Know the Opponent: No. 6 OSU vs Oklahoma

Rowdy Baribeau Staff Reporter

Luke Surber held former Cowboy wrestler Keegan Moore’s back to the mat for more than 20 seconds before the referee slammed his hand to the mat.

The Cowboys won the dual 21-15. It was a fitting finish to the most recent installment in the long history of the Bedlam wrestling series.

Compared to where they were in December at the time of the dual, the Cowboys were ranked No. 12. They’ve since climbed to No. 6 and Oklahoma has struggled in Big 12 play, the Cowboys are going into the dual trying to defeat the Sooners by a larger margin than they did in McCasland Fieldhouse.

Victor Voinovich was visibly in disbelief and heartbreak after he dropped his first Bedlam match against Mitch Moore. The 149-pound match will be one of the top matches to watch, even though he’s not the only Cowboy wrestling grudge matches on Thursday.

Wyatt Sheets dropped his penultimate Bedlam match to Gerrit Nijenhuis in sudden victory, 6-5. After wrestling through one of the toughest weight classes in the nation at 165, the rematch between the two could be just as electric as the 149-pound match.

Reece Witcraft and Joey Prata have never met. Prata has been a tough match for former starter Trevor Mastrogiovanni the past two seasons. Witcraft, newly ranked in Intermat’s top 33, has wrestled tough matches ever since he became the starter at 125 pounds.

Oklahoma heavyweight Josh Heindselman has become infamous among OSU fans. His flair after wins against OSU and fight with former OSU wrestler AJ Ferrari are two instances that many know him for.

When Surber was at heavyweight, Heindselman defeated him in sudden victory in their first match. Surber won the next two. In December, Heindselman defeated Konner Doucet in the tiebreaker round.

If history repeats itself… all that can be said is there is going to be some fireworks in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Projected Lineup:

125: No. 28 Reece Witcraft vs. No. 30 Joey Prata

133: No. 2 Daton Fix vs. No. 28 Wyatt Henson

141: No. 15 Carter Young vs. No. 7 Mosha Schwartz

149: No. 20 Victor Voinovich vs. No. 19 Mitch Moore

157: No. 9 Kaden Gfeller vs. Jacob Butler

165: No. 23 Wyatt Sheets vs. No. 21 Gerrit Nijenhuis

174: No. 11 Dustin Plott vs. No. 22 Tate Picklo

184: No. 10 Travis Wittlake vs. Keegan Moore

197: No. 17 Luke Surber vs. Seth Seago

HWT: No. 22 Konner Doucet vs. No. 15 Josh Heindselman

Big 12...

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“But being on the road is tough, and we’re excited to get back on our home court. Played Iowa State within you know, what was it five? OU, I know it isn’t until March, but that was a four point game. Just all those teams are all those games just feeling like man, just wait till we get back on our home court. So that’s something that we’re really excited about.”

The Cowgirls will finish out the season with two of the five games at home. OSU will host Iowa State and Oklahoma, two teams that they lost to within 5 points on the road. Hoyt has emphasized that the home crowd can make an impact in those close games.

The Cowgirls will look to fix some of the errors from their past games against the Big 12, and build off of the performances they have had this season. Cowgirls center Kassidy De Lapp expresses what she believes the Cowgirls need to improve on in these last few games.

“I think it’s focusing on stuff that we might have missed the first time,” De Lapp said. “I think we played everybody really tough, really close, but just to focus in on where we lost focus or where we could be better even if we want to get because everyone is going to give you their best shot, especially in the second round. So to just keep getting better and getting 1% better every day. I think it just prepares you for that game.” sports.ed@ocolly.com