Oregon was hoping its second dual match against in-state rival Oregon State would go better than the first.
It didn’t.
The Ducks (1-12 overall, 0-7 Pacific-10 Conference) wrestled in front of 931 fans, and if it wasn’t for the match being held at McArthur Court, it wasn’t easy to tell who was the home team and who wasn’t. Beaver fans were often more boisterous, even standing and chanting in unison after one of the matches.
Oregon State opened the match with a five-point victory over 184-pound Dustin Fisher. Fisher, like Jake Leair and Jason Harless, was closing out his wrestling career at Mac Court but didn’t have the success that Leair found immediately after Fisher’s match.
Leair, wrestling in the 197-pound division, faced Curt Willener. Despite both teams meeting twice annually, Leair and Willener have never wrestled against each other before.
“I had to feel him out a little bit,” Leair said. “I really wanted to pin him.”
Leair did just that. After building an 8-1 lead, Leair was able to pin his man, closing out his last match at Mac Court in impressive fashion, but more importantly earning six points for the Ducks.
“Nothing could feel better,” Leair said.
“Leair has had his ups and downs this season,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said. “(But) to end it pinning a Beaver, that’s not bad.”
Oregon also received a strong performance from Jason Harless, who ended his wrestling career at Mac Court, with a victory over Bobby Pfennings. Harless’ win put the Ducks only three points back, 12-9, with four matches left.
But the meet began to unravel when the Ducks had to use Johnny Lugo at the 141-pound class. Lugo, who typically wrestles in the 133-pound class, was outsized against Kyle Larson. Lugo was pinned, beginning a stretch where Oregon State scored 12 straight points.
Oregon had to forfeit the 149-pound class, giving the Beavers five free points.
The Ducks were put in a tough situation the rest of the afternoon trying to play catch-up with only three matches remaining.
Joey Bracamonte rounded out the Ducks scoring, when he defeated Brian Duhrkroop 14-7.
With only two matches remaining the Ducks were facing a 12-point deficit at 24-12. The Beavers went on to win the match 30-12.
“Oregon State wrestled tough,” Kearney said. “They are quietly having a real good season.
“We need to continue to get better. We got to a point where we are carrying baggage from every outing we’ve had, and we have to put down that baggage, and just deal with what the task at hand is. We want them to focus on the task at hand, but it’s hard, especially when you have a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.”
The Ducks will wrap up their regular season Wednesday against Portland State in Portland, before heading to the Pac-10 Conference tournament.