Falcon Wrestling Drops a Narrow Loss at No. 23 West Virginia, 20-18

MORGANTOWN – The 27^th-ranked Falcons were outscored by No. 23 West Virginia, 20-18, in Big 12 dual action, Friday evening in the WVU Coliseum. Air Force drops to 7-4 overall with a 3-4 mark in the conference.

Air Force got off to a hot start behind No. 29 Tucker Owens (125) and No. 19 Cody Phippen (133), winning the opening two matches with bonus points. Owens scored a 9-1 major decision over Colton Drousias via three takedowns, an escape, a stall point and riding time. Tucker Owens has a team-high 22 wins this year. Phippen was excellent at 133, posting an impressive 18-0 first-period technical fall (2:48). Phippen's early take down led to four four-point near falls. Phippen has a team-best four technical falls this season.

West Virginia (8-5, 2-5 Big 12) went on to get their way in the next six bouts. Jordan Titus outscored Falcon junior Garrett Kuchan, 6-3. No. 20 Sam Hillegas narrowly escaped No. 30 Dylan Martinez with reversal in the waning seconds to win, 5-4. A similar story at 157 as Caleb Dowling score his winning takedown over Jack Ganos in the last second of the match.

WVU had their best matches at 165 and 174 as No. 12 Peyton Hall put up a major decision on AF freshman Seamus Casey, 20-8. Scot Joll followed up with an 10-2 major decision over Gage Musser.
At 184, No. 33 had a chance to keep the Falcons within striking range on the team scorecard but was unable to muster a point in his 2-0 loss to Anthony Carman.

The Falcons finished on a high note in the final two bouts—with the team score still in reach Calvin Sund took the mat against Austin Cooley needing a technical fall or more to the team alive. Sund was perfect in his 3-0 decision win but was unable to tally the necessary bonus points to win the dual.

At 285, No. 5 Wyatt Hendrickson came in hot, scoring a near-immediate takedown off the whistle and working No. 15 Michael Wolfgram to his back for a pin in 37 seconds, marking Hendrickson's quickest pin this season. The Falcon heavyweight improved 21-1 on the year and has 12 pins.

Next up, Air Force travels to the nation's capital to take on American U, Sunday (Feb. 13) at noon ET in Bender Arena.

Feb. 10 - #23 West Virginia 20, #27 Air Force 18
125 #29 Tucker Owens (AF) MD Colton Drousias, 9-1 | AF 4, WVU 0
133 #19 Cody Phippen (AF) TF David Rhoads (WVU), 18-0 (2:48) | AF 9, WVU 0
141 #HM Jordan Titus (WVU) Dec. Garrett Kuchan (AF), 6-3 | AF 9, WVU 3
149 #20 Sam Hillegas (WVU) Dec. #30 Dylan Martinez (AF), 5-4 | AF 9, WVU 6
157 Caleb Dowling (WVU) Dec. Jack Ganos (AF), 4-3 | AF 9, WVU 9
165 #12 Peyton Hall (WVU) MD Seamus Casey (AF), 20-8 | WVU 13, AF 9
174 Scot Joll (WVU) MD Gage Musser (AF), 10-2 | WVU 17, AF 9
184 #HM Anthony Carman (WVU) Dec. #33 Noah Blake (AF), 2-0 | WVU 20, AF 9
197 Calvin Sund (AF) Dec. Austin Cooley (WVU), 3-0 | WVU 20, AF 12
285: #5 Wyatt Hendrickson (AF) Fall #15 Michael Wolfgram (WVU), 0:37 | WVU 20, AF 18

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