KEARNEY, Neb.  Western Colorado earned the first points of Saturday morning's dual at second-ranked Nebraska-Kearney with Devin Gomez' win at 125 pounds, but the Lopers went unbeaten in the final nine bouts to score a 43-3 victory at the Kearny SportsPlex.

Gomez defeated 14th-ranked Caleb Coyle in an 11-9 decision for the early lead in the team scoring.

Coyle went up 5-0 quickly with a takedown and nearfall in the first 33 seconds of the bout, but Gomez earned an escape point 20 seconds later then with just over a minute remaining in the opening period earned his own takedown.

Coyle picked up an escape point before the end of the period to carry a 6-4 lead into the second, where Gomez began on the bottom.

He registered a quick escape then late in the period added another takedown to move in front 8-6, though Coyle would add an escape to narrow that gap heading into the final period.

Coyle, starting on the bottom, added another escape to inch closer, but with 37 seconds remaining it was Gomez who landed the decisive takedown, surrendering only an escape with eight seconds remaining to score his upset victory over Coyle.

That would, unfortunately, be the end of the scoring for the Mountaineers as the Lopers responded with a pin at 133, a forfeit win at 141, and another pin at 149 to take command.

Eleventh-ranked Vincent Cabral went into the third period of the 157 match tied 1-1 with sixth-ranked Cael Robb, who scored the winning takedown of Cabral with nine second left in their match.

Hunter Richardson at 184 gave the Mountaineers another strong performance, giving up just one takedown to UNK's Alex Munoz in a narrow 6-4 loss to the Loper.

UP NEXT
Western steps back into Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action with its next dual, a matchup with Colorado State Pueblo on Thu., Jan. 29.