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Oregon's Daryl Christian hoists Southern Oregon Jack Crosby en route to a 10-3 victory. Reluctantly, SOU bows to Ducks ASHLAND -- Southern Oregon coach Mike Ritchey knew what to expect heading into Saturday's dual meet with Oregon. Very little transpired to alter those feelings after the wrestling meet as the fourth-ranked Raiders fell shy, 25-9, at McNeal Pavilion. "I didn't expect us to do really any better than this," the fourth-year coach said. "The matches we could have won, we won. "They have a little more talent than we do, but I thought we battled them tough. We won a couple close matches and lost a couple close matches." In the most exciting turn of events on the night, SOU senior Jamie Haddon upset Oregon junior Chael Sonnen, 4-2 in overtime. Sonnen, ranked seventh among Division I wrestlers at 197, appeared to have a victory sewn up by virtue of a riding time advantage. But a stalling point awarded to Haddon with eight seconds left forced a sudden death overtime period in which Haddon's takedown ended the bout. Southern Oregon opened the meet quickly, with 149-pound senior Jesse Mindlin topping Oregon junior Mark Castle, 3-2, in the first match. "That was really nice to start the match off that way," Ritchey said. "I've got to give (Jesse) credit. He kind of came out and sent Oregon reeling for a little while. But then they came back." The Ducks rattled off the dual's next 13 team points, including a 6-1 decision by Sean Morgan over SOU's Matt Armstrong at 165 in the marquee match. Morgan entered the bout ranked 13th in Division I, while Armstrong was second in the NAIA individual rankings. The two battled tooth-and-nail until Armstrong got caught in a cradle, allowing Morgan to rack up too many points. Sophomore Ryan Escobar pearned SOU's only other win with a 2-0 decision over Aaron Mann at 125. Escobar's third-period reversal was the lone scoring effort in a battle of riding time accrual. The Ducks improved to 2-0 under first-year coach Chuck Kearney, while the Raiders are 0-2 at the start of the season for the first time since the 1966-67 campaign. Ritchey said Oregon deserves the recognition it has gotten already this season. "I don't know if this is the best (Oregon) team we've faced in a while, but they have some of the best individual talent we've faced from them in a while," he said. SOU nearly got a boost from Brian Samhammer during Oregon's 13-point surge, only to have the 174-pound senior come up short in his upset bid of Sean O'Rourke, 4-2. "That would have really helped boost the roll of things, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way," said Ritchey. What may work out soon for Ritchey is the ability to field a full complement of wrestlers. For Friday's dual SOU was missing the services of four starters out with injury or academic issues. The Raiders expect to be at full strength for their next dual on Jan. 14, 1999, when they play host to Pacific Lutheran at McNeal Pavilion. 149 -- Jesse Mindlin, SOU, d. Mark Castle, UO, 3-2; 157 -- Daryl Christian, UO, d. Jack Crosby, SOU, 10-3; 165 -- Sean Morgan, UO, d. Matt Armstrong, SOU, 6-1. 174 -- Sean O'Rourke, UO, d. Brian Samhammer, SOU, 4-2; 184 -- Doug Lee, UO, major d. Bill Wathen, SOU, 16-6; 197 -- Jamie Haddon, SOU, d. Chael Sonnen, UO, 4-2 (OT). 285 -- Kevin Kenney, UO, major d. Andy Coulombe, SOU, 10-1; 125 -- Ryan Escobar, SOU, d. Aaron Mann, UO, 2-0; 133 -- Kenny Cox, UO, match termination Marc Harris, SOU, 25-8; 141 -- David Watson, UO, d. John Nelmes, SOU, 6-0. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford,