orrin and Caleb did a great job," Zeigler said.

A major decision at 184 pounds for Morton made it 34-10, before Womack earned a pin (2:10) and Pinkerton got another pin (1:29) to make the final score 46-10.

The final dual of the weekend came against No. 17-ranked Southwestern Oregon CC.

A forfeit followed by a pin and a tech fall gave Southwestern Oregon a 17-0 lead after the first three weights.

Nadig answered with a 20-3 tech fall, before Southwestern Oregon got a pin at 157 to make it 23-5.

Northwest cut into the lead via a 14-0 major decision by Jackson at 165 and Kendell Cummings earned a forfeit at 174 pounds to make it 23-15.

A pin at 184 helped Southwestern Oregon put the match just out of reach, before a forfeit at 197 pounds and a pin by Pinkerton (3:46) made the final score 29-27.

"Even though we didn't win the duals I liked the way the guys were wrestling. They were wrestling with good energy and wrestling hard."