Richard Anderson photos
At top, Wyoming coach Mark Branch talks things over with 165-pounder Shane Onufer Friday night against No. 4 Oklahoma State. At left, official Charlie Jones lifts UW 149-pounder Cole Dallaserra's hand in victory.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
Mark Branch detested it as a wrestler; he hates it equally as a coach.
Close just isn’t good enough.
In most of the individual bouts, the Wyoming Cowboys were close with their Oklahoma State counterparts, losing three one-point matches, one two-point bout, one three-point match (in overtime) and a four-point match.
As is often the case in wrestling, close individual bouts don’t make a close team match and No. 4 Oklahoma State rolled to a 31-3 win in front of a Wyoming record 2,566 fans Friday night in the Arena-Auditorium.
“The crowd was great, the band was great, the cheerleaders were great and we weren’t great,” Branch said. “That was the difference. We were OK. If I was OK with close losses, then I would be real happy, but I’m not OK with close losses.”
Branch, who was a four-time All-American at Oklahoma State and two-time national champion, went into overtime in his first match as a starter at OSU with the No. 1 wrestler in the country. He ended up losing in OT and took many pats on the back for a job well done.
Losing, and the congratulations that he received just made him angry.
“Everybody rushed to me ... I was on the front page of the paper, and everybody was telling me good job because I lost in overtime to the No. 1 kid in the country,“ Branch said. “That’s when I knew that I was going to be a winner, because I was disgusted that people were telling me good job after a loss. ‘Don’t tell me good job, I just got beat.’”
Branch said his wrestlers have known him long enough to know that they aren’t going to get a “good job” in defeat.
“I’m just making it clear that I am not happy with close losses,” said Branch, who did say that that his Cowboys (6-3) battled hard, just not very smart.
“We were in three or four matches that we found a way to lose," he said. “We have to find a way to win. That’s the difference right now in us being a top-level team and us being just one of the others.
“It was good experience for us, it was good to be in front of a good crowd. I don’t think our kids were really taken out of their focus by their surroundings, but we just didn’t have the formula to get the win in the end in a lot of matches. When that happens, the score gets lopsided real quick.”
That’s exactly how the match began, as Wyoming’s Michael Martinez (ranked 11th) lost a 3-2 decision to No. 10 Chris Notte. Martinez, who lost two previous lop-sided matches to Notte this season, fell behind 3-1 in the third period on a two-point near fall.
“I was proud of a lot of our effort, we just did some dumb things,” Branch said. “Michael Martinez wrestled a good, hard, solid match, but he went to his butt. When I went out there during an injury timeout, I said, ‘get to your feet, don’t go to you butt.’ I think, if he doesn’t get sucked onto his back and give up those back points, we feel pretty good about his chances to win.”
At 133 pounds, No. 5 Jordan Oliver edged Wyoming’s Cory Vombaur 4-3 on a reversal with just seconds left.
"Cory did a great job of staying in the match against a stud, but he gives up a reversal with 12 seconds left," Branch said.
The toughest loss to swallow for Branch and UW came at 184 pounds, when Wyoming All-American Joe LeBlanc, ranked No. 6 in the country, losing an 8-5 overtime decision to No. 10 Clayton Foster.
Foster had the early lead, but LeBlanc battled back to take a 5-3 lead late, only to give up an escape with three seconds left. Foster had built up riding time, so the match went into overtime at 5-5.
LeBlanc came out aggressive, but Foster had the last laugh when he fought off the charge and put the Wyoming wrestler on his back for a three-point near fall.
Branch admitted that both he and LeBlanc were confused on how much riding time was left, but that didn’t excuse giving up the escape in the end of regulation.
“It was a wild match and I lost track (of the riding time),” Branch said. “But that is not an excuse. I tell these guys that we wrestle to score next every time. Joe didn’t put the effort in to finish that match. You just never give up an easy escape, I don’t care what the situation is.”
The highlight of the match for Wyoming was at 149 pounds when Cole Dallaserra defeated Luke Silver -- OSU’s only un-ranked wrestler -- 3-0. After two scoreless periods, Dallaserra got a reversal in the third period and added a point on riding time.
“It’s like coach says, he wants us to wrestle to the philosophy of always scoring next, just keep pressure on the guy,” Dallaserra said. “I was just looking to score next and ride him tough.”
Oklahoma State, which thumped Northern Colorado 41-3 earlier in the day in Greeley, Colo., is now 10-2-1 on the season. Nine of OSU wrestlers are ranked in the Top 20, including eight in the Top 10.
“Oklahoma State is a top five team year-in and year-out, so they pretty much know how to win the close matches. We have to learn to do that," Branch said. “I like a good fight, but if you come up short and don’t find a way to win, that doesn’t do much for you.”
The Wyoming Cowboys don’t have long to lick their wounds, as they return to Western Wrestling Conference action on Saturday, hosting Utah Valley at 4 p.m. and Northern Iowa at 5:30 p.m. Both matches are set for the UniWyo Sports Complex.
“We did not have the formula to win tonight,” Branch said. “Now we have to find a way to get those matches behind us, make weight in the morning and make the adjustments that we need in order to win some important conference match-ups.”
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No. 4 Oklahoma State 31, Wyoming 3
125 -- No. 10 Chris Notte (OSU) dec. No. 11 Michael Martinez 3-2.
133 -- No. 5 Jordan Oliver (OSU) dec. Cory VomBaur 4-3.
141 -- No. 8 Jamal Park (OSU) dec. Chase Smith 8-1.
149 -- Cole Dallaserra (WYO) dec. Luke Silver 3-0.
157 -- No. 17 Neil Erisman (OSU) maj. dec. Jimmy Belleville 13-0.
165 -- No. 9 Alex Meade (OSU) dec. No. 10 Shane Onufer 8-6.
174 -- No. 7 Mike Benefeil (OSU) dec. Brock Smith 7-3.
184 -- No. 10 Clayton Foster (OSU) dec. No. 6 Joe LeBlanc 8-5, overtime.
197 -- No. 7 Alan Gelogaev (OSU) dec. Alfonso Hernandez 3-2.
Hwt. -- No. 1 Jared Rosholt (OSU) pin. L.J. Helbig 2:30.
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