ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana split a pair of non-conference wrestling matches against Iowa Conference opponents on Thursday, December 1 in the Carver Center. The Vikings opened the evening with a convincing 35-7 win over Simpson but ended the night with a 32-6 defeat at the hands of Central.
 
Head coach Eric Juergens team is now 2-1 on the season in dual meets and will be in action again on Saturday, December 3 in Dubuque, Iowa when the Vikings take on the host Dubuque Spartans at 1:00 p.m. and MacMurray at 2:30 p.m.
 
12/01/16 – AUGUSTANA 35, SIMPSON 7
 
The Vikings opened the night with an impressive showing against Simpson, rolling past the Storm by a score of 35-7 as they won eight of the 10 weight classes.
 
Sophomore Freddy Terranova (Jackson Memorial HS, Jackson, New Jersey) started a run of five straight Augustana victories when he scored a technical fall over Jacob Irwin at 1:59 of the 133 pound weight class. Terranova scored at will on Irwin and the tally was 16-0 when the match was stopped.
 
Terranova's win came after Simpson took a 3-0 lead after Clayton Fenzl defeated Augustana freshman Trenton Jackson (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) 7-4 at 125 pounds. Following Terranova's thrashing of Irwin; junior Brendan Gould (Davenport Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) beat Zach Johnston 7-2 at 141 pounds. Senior Matt Sears (Marist HS, New Lenox, Ill.) beat Jason Kiehne 8-1 at 149 and freshman Josh Bush (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) pinned Anthony Derrick at 1:38 to give the Vikings a 17-6 lead. Junior Trace Timmons (Davenport Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) them defeated Austin Stotts 7-2 at 165 pounds to make it 20-3.
 
Simpson got a win at 174 when Baily Chyma defeated junior Nick Torres (Lincoln-Way Central HS, Manhattan, Ill.) 10-1 at 174.
 
Augustana closed out the match with three straight wins. Junior Christos Giatras (Lemont HS, Lemont, Ill.) beat Noah Robinson 5-3 in a close one at 184 pounds. Senior Ethan Benoit (Marist HS, Oak Lawn, Ill.) pinned DeVaughn Scott at 2:04 of the 197 pound weight class and sophomore Adarios Jones (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) decked Colby Vlieger at 2:52 of the 285 pound weight class to make the final 35-7.
 
12/01/16 – CENTRAL IOWA 32, AUGUSTANA 6
 
It took until the eighth weight class until the Vikings could get into the victory column as 10^th ranked Central Iowa defeated Augustana 32-6.
 
The Vikings lost seven straight weight classes to open the meet and trailed 26-0 before junior Christos Giatras (Lemont HS, Lemont, Ill.) recorded a hard-fought 8-5 win over A.J. McBroom of Central at 184 pounds. Sophomore Adarios Jones (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) beat Jaime Miranda 8-2 at 285 to account for the final score of 32-6.
 
Central led 11-0 after three fairly decisive victories in the first three weight classes but any chance that head coach Eric Juergens' charges had of pulling off an upset were dashed in the next three bouts as the Dutch captured three straight close decisions.
 
Senior Matt Sears (Marist HS, New Lenox, Ill.) gave up a reversal in the final seconds to lose 3-2 to Jordan Challen at 141. Freshman Josh Bush (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) showed all sorts of offense but couldn't control Jeremy Vester in the final 30 seconds and fell 12-10 at 157. Junior Trace Timmons (Davenport Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) dropped a 6-3 decision to Ryan Vandall 6-3 at 165.
 
Those three matches put Central up 20-0 and Augustana was unable to recover.