STERLING, Colo.  Spotting host Northeastern Junior College a 15-0 advantage after the first three matches Thursday night, 13th-ranked Western Colorado battled all the way back to tie the score with a pin at 184 pounds then finish the comeback with another pin in the final match at 197 pounds. 

Western trailed 23-17 entering the match at 184, but Hunter Richardson scored a second-period pin to even things up at 23-23. 

With the win now up for grabs, the Mountaineers turned to Wesley DuBois in the final bout at 197. 

Scoring flip-flopped during first-period action and early in the second, but DuBois finally found took control and put his opponent on his back for consecutive pins to complete the rally for Western. 

The Plainsmen earned a decision in the night's opening match at 285 pounds, then added wins on consecutive forfeits at 125 and 133 by Western. 

Zachery Flowers got the Mountaineers on the scoreboard in his match at 141, bouncing back from an early takedown to record Western's first pin of the night. 

NJC responded with a technical fall win at 149 only to have Chase Engelhardt return the favor for Western at 157. 

Still trailing by a score of 20-11, Ryan Dirksen stepped onto the mat for the Mountaineers and sliced into the deficit with a second-period pin in his match at 165. 

The host Plainsmen added a decision at 174, only to have Richardson and DuBois fully erase NJC's lead to lift Western to the exhibition-match victory. 

UP NEXT 
The Mountaineers continue the weekend's road trip, heading next to Chadron, Neb., to take on host Chadron State College in a Friday Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual.