"I think anybody that does that, they get a little more glory and they really don't deserve it," said Watterson, whose major decision at 18th-ranked Hofstra had given the Beavers an 18-17 win in November. "I know that the team has done the work to get us in there close, and hopefully I can come out with the win and win the meet for the team."
The win before 1,437 fans in the Civil War, presented by Northwest Dodge Dealers, gives the Beavers a 102-24-4 record against the Ducks (0-1, 0-1) in a series dating back to 1915. OSU's next action will be Dec. 17 at the Nebraska Duals, when OSU takes on Nebraska and Dana.
The Beavers won six of the night's 10 matches and got major decisions from 125-pounder Eric Stevenson and Derek Kipperberg, who was wrestling up a weight in the absence of an injured 157-pounder Tony Hook. But Friday's dual wound up being more of a nail-biter than seemed likely as the 197-pound match got underway with Oregon State leading 17-12.
OSU 197-pounder Dan Pitsch, ranked 20th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, had jumped to a 4-1 lead over Oregon's Shaun Dee in the first period but Pitsch rolled through a takedown and Dee caught him in an awkward position, pinning him in 2:00 to put Oregon up 18-17.
"We were talking about that right before - ‘All right, we're up by five, maybe we'll be up by eight or nine, and then it turned around totally and we were down by a point going into it. So that definitely was a shock to the system," Watterson said.
Said OSU head coach Joe Wells: "It was a little more exciting than I anticipated."
Watterson, ranked 17th in the National Wrestling Coaches Association/InterMat poll and 16th by Amateur Wrestling News, then was taken down by the Ducks' Chris Dearmon midway through the first period. Watterson responded with an escape and a takedown by the end of the period, though, and a scoreless second period kept it 3-2 in Watterson's favor going into the third period.
Watterson escaped to start the period, fought off several attacks by Dearmon, and then recorded a takedown and two-point near fall in the final 20 seconds to wrap up an 8-2 win. Watterson improved to 10-3 this season.
Stevenson got OSU started with an 11-3 major decision over Beau Malia, improving to 13-3 this season. OSU 133-pounder Bobby Pfennigs also missed the meet due to injury and Oregon's Justin Pearch, ranked 15th nationally by AWN, evened the team score by beating Jake Gonzales - who was wrestling up a weight - 20-7 at 133.
The next three matches seemingly put Oregon State in control. OSU 141-pounder Kyle Larson beat Skyler Woods 8-2, Beaver 149-pounder Orlando Perez blanked Stewart Bogart 5-0 and Kipperberg shut out Cyle Hartzell 8-0.
Kipperberg, a junior college transfer, improved to 6-2 this season as he got his first taste of the Civil War.
"It's awesome," he said. "I loved every minute of it - I can't wait to get back there on their home turf and do it again."
Kipperberg had known since early in the week that he might be required to move up to 157 for a night to replace Hook, who is ranked 17th nationally by both NWCA/IM and AWN.
"I wanted to be as prepared as I could," Kipperberg said. "Tony Hook has huge shoes to fill - he's an unbelievable wrestler."
That run of three straight wins gave OSU enough of a cushion to withstand Dee's pin and major decisions by Oregon 165-pounder Joey Bracamonte and 184-pounder Shane Webster, both of whom are ranked eighth by NWCA/IM and seventh by AWN. OSU also picked up a victory from 174-pounder Jeremy Larson.
"I was really inspired by Orlando Perez and Derek Kipperberg in the first half of the meet," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "And Eric Stevenson did a nice job getting control, he really set the tone and got everybody fired up. It could have been a close match and he dominated. "And I was very inspired by Ty. He was shooting, he took the risk and he came back and took the risk again and made it work. That's what it's about - getting better and learning from your mistake. I was pleased with how we wrestled."
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