So Saturday, Jan. 8th at 7:30 pm, we travel up the road a bit to Little Rock to "battle" the UALR Trojans who are coached by former Cowboy Neil Erisman. It appears to be streaming on their website here: Little Rock vs. Oklahoma State - Little Rock Athletics (lrtrojans.com) but may cost a one time fee of $9.99. It will absolutely be a blow out, and likely be another shutout. I'll probably pay just to support the UALR program, since it is a new program coached by a Cowboy, so keep that in mind. Also the development of the UALR program is fascinating and Jason Bryant has a great serial podcast about it, and the hiring of Erisman. Start with Episode 1. Rocked Up (libsyn.com)
As far as the Little Rock program they are relatively new to D1 as they are only in their 3rd season and as expected, aren't very good yet. With that said, they have had some bright spots both on the mat and in recruiting, mostly with the Bianchi brothers, Matt, Joe and Paul Bianchi. Paul was the first NCAA qualifier for the Trojans and has since graduated, but his little brothers are decent wrestlers and have followed in his footsteps to build the UALR program. UALR wrestles in the Pac 12, oddly, and wanted to be in the Big XII, but someone blocked them for some reason. Maybe someone knows the story. They are 0-2 this year (and only 3-22 all time), losing 32-13 to #13 Wisconsin and 25-18 to #59 Drexel who we blanked. They start 6 freshmen or redshirt freshmen, 3 Sophomores and 1 Junior, so they are extremely young. Here are the expected lineups:
125: #13 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (7-0) v. #99 Jayden Carson (7-6)
133: #1 Daton Fix (7-0) v. #114 Jaylen Carson (9-4)
141: #36 Carter Young (4-1) v. #111 Conner Ward (2-6)
149: #13 Kaden Gfeller (6-1) v. #145 Joseph Bianchi (9-4)
157: #18 Wyatt Sheets (6-1) v. #111 Chase Tebbets (6-4)
165: #8 Travis Wittlake (6-1) v. #68 Tyler Brennan (7-6)
174: #13 Dustin Plott (7-0) v. #58 Triston Wills (7-4)
184: #10 Dakota Geer (6-1) v. #132 Tanner Mendoza (6-4)
197: #1 AJ Ferrari (7-0) v. #158 Brooks Sacharczyk (5-8)
285: #42 Luke Surber (5-2) v. #60 Josiah Hill (9-4)
There is honestly not much to say here. We have the ability to get bonus points in nearly every match. On paper HWT is the only one even remotely competitive but Surber majored a guy that pinned Hill a year ago and our backup Austin Harris beat him 6-2 last weekend at the Scuffle UALR managed to somehow not make the podium (top 8) in any weight class (a limited amount of our backups put 4 on the podium) at the scuffle. Joseph Bianchi beat our 3d or 4th string guy (Joey Sanchez) 4-2. They will need to get better, and quick, to compete, but I do think Erisman is a guy that can do it.
Prediction: 2 pins, 2 techs, 2 majors for a 42-0 win. Honestly, anything less is a let down*.
*Caveat: if all of our guys go. Covid and Covid protocols have taken a ton of wrestlers out of duals lately and they will not take any chances on this dual.
As far as the Little Rock program they are relatively new to D1 as they are only in their 3rd season and as expected, aren't very good yet. With that said, they have had some bright spots both on the mat and in recruiting, mostly with the Bianchi brothers, Matt, Joe and Paul Bianchi. Paul was the first NCAA qualifier for the Trojans and has since graduated, but his little brothers are decent wrestlers and have followed in his footsteps to build the UALR program. UALR wrestles in the Pac 12, oddly, and wanted to be in the Big XII, but someone blocked them for some reason. Maybe someone knows the story. They are 0-2 this year (and only 3-22 all time), losing 32-13 to #13 Wisconsin and 25-18 to #59 Drexel who we blanked. They start 6 freshmen or redshirt freshmen, 3 Sophomores and 1 Junior, so they are extremely young. Here are the expected lineups:
125: #13 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (7-0) v. #99 Jayden Carson (7-6)
133: #1 Daton Fix (7-0) v. #114 Jaylen Carson (9-4)
141: #36 Carter Young (4-1) v. #111 Conner Ward (2-6)
149: #13 Kaden Gfeller (6-1) v. #145 Joseph Bianchi (9-4)
157: #18 Wyatt Sheets (6-1) v. #111 Chase Tebbets (6-4)
165: #8 Travis Wittlake (6-1) v. #68 Tyler Brennan (7-6)
174: #13 Dustin Plott (7-0) v. #58 Triston Wills (7-4)
184: #10 Dakota Geer (6-1) v. #132 Tanner Mendoza (6-4)
197: #1 AJ Ferrari (7-0) v. #158 Brooks Sacharczyk (5-8)
285: #42 Luke Surber (5-2) v. #60 Josiah Hill (9-4)
There is honestly not much to say here. We have the ability to get bonus points in nearly every match. On paper HWT is the only one even remotely competitive but Surber majored a guy that pinned Hill a year ago and our backup Austin Harris beat him 6-2 last weekend at the Scuffle UALR managed to somehow not make the podium (top 8) in any weight class (a limited amount of our backups put 4 on the podium) at the scuffle. Joseph Bianchi beat our 3d or 4th string guy (Joey Sanchez) 4-2. They will need to get better, and quick, to compete, but I do think Erisman is a guy that can do it.
Prediction: 2 pins, 2 techs, 2 majors for a 42-0 win. Honestly, anything less is a let down*.
*Caveat: if all of our guys go. Covid and Covid protocols have taken a ton of wrestlers out of duals lately and they will not take any chances on this dual.
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