MOORHEAD, Minn. – Saint John's wrestling made a brief return to dual competition and suffered a 33-9 loss at Concordia-Moorhead on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

The Cobbers (5-9 dual record) recorded five bonus-point wins, three major decisions and two pins, and took advantage of an SJU forfeit at 165 pounds.

Anthony Hennen (Cologne, Minn./Norwood-Young America) got SJU (1-3 dual record) on the scoreboard with an 11-5 win at 141 pounds. The match was tied at 2-2 after the first period. Down 7-5, CC's Cole Kubesh let Hennen escape, but the SJU sophomore scored another takedown and brought the riding time back over a minute to seal the win and improve to 7-12 on the year.

Sophomore Jerod Novak (Aitkin, Minn.) posted a takedown in the first five seconds of his match at 157 pounds, but found himself in a nail-biter. He surrendered a pair of reversals, one each in the first two period, and the match-tying (7-7) takedown with 30 seconds remaining. The two grapplers left the circle with 15.1 seconds remaining and Novak escaped two seconds later to earn the 8-7 win and improve to 13-9. 

Junior Luke Dodd (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview), on the other hand, wrestled a rather non-threatening match until the final minute. Ahead 5-2, Dodd gave up a takedown with 45 seconds left in the match but was able to escape to earn the 6-4 victory. He is now 11-7 on the year, including a 5-1 record against NCAA Division III opponents, and ranked as high as eighth nationally by D3wrestle.com.

The Johnnies return home to host the annual North Country Open at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in Sexton Arena.

Concordia-Moorhead (CON) 33, Saint John's (SJU) 9
125: Jake Nohre (CON) dec. Noah Becker, 4-2 [0-3]
133: Aaron Dick (CON) major dec. Andrew Smith, 12-4 [0-7]
141: Anthony Hennen (SJU) dec. Cole Kubesh, 11-5 [3-7]
149: Ty Johnson (CON) major dec. Brandon Ortman, 9-1 [3-11]
157: Jerod Novak (SJU) dec. Keaton Long, 8-7 [6-11]
165: Travis Ostby (CON) won by forfeit [6-17]
174: Joe Heinz (CON) pinned Dan Gainer, 0:52 [6-23]
184: Luke Dodd (No. 8/9, SJU) dec. Jake Johnson, 6-4 [9-23] 
197: Nick Gravdahl (CON) major dec. Dominic Skawiniak, 18-5 [9-27]
285: Kody Van Den Eykel (CON) pinned Nick Pegelow, 0:51 [9-33]