Beavers win Border War 36-9 on

Sunday afternoon

In preparation for the Border War, head coach Jim Zalesky emphasized to his team to not have a letdown before the Pac-12 championships next weekend.

The message was heard loud and clear. 

The No. 24 Beavers put together a dominating performance over Boise State, 36-9. The victory increased the win streak to four over the Broncos and ensured the Axe would stay in Corvallis. 

Oregon State (11-6, 3-2 Pac-12) strung together three pins, one technical fall, one major, and three decisions in route to their victory. 

“Overall, I think we wrestled very well,” Zalesky said. “I thought the effort was there today and when we had the chance to get bonus points, we executed.”

Redshirt sophomore 157-pounder Abraham Rodriguez was proud of the way his team performed but knows his side could have done even better.

“We pretty much came out and dominated,” Rodriguez said. “We obviously didn’t shut them out though, I was kind of hoping we were going to.”

The meet started at heavyweight where No. 10 redshirt sophomore Amarveer Dhesi made quick work of his opponent. After a series of takedowns, Dhesi pinned his opponent with 1:44 left in the first round.

“Coach told me to go out and get a fall,” Dhesi said. “So I did just that.”

Dhesi had no problem going first—noting he would actually prefer it.

“I actually really enjoy going first,” Dhesi added. “I really like getting the crowd and team fired up and I think I did that today.”

The Beavers would rattle off three more victories to increase their lead to 16-0. 

Boise State (3-9, 1-5) would win the 149 pound match as No. 15 sophomore Geordan Martinez beat redshirt junior Joey Delgado 7-3. 

Rodriguez would get the Beavers back on track as he won 5-3 over redshirt senior Chris Castillo. Rodriguez was down 0-1 midway through the second round but stayed motivated and confident he was going to win the match.

“I just kept wrestling the whole time and kept attacking,” Rodriguez said. 

Senior 165-pounder Seth Thomas—who was the Beavers’ lone senior on senior day—pinned his opponent with 47 seconds left in the second round.

“That was great to see,” Zalesky said of Thomas’ performance. “You can’t go out any better than that.”

Oregon State dropped the 174 pound match before finishing strong and getting a pin at 184 pounds and a technical fall victory at 197 pounds. 

“We wrestled well and gave a good performance,” Dhesi said. “I think we are peaking at the right time as well.”

The Beavers return to Tempe on Saturday where the Sun Devils will be hosting the Pac-12 Championships. 

Zalesky is hopeful his guys perform better there than they did last time where they were defeated 24-12. 

“We are wrestling really well right now,” Zalesky said. “In order to qualify for the tournament we are going to have to wrestle better down there and I’m confident we will.”

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