The Red Raider wrestling team fell to Briar Cliff Wednesday night, 24-16. The Chargers move to 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the GPAC while the Raiders fall to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the GPAC.

The night started off with the 197 pounders and D'rell Gist would earn the Raiders an early lead with a 5-3 decision. There was potential for a major decision early but Caleb Shanks weathered the Gist storm and was able to kep Gist's attack away. 

The 3-0 lead would quickly fade as Matthew Wilke would capitalize on an over-rotation by Skyler Bonestroo and would finish the match 1:03 into the match with a fall. It would be the beginning of a strong stretch for BCU.

CaRon Watson would also get a pin in the first period after fighting off a scrappy Sean Heeney. Isiah Lysius would make it three falls in a row after slowly wearing down Noah Kryfka for the 2nd period pin.

The win streak would continue for Briar Cliff as Andrew Shea would earn a tight upset decision of Dante Preciado who could not escape the riding of Shea. BCU would lead 21-3 halfway through the dual. 

Austin Hendrickson would get NWC back in the win column with a gusty win over 4th ranked (GPAC) Brad Wiggs. His 6-2 decision put the Raiders in position to make a run at the dual but Ben Peters looked to squash the momentum at the 157 weight class.

Peters would face Chase Peterson and would minute by minute, become more dominant and would earn a bonus point for riding time along with his 3 takedowns, winning 7-2.

The dual would end on a strong stretch for the Raiders and it started with Andrew Null (1st in the GPAC) dominating Chris Paulsen (2nd in the GPAC) in the match of the night. Null would continually take advantage over small overcompensation moves by Paulsen and he would keep attacking and eventually win via major decision 14-4.

Dylan Costello would win a tight match over James Buckhanan 4-2 and the night would end with a 9-4 Luke Jenness win over Jake Leicht.  

"I was really proud of the way we finished the dual winning 4 of the last 5," commented head coach Rik Dahl. "We showed a lot of grit against a tough Briar Cliff team who comes at you quick and they did a good job of shutting us down early. We have some things to work on but we have a confident group that is not afraid of hard work. We will be able to learn from this and take it into next Tuesday against Buena Vista."
 

Weight	Summary	NWC	BCU
197	D`rell Gist (Northwestern (Iowa)) over Caleb Shanks (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) (Dec 5-3)	3	0
285	Matthew Wilke (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) over Skyler Bonestroo (Northwestern (Iowa)) (Fall 1:03)	0	6
125	CaRon Watson (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) over Sean Heeney (Northwestern (Iowa)) (Fall 2:07)	0	6
133	Isiah Lysius (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) over Noah Kryfka (Northwestern (Iowa)) (Fall 4:25)	0	6
141	Andrew Shea (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) over Dante Preciado (Northwestern (Iowa)) (Dec 4-2)	0	3
149	Austin Hendrickson (Northwestern (Iowa)) over Brad Wiggs (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) (Dec 6-2)	3	0
157	Ben Peters (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) over Chase Peterson (Northwestern (Iowa)) (Dec 7-2)	0	3
165	Andrew Null (Northwestern (Iowa)) over Chris Paulsen (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) (MD 14-4)	4	0
174	Dylan Costello (Northwestern (Iowa)) over James Buckhanan (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) (Dec 4-2)	3	0
184	Luke Jenness (Northwestern (Iowa)) over Jake Leicht (Briar Cliff (Iowa)) (Dec 9-4)	3	0
	Team Score:	16	24

The Raiders return to the mat next Tuesday night at home against the Buena Vista Beavers. The first match will start at 7:30pm in the Bultman Center.