Titans Unable To Hold Early Lead Over Nationally Ranked Pioneers

Nationally ranked UW-Platteville won the last six bouts to overcome a six-point deficit and defeat the UW-Oshkosh wrestling team, 28-9, on Friday (Feb. 7) in Platteville.

UW-Oshkosh (4-10, 1-4 WIAC) built a 9-3 lead over the Pioneers (4-2, 3-2) as John DePersia, Colten Cashmore and Denis Murphy each registered a victory in the contest's first four bouts.

UW-Platteville then scored 25 straight points over the final six bouts, including 12 on pins by Chase Katzenmeyer and Nathan Wynsma, to rally back and pull away for the dual meet victory.

UW-Oshkosh opened the match with wins by DePersia at 184 pounds and Cashmore at 197. DePersia defeated Jacob Sklenar, 7-3, while Cashmore ousted Max Schmitz, 8-2. Cashmore improved his season record to 27-10 (4 pins) and four-year career mark to 90-42 (15 pins) with the victory.

UW-Platteville, ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division III by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, earned its first team points in the contest's third bout as Lucius Rinehart defeated Jordan Lemcke, 5-2, at 285 pounds.

The Titans reclaimed those team points in the next bout as Murphy edged Isaac Wiegel, 6-5, at 125 pounds.

The Pioneers then sliced their deficit to 9-6 on Luke Pradel's 5-2 win over AJ Schoenfuss at 133 pounds and took the lead for good at 12-9 on Katzenmeyer's pin of Eli Mondrella in 1:23 at 141.

UW-Platteville's Garrett Ruckdashel followed with his 2-1 win over Shane Dziadosz at 149 pounds before Pioneer Alexander Strueder defeated Muzi Sitshela by a 5-4 score.

UW-Platteville ended the match with Wynsma's pin of Oscar Ramos in 3:54 at 165 pounds and Nick Dado's 16-4 victory over AJ Stengel at 174.

UW-Oshkosh returns to action next Friday (Feb. 14) at the WIAC Championship in La Crosse. The Titans placed fourth at last year's championship with 103.5 points.

Photo courtesy of UW-Platteville Sports Information