In Saturday's action CCC demolished No. 19-ranked Pratt CC 52-3, then soundly defeated No. 7-ranked North Iowa Area CC 35-10.
Sunday's action should have been more of a test for the CCC matmen, but they completely humbled No. 5-ranked Ellsworth CC 41-4 to set up a rematch with Region 18 rival and No. 2-ranked Northwest Wyoming (Northwest) in the NWCA title match.
Northwest had earlier edged the Cougars in a December 14 match 21-20.
Northwest came into the match with their own big wins - albeit a slightly easier road -- defeating No. 17 Colby 30-18, No. 8 Muskegon 22-15 and No. 22 Iowa Central 34-6.
Northwest tallied the opening victory on a 4-3 decision of No. 4-ranked Cody Vichi over No. 3-ranked Stevan Knoblauch.
Both squads traded decisions until the 149 match when No. 5-ranked Kenny Martin pinned Zach Loveless to give CCC its first lead 9-6.
Eleazar Deluca's pin of Hayden Heap in the 157 match put the meet at 15-6 and gave the Cougars all they needed for the win.
Northwest battled back to a 15-13 score before No. 1-ranked 184 Adrian Salas pinned No. 3-ranked Miles Nixon in the second round to make it 21-13 CCC.
197 No. 8-ranked Ihoghama Odighizuwa scored bonus points over No. 6-ranked Jonathan Wixom when Wixon was injured and couldn't continue.
Heavyweight Brandon Johnson closed out the scoring with a 5-1 decision over Gabriel Escobedo.
That last time CCC won the NCWA title was in 2011 -- the season they won their last NJCAA national title.
The Cougars will take a week off to prepare for a Jan 18 home meet against the top-ranked North Idaho Cardinals. NIC defeated CCC 24-17 in a dual in Coeur d’Alene on December 14. Match is slated for a 5pm start.
Results:
125 Cody Vichi (NW) over Stevan Knoblauch (CCC) Dec 4-3
133 Cary Palmer (CCC) over Ben Jorgensen (NW) Dec 5-1
141 Zach Loveless (NW) over Robbie Rizzolino (CCC) Dec 3-0
149 Kenny Martin (CCC) over Zach Loveless (NW) Fall 3:45
157 Eleazar Deluca (CCC) over Hayden Heap (NW) Fall 2:08
165 Diorian Coleman (NW) over Kyle Bateman (CCC) Dec 7-5
174 Cole Mcarthur (NW) over Tyler White (CCC) Maj 9-1
184 Adrian Salas (CCC) over Miles Nixon (NW) Fall 4:23
197 Ihoghama Odighizuwa (CCC) over Jonathan Wixom (NW) Inj 2:35
285 Brandon Johnson (CCC) over Gabriel Escobedo (NW) Dec 5-1
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