LAKELAND, Fla. – The Fire scored big points in each victory. Southeastern University made it a pair of victories via five bonus-point wins to help take down No. 18 Oklahoma City University, 37-11, in the Fire Wrestling Duals.
After Oklahoma City claimed the first two wrestled weight classes and pulled four points, SEU ran off five wins in the final six matches, including heavyweight Gage Braun's first-period fall, putting an ending exclamation point on the victory.
SEU (4-0) had Brodie Christmas and Andrew Voiles hands raised for a 6-point forfeit in the opening 125- and 133-weight classes and 12-0 lead.
The Stars' Caden Manion held an 8-1 lead in the 141-bout over Drew Jones. The Fire grappler, though, was not done. After an escape for a 9-1 tally, Jones took down Manion and continued into a 3-point near fall to pull within, 9-7. Manion held on with a final escape for a 10-7 decision for OKC's first win.
At 149, the Fire's Mario De La Torre made the first move for a takedown of Keegan Luton. The visitor escaped, took down De La Torre two times and scored a pair of near fall back points for a 9-4 advantage. Luton extended the margin over the ensuing two periods until ending the matchup at 5:43 via a 22-6 tech fall and pulled OKC within 12-8.
Anthony Federico and Trace Braun halted the Stars' charge in the next two battles. In the 157-class, Federico wasted no time in what would be a dominating performance against Mercer Ashley. He took down the foe four times in the first period and had a 12-3 lead after three minutes. Federico added a trio of takedowns in the final two periods for a 23-6 tech fall in 5:56.
Trace Braun followed Federico's blueprint but in a quicker fashion. Braun took care of OKC's Alex Wilson at 165 with seven takedowns over a 2:05 timeframe for a 21-5 tech fall of his own. resulting SEU 21-8 new found lead.
The next matchup of SEU's Lenny Feliciano and OKC's Daxton DeFrange at 174 proved to be the tightest of the dual. The Fire entry went out to an early 6-1 score with a pair of takedowns and added a third for a 9-3 first three-minutes advantage. DeFrange battled back in the second with an escape and take down to cut his deficit to 9-7. In the third frame, Feliciano escaped, before DeFrange tied the bout, 10-10, on a takedown. The OKC wrestler claimed the 11-10 decision via having over a minute of riding time.
After the Stars' Bryce Milster scored an early takedown, the Fire's Jeffrey Geller escaped in the 184-pound match and kept the momentum with a takedown and a pair of 4- and 3-point near fall combinations and 12-1 lead. Geller reversed Milster in the second and turned it into another 4-point near fall before he ended the match at 5:29 with a third-period takedown for a 20-3 tech fall. The Geller victory secured the SEU team win at 26-11 with two matches left.
At 197, Trillyon Fils-Aime continued the bonus-point SEU wins. He secured a trio of takedowns and a 3-point near fall series for a 12-1 opening period lead. Fils-Aime took only 1:31 of the second period for the 19-1 tech fall victory over Rylan McClure.
Wrapping up the dual, Greg Braun handled OKC's Cooper Cook in only 1:59 of the first period. He secured four takedowns before his fifth resulted in a fall and ended the day.
SEU 37, No. 18 Oklahoma City University 11
125: Brodie Christmas (SOEA) over (OKCI) (For.) -- SEU 6-0
133: Andrew Voiles (SOEA) over (OKCI) (For.) -- SEU 12-0
141: Caden Manion (OKCI) over Drew Jones (SOEA) (Dec 10-7) – SEU 12-3
149: Keegan Luton (OKCI) over Mario De La Torre (SOEA) (TF 22-6 5:43) – SEU 12-8
157: Anthony Federico (SOEA) over Mercer Ashley (OKCI) (TF 23-6 5:56) -- SEU 17-8
165: Trace Braun (SOEA) over Alex Wilson (OKCI) (TF 21-5 2:05) – SEU 21-8
174: Daxton DeFrange (OKCI) over Lenny Feliciano (SOEA) (Dec 11-10) – SEU 21-11
184: Jeffrey Geller (SOEA) over Bryce Milster (OKCI) (TF 20-3 5:29) – SEU 26-11
197: Trillyon Fils-Aime (SOEA) over Rylan McClure (OKCI) (TF 19-1 3:31) – SEU 31-11
285: Gage Braun (SOEA) over Cooper Cook (OKCI) (Fall 1:59) – SEU 37-11
(SOEA Unsportsmanlike 165 -1.0)
Exhibition Match
141: Jackson Crawford (SOEA) over William McMahan (OKCI) (Fall 0:58)
