ASHLAND – The second-ranked Southern Oregon wrestling team overcame an early deficit to score a 26-19 victory over Simpson Friday night at Bob Riehm Arena.

Southern Oregon improved to 11-3 on the season and will host long-time rival Pacific Saturday at 6 p.m. in the annual Senior Night dual. Many of SOU's seniors were not in the lineup tonight against Simpson.

The Red Hawks jumped out to an early lead, thanks to a forfeit at 125-pounds and a technical fall at 141.

Top-ranked 133-pounder Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) earned SOU's only victory in the first three matches as Simpson held an early 11-6 lead.

The Raiders came back with victories by second-ranked Jimmy Eggemeyer (Kodiak, Alaska/Kodiak) at 149 and 11th-ranked Dalton Urrutia (Lebanon, Ore./Lebanon) at 157 to take their first lead of the dual at 12-11.

Freshman Bryson Gutches (Central Point, Ore./Crater) then scored a last second 3-2 victory at 165 to give the Raiders a four-point advantage at 15-11.

Simpson tied the dual with a victory at 174, but SOU answered back with a technical fall by ninth-ranked Jacob Abrams (The Dalles, Ore./The Dalles-Wahtonka) at 184 and a forfeit victory at 197 to ice the dual.

#2 Southern Oregon 26, Simpson 19
125 – (SU) Hayden Zimmerman win by forfeit
133 – (SOU) #1 Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) fall Chan Chao, 1:48
141 – (SU) Anthony Vega tech fall Woong Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani), 6:13
149 – (SOU) #2 Jimmy Eggemeyer (Kodiak, Alaska/Kodiak) dec. Marco Fratantoni, 9-6
157 – (SOU) #11 Dalton Urrutia (Lebanon, Ore./Lebanon) dec. Ritchie Ortiz, 5-0
165 – (SOU) Bryson Gutches (Central Point, Ore./Crater) dec. #15 Brady Beamon, 3-2
174 – (SU) Matthew Tsarnas major dec. Theodore Callaway (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City), 13-1
184 – (SOU) #9 Jacob Abrams (The Dalles, Ore./The Dalles-Wahtonka) tech fall Christian White, 6:27
197 – (SOU) Ethan Hinton (Sequim, Wash./Sequim) win by forfeit
HWT – (SU) #10 Austin Lobsinger major dec. Hank Turner (Eugene, Ore./Churchill), 13-0