Dutch wrestling nearly pulls upset in season opener
Central College
PELLA—The Central College wrestling team took Coe College to the brink, but the Dutch fell to the fifth-ranked Kohawks 23-16 in its Iowa Conference season opener Thursday.
The Dutch (0-1 overall, 0-1 conference) wrestled evenly with the Kohawks (1-0 overall, 1-0 conference) all match long. Both teams won five matches on the night, but three of Coe’s wins were by either technical falls or falls, earning them several bonus points.
Two Dutch wrestlers knocked off ranked Kohawks. Tyler Lowy (senior, Phoenix, Ariz., Thunderbird HS) earned a 5-2 decision over fourth-ranked Ryan Sheldon at 184 pounds. At 197 pounds, Matt Seabold (sophomore, Burlington) earned a 6-5 decision over third-ranked Donnie Horner for back-to-back victories over ranked wrestlers.
“It was a good night for both Tyler and Matt,” coach Eric Van Kley said. “Both of them feel good about those wins. But at the same time both of them know there is some things they have got to work on. Tyler and Matt wrestle each other every day in practice and push each other. That gives them a lot of confidence that they can wrestle with anybody in the country and get big wins like they did tonight.”
The Dutch got off to a fast start with a pair of wins at 125 and 133. Sixth-ranked 125-pounder Daniel Page (senior, Tumwater, Wash.) won by decision 10-3 to open the match. Aaron Anderson (junior, Clarion, Iowa, Clarion-Goldfield HS) followed that up with a 12-4 major decision to give the Dutch an early 7-0 lead.
“We’ve got a senior and a junior, who are two of our captains, at 125 and 133,” Coach Van Kley said. “They wrestled with a lot of heart tonight. They not got only wins, but were attacking bonus points. That momentum really helped get things started for us and get the crowd into it.”
Coe went on a run by winning the next four matches and taking a 17-7 lead. But senior Sam Apland (Woodridge, Ill., Downers Grove South HS) staved off the run by earning a hard-fought 4-3 decision at 174 pounds. Lowy and Seabold’s wins came next and the Dutch pulled with one point to make it 17-16 heading into the last match of the night. A raucous crowd at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium may have aided Central’s late surge said Van Kley.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Van Kley said. “I can’t thank the Central students and fans enough for coming out. It was just a great atmosphere for us and it’s exciting to see.”
Despite the loss, Van Kley is optimistic that good things are ahead for his team.
“I think we saw some things that we felt good about tonight,” Van Kley said. “I think collectively as a team we also saw we have got to get a lot better. We’re going to be wrestling ranked teams all year in the Iowa Conference. We’ve just got to keep improving and getting tougher in some spots. It’s going to be a fun year.”
Central heads to Minnesota Saturday for the Auggie Brute Open hosted by Augsburg (Minn.). The action starts at 9 a.m.
