CENTERVILLE, IA – No. 12-rated Indian Hills rebounded from its first and only dual loss of the season with a 28-13 victory over No. 7-ranked NIACC Wednesday night at the Multipurpose Building.

The win came in the Warriors' final home dual of its inaugural season, and IHCC Head Coach Cole Spree admitted after the contest that despite all the success his squad has experienced in this initial campaign as a program, something had been forgotten along the way.

To have fun.

"Obviously we've had a lot of success, and all of a sudden the expectations are going up and going up, and we had to remember that we still have to have fun," Spree said.  "We're always going to have expectations that are super high, but sometimes you have to taper those expectations a little bit because it caused us to put pressure on our kids.  I put the Iowa Western loss on us as coaches because we put a lot of pressure on the kids and a lot of it was unnecessary.  We work really hard, and the kids can be confident in that work that they put in, and tonight was great to see them go back out there and have a team effort that got the job done."

Spree's reference was to the 25-14 loss in Council Bluffs his squad had suffered a week ago to the No. 5-ranked Reivers, which came on the heels of IHCC winning the ICCAC's North Central District Championship on March 7.   The Warriors ability to refocus on their approach was evident against NIACC as IHCC fought its way to five wins and added a forfeit over the Trojans, who boasted a lineup with four wrestlers ranked in the top five of their respective weight classes.

"The guys answered the call tonight," Spree said.  

Like they've done all season, the Warriors got out to a quick start as No. 6-rated Chris Busutil topped No. 4 Clarence Lee-Green, 5-0 to open the match.

"He didn't win by a major decision, but he got darn close," Spree added.  Chris and Caleb Meekins have been consistent, consistent, consistent all season, and while Caleb didn't get a chance to wrestle tonight, those two guys have been consistent during the grind of the season and have been spreading the gap on guys that they see again, so I was excited about how Chris performed tonight."

Meekins collected the forfeit at 133 pounds to put the Warriors up 9-0 before NIACC got on the board with a 9-7 decision going to Quen Campbell at 141 over IHCC's Victor Guzman.

No. 8-ranked Destin Jones took care of business at 149 pounds with an 8-3 decision to extend the lead to 12-3 before 157 pounder Eli Loyd nailed one of two Warrior pins on the night to hand Indian Hills an 18-3 lead at the halfway point.

After the break, IHCC 165-pounder Mohamadou Sene had the task of taking on NIACC's top-ranked Christian Minto.  And, while Sene didn't emerge with an upset victory, Spree was proud of his wrestler's effort.

"I think a lot of people when they go out there against the number one guy in the country, they have a tendency to shut down," Spree said.  "But, 'Bamba' didn't shut down.  I feel like he a wrestled complete seven minutes and he got put in a stack that was really tight and he could have easily just let his shoulders fall and he didn't. He fought him, and he kept fighting, and that's what counts."

Neil Larson collected the second pin of the night for the Warriors just 2:17 into the match over Randry Mugisha, and it was something Spree credited to film study.

"We watched a lot of film on that kid, and we felt like he was susceptible on bottom and I knew Neil was good on top," Spree explained.  "I told Neil, if we can stay on top, in the second period, we're going to pin him.  We found a way to get to it."

Deron Pulliam picked up the final victory of the night for IHCC with an 11-2 major decision at 184 pounds over fifth-ranked Chase McCleish. 

"McCleish is ranked really high, and Deron made the choice to say 'hey, I want to be the man,' and he showed it out there," Spree added.

NIACC took the final two bouts on decisions at 197 and 285, but the 28-13 victory had already been secured.

The win moves the Warriors to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in ICCAC duals, while NIACC fell to 2-2 and 2-2.  Indian Hills will close out its regular season on Wednesday, March 24 at Iowa Falls against Ellsworth before preparing for the NJCAA National Tournament, April 21-22 in Council Bluffs.

"Hopefully we can get one more W next week and close out the year at the national tournament," Spree concluded.

INDIAN HILLS 28, NIACC 13

125 – Chris Busutil (IH) won by 5-0 dec. over Clarence Lee-Green (N).  (IH leads 3-0)

133 – Caleb Meekins (IH) won by forfeit.  (IH leads 9-0)

141 – Quen Campbell (N) won by 9-7 dec. over Victor Guzman (IH). (IH leads 9-3)

149 – Destin Jones (IH) won by 8-3 dec. over Brody Hawtrey (N). (IH leads 12-3)

157 – Eli Loyd (IH) won by pinfall over Josh Barretta (N), 5:05. (IH leads 18-3)

165 – Christian Minto (N) won by 11-3 maj. dec. over Mohamadou Sene (IH). (IH leads 18-7)

174 – Neal Larsen (IH) won by pinfall over Randry Mugisha (N), 2:17. (IH leads 24-7)

184 – Deron Pulliam (IH) won by 11-2 maj. dec. over Chase McCleish (N). (IH leads 28-7)

197 – Jose Valdes (N) won by 10-3 dec. over Khris Walton (IH). (IH leads 28-10)

285 – Troy Monahan (N) won by 3-1 dec. over Caleb Collins (IH). (IH wins 28-13)