No relief, Minnesota makes easy work of NDSU in teams' openers

The Forum, Fargo, North Dakota

11/23/1996

No relief, Minnesota makes easy work of NDSU in teams' openers
By Jeff Kolpack

The only upset at the Bison Sports Arena Friday night was maybe a few North Dakota State stomachs. For the Bison wrestlers, there was no such thing as relief against the University of Minnesota. They got their lunch handed to them.

The difference between NCAA Division I and Division II wrestling is more than just scholarship money. NDSU wanted top-notch competition and it got it.

Minnesota showed little compassion in taking a 42-3 dual win before 1,753 fans.

"It's the opening dual and we want to approach every one with the attitude of being physically aggressive and dominating," said Minnesota's Delaney Berger, a 167-pound freshman from Mandan, N.D. "That's the attitude we want at Minnesota and we want to portray that to anybody in the country." They won't get an argument from the Bison. Jeff Kapusta got NDSU's only win at 126 pounds. But other than that, the hardest hit the Gophers took was Berger's injured knee. Leading 15-6 with 27 seconds left in his match against Mark Pazdernik, Berger let out a scary scream reminiscent of many ligament injuries.

Berger finished the match, even getting another takedown, and then headed to the Gopher bench for some ice.

"It just got bent in a bad position," he said. "It was a big pop. I don't know how it is right now." NDSU's Wayne Mooney gave Minnesota's Jesse Krebs a few pops at 158. But no points. The Bison freshman had several opportunities to score in the first two periods. It was Krebs, however, who got the takedown with 31 seconds left to win 3-1.

"I wish I went a little harder," Mooney said. "Maybe I wasn't gambling enough.

A couple of times I had a good chance." Several other Bison didn't. For instance, Minnesota's Jason Davids pushed Jason Cuperus all over the mat even when they weren't wrestling at 142. It was simply a show of who's boss. By the end, Cuperus was a very beaten and lonely-looking man, losing by technical fall.

That put the Gophers up 14-3. Chad Kraft followed with a routine fall over Josh Kerbaugh at 150 and it was 20-3. In all, the Gophers recorded four pins.

"A couple of guys were just completely psyched and did nothing," said Bison coach Bucky Maughan. "That's what happens when you lose your confidence. We couldn't beat Minnesota with our best effort but we could have wrestled better." The Gophers now lead the series with NDSU 8-2. The Bison did get wins in 1969 and 1970. Now the Gophers are one of the elite teams in the country.

"We found out where we're at and what some things are that we need to work on," Berger said. "We've made a huge improvement since the first day of practice. Again, we want to be aggressive and dominating."