Falcons Drop Road Dual to No. 15 Northern Iowa

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Air Force Academy wrestling team fell to No. 15 Northern Iowa, 29-9, in Big 12 dual action Sunday afternoon, Jan. 20, at UNI's historic West Gym. The Falcons (4-4, 1-3 Big 12) got three decision wins, but the firepower of the Panthers' (3-4, 3-0 Big 12) six nationally ranked wrestlers proved too much to overcome.

Northern Iowa got five of its seven wins via bonus points, with all five of those bonus point wins coming from grapplers ranked in the top-20 in the country.

The dual started at 197 lbs., and UNI got it started with an 8-2 decision. At heavyweight, freshman Kayne Hutchison answered back with a 9-6 decision win to tie the score back up. Hutchison moves to 2-1 in the Big 12 this season in dual action.

Going back to the top, a major decision at 125 lbs. gave UNI the lead back, 7-3, but AF was quick to respond again, as sophomore Tony DeCesare grinded out a solid 4-2 decision win at 133 lbs. to make it 7-6 after four bouts. UNI got another decision win at 141 lbs. to make the team score 10-6 into the intermission.

After the break, UNI got its second bonus point win with a technical fall at 149 lbs. At 157 lbs., senior co-captain Alex Mossing kept the dual within striking distance with a 6-5 decision win. The veteran trailed, 4-3 into the third, but an escape and takedown led him to finish off the tight decision win, and make it 15-9 with three to go.

From there, the Panthers had three straight grapplers ranked in the top 12, and all three were able to win via bonus points, resulting in the 29-9 final tally.

The Falcons will be back in action next Saturday, Jan. 26, when they head to the All Academy Championships, this season hosted by Norwich University in Northfield, Vt. The tournament against the other seven service academies will begin at 8 a.m. MT and will run throughout the day.

No. 15 Northern Iowa 29, Air Force 9
197: Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) over Casey Jumps (Air Force) (Dec 8-2)
HWT: Kayne Hutchison (Air Force) over Izaak Shedenhelm (Northern Iowa) (Dec 9-6)
125: No. 20 Jay Schwarm (Northern Iowa) over Sidney Flores (Air Force) (MD 10-0)
133: Tony DeCesare (Air Force) over Jack Skudlarczyk (Northern Iowa) (Dec 4-2)
141: No. 8 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) over Garrett O'Shea (Air Force) (Dec 5-0)
149: No. 9 Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa) over Tommy Stager (Air Force) (TF 19-1)
157: Alex Mossing (Air Force) over Patrick Schoenfelder (Northern Iowa) (Dec 6-5)
165: No. 12 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa) over Marcus Amico (Air Force) (TF 16-0)
174: No. 8 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa) over Randy Meneweather (Air Force) (TF 19-4)
184: No. 5 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa) over Jake Thompson (Air Force) (MD 15-5)

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