Nebraska upsets Missouri wrestling squad

The No. 7 Missouri Tigers wrestling team fell to the No. 16 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday, 17-16. The Cornhuskers came into Sunday’s contest with a 10-3 dual record, where Missouri stood at 14-5.
When Missouri senior captain Todd Schavrien took the mat, the team score was tied at three. Ninth-ranked Schavrien, who puts a lot of emphasis on team, tried his best to score more points for the Tiger wrestling squad.
“I like to score team points, obviously, because it is a big victory for the team, but I figure I owe it to coach,” he said. “He has taught me so much and has been like a father to me on and off the mat.”
At the start of the third period, Schavrien scored a takedown, pushing the score to 6-0. Schavrien intentionally allowed opponent Mike Koehnlein to get up, scoring a one-point escape so he could get another take down to get a major decision and earn the Tigers four team points. He did just that to close out the match with an 11-1 victory after holding his opponent to the mat for a near fall.
“It’s my mindset to control the match,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if my opponent is ranked above, below or at all. I just go out and try and score as many points as possible and stick to my game plan.”
With the Schavrien major decision, Missouri took the total lead 7-3. The next match was a close decision between freshman Kyle Bradley and Ross Grande. Neither of the fighters were ranked coming into the bout and it was an unexpected thriller that extended into sudden death overtime. The match saw Bradley victorious 8-6.
“Going into overtime, I wasn’t worried at all,” Bradley said. “Coach drills us a lot in practice preparing for overtime.”
The third round began with Bradley in the lead 4-2. Bradley chose to start on the bottom, even though he had the lead.
“I’m a lot more comfortable starting down,” he said. “My plan was to get the easy escape point and work from there.”
In the closing seconds of regulation, Grande worked on the ground to earn top position. He was awarded a two-point takedown, tying the score at 6.
“As I walked onto the mat for overtime I heard coach yell, ‘Takedown gets the win,’ so I knew what I had to do,” Bradley said.
Eleventh-ranked Missouri junior Zach Toal squared off with defending national champion and first-ranked Jordan Burroughs after intermission. The most intriguing matchup was a one-sided defeat for Toal.
The final match score came to 27-11 in favor of Burroughs. All of Toal’s points came by way of Burrough’s intention. The win scored a five point technical fall for Nebraska, putting the Cornhuskers in the lead with eleven team points to ten for Missouri.
The final match of the day saw the team score at 13-17 in Nebraska’s favor. Third-ranked Dom Bradley entered the mat to face eleventh-ranked Tucker Lane in the second of the day’s intriguing matchups.
In the closing seconds, Lane took Bradley to the mat, tying the score at four. Bradley managed to wrestle his way to his feet, avoiding the tie-up and earning the win with a one-point escape.
The Tigers fell short by one point, with a final score of 17-16, in favor of the Cornhuskers.
“This isn’t a step back for us,” coach Brian Smith said. “Battles like these happen in the Big 12 and we have to be ready to wrestle for all 7 minutes.”