No. 18 Oregon State Wrestlers Fall to Oregon, 18-15
Oregon State University - January 17, 1997

EUGENE, Ore. - Oscar Wood's streak survived but Oregon State's didn't Friday night, as Oregon ended OSU's 11-match unbeaten streak in Civil War wrestling with an 18-15 win at McArthur Court. Hood, the Beavers' 134-pound All-American, stayed unbeaten this season but had to go to overtime to defeat Jeremy Ensrud.

OSU, tied for l8th in this week`s nationa1 po11, had beaten Oregon 22-16 in the Reno College Duals on Jan. 2. The two teams meet at Glll Coliseum Feb. 14 to decide the season series.

On Friday, both teams won five matches but the difference was Scott Norton's pin of Oregon State's Jason Gutches at 156 pounds. 0SU (11-5 overall, 2-1 Pacific-10) hadn't lost a dual meet to Oregon (5-2, 3-0) since a 25-15 loss in Eugene in 1991.

"It's a big win for them and they wrestled tough," said Oregon State coach Joe Wells, who lost a dua1 to the Ducks for the first time in his four-plus seasons at OSU. "They won some key matches, and we had some surprises, too.

Coach (Ron) Finley did a great job and they deserved to win. We've got a number of things to work on."
Wood, ranked fourth in the nation at 134 pounds, improved to 27-0 but needed some late dramatics to do it. After Ensrud took him down with 17 seconde left in regulation to grab a 4-3 lead, Wood scored an encape with 10 seconds to go to even the score at 4-4. He finished off Ensrud with a takedown 43 seconds into overtime.

"I stayed pretty calm,' Wood said. 'I had confidence in myself. I knew if I was patient, I'd get the takedown. I'm just mad at myself for letting it get there; the more I think about it, the more upset I am at myself for letting it get that close."

OSU was without Isaac Wood, who has a 21-2 record at 150 pounds but was a late scratch due to illness. Oscar Wood felt sickness had some other Beavers at less than their best, 'but they beat us today," he said. "You've got to take your hat off to them for that."

Justin Vaughan, wrestling up a weight at 150 pounds to fill in for Isaac Wood, earned a decision for the Beavers. Other OSU winners were Jason Buce at 118 pounds, Sanders Freed at 177 And Mat Orndorff at heavyweight.

By the time the meet reached the heavyweights, the best OSU could hope for was a tie if Orndorff pinned Rich Polkinghorn, Orndorff controlled Polkinghorn for much of the match but couldn't put him on his back and finished with an 8-2 decision.

Two key matches were at 126 and 167 pounds. At 126, OSU's Jake Whisenhunt and Oregon's David Perkins had split two earlier meetings this season; Perkins took a 5-3 win on Friday. At 167, OSU's Clint Wilson and Oregon's Kevin Keeney had also beaten each other once this season; on Friday, Keeney earned a 7-5 decision.

OSU will be at 12th-ranked Cal State-Bakersfield on Friday and at 16th-ranked Fresno State on Saturday.

OREGON 18, OREGON STATE 15
118Jason Buce, OSU, dec. MIke Mier, UO, 6-2
126David Perkins, UO, dec. Jake Whisenhunt, OSU, 5-3
134Oscar Wood, OSU, dec. Jeremy Ensrud, UO, 6-4 (OT)
142Dusty Roberts, UO, dec. Josh Whisenhunt, OSU, 3-1
150Justin Vaughan, OSU, dec. Jake Sellers, UO, 12-10
158Scott Norton, UO, pinned Jason Gutches, OSU, 4:53
167Kevin Keeney, UO, dec. Clint Wilson, OSU, 7-5
177Sanders Freed, OSU, dec. Troy Hughes, UO, 9-3
180Chael Sonnen, UO, dec. Jeramie York, OSU, 11-5
HWTMat Orndorff, OSU, dec. Rich Polkinghorn, UO, 8-2

Attendance 1,005


[OSU Wrestling 1997]
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