No. 1 Bronchos Overwhelm Drury

EDMOND (Dec. 10) – Nate Keim prevailed in a tense showdown of ranked rivals in what turned out to be the only match Central Oklahoma didn't earn bonus points in and the top-ranked Bronchos pummeled Drury 48-0 Friday night at Hamilton Field House.

The 10th-ranked Keim edged No. 5 Peter Kuster 4-2 at 141 pounds in the feature bout and UCO dominated in the other nine weights, winning each by at least eight points. Central entered the night ranked No. 1 for the first time since October of 2007.

Anthony DesVigne, Kalin Winkler, Alex Kauffman and Dalton Abney notched four straight first-period falls from 165-197, while 125 Paxton Rosen had a technical fall. The Bronchos also got major decisions from 133 Tanner Cole, 149 Brik Filippo, 157 Ty Lucas and 285 Braden Morgan.

"It was a good night for us," head coach Todd Steidley said. "We hadn't wrestled in a while, but I thought our conditioning was pretty good for the most part and we stayed aggressive. Nate picked up a big win and it's always good when guys are working hard to get bonus points."

UCO improved to 3-0, having outscored those opponents a combined 126-5 while losing just two of 30 individual matches.

Keim's match was easily the most exciting of the night.

The two rivals have battled each other for three years now and were meeting for the third time this season, with Keim winning 4-3 in the Dan Harris Open finals and Kuster claiming a sudden-victory decision at the Lindenwood Open.

Keim broke a scoreless tie with an escape in the opening seconds of the second period and the junior added a takedown 20 seconds later before controlling Kuster with a punishing ride the last 1:30.

Kuster took the neutral position in the final stanza and the Keim had a couple of key defensive stops before Kuster finally came out on top in a scramble for a takedown with 12 seconds left. Keim added a riding time point to cap off the 4-2 triumph.

DesVigne needed just 1:04 to earn the first of UCO's four straight opening-period falls at 165. Winkler was taken down to his back in falling behind 6-0 at 174, but a reverse turned into a fall at the 1:56 mark.

Kauffman -- making his dual debut for the Bronchos -- had a couple of quick takedowns before ending it at 1:49 and the top-ranked Abney was machine-like in opening up a 12-3 lead before getting the last of the pins in a mere 1:32.

The sixth-ranked Rosen had four takedowns and four near-falls in an 18-2 technical fall at 125 to start the night, then the second-rated Cole followed with three takedowns in an 8-0 shutout.

Filippo, ranked seventh, piled up more than four minutes riding time while cruising to a 12-3 rout and No. 5 Lucas had four takedowns in a lopsided 10-1 win.

Morgan trailed 2-1 after one period in the final match of the evening, but had two takedowns and two near-falls the rest of the way in roaring back for a 14-2 romp.

Central returns to action Dec. 18-19 with a trip to Indianapolis for the Midwest Classic.

UCO 48, Drury 0
125 – Paxton Rosen, UCO, tech. fall Caden Howard, 18-2.
133 – Tanner Cole, UCO, major dec. Brandon Borlinghaus, 8-0.
141 – Nate Keim, UCO, dec. Peter Kuster, 4-2.
149 – Brik Filippo, UCO, major dec. Sam Schultz, 12-3.
157 – Ty Lucas, UCO, major dec. Trevor Christian, 10-1.
165 – Anthony DesVigne, UCO, pinned Teddy Hickey, 1:04.
174 – Kalin Winkler, UCO, pinned Ethan Smith, 1:56.
184 – Alex Kauffman, UCO, pinned Connor Zimmermann, 1:49.
197 – Dalton Abney, UCO, pinned Colby Allen, 1:32.
Hvy – Braden Morgan, UCO, major dec. Todd Angel, 14-2.

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