Charger wrestling opened the 2021-22 season with the annual Blue vs. Gold Wrestle-Offs in the Newman Flanagan Center Wednesday night. The blue squad was coached by student assistant Matthew Wilke, while graduate assistant D'earion Stokes led the gold team.
 
After the final match of the night, the two teams were tied at 18-18. Each squad won five matches apiece, with four decisions and one fall each.
 
The gold team was deemed the 19-18 winner through a tiebreaker. The gold squad earned more total match points in matches that did not end in a fall or disqualification. In the eight matches that had a final match score the gold team had 35 points compared to 31 for the blue team.
 
The wrestling began at the 157-lb weight class and saw three straight wins from the blue team. Luke Hardy won 7-5 in overtime over Felix Saunders, followed by a 7-3 decision in favor of Garrett Arment over Nathan Atwood. Chris Paulsen won by fall in the first period in 2:42 over Mar'kaybion Wallace.

The gold team battled back at the 184-lb and 197-lb weight classes with Jeremiah Glise and Caleb Shanks picking up a pair of wins. Glise earned a 9-3 decision over Jake Leicht and Shanks won 2-1 over John Garcia.

Alton Allen gave the blue team another win with a 3-2 decision over Ashton Brecht in triple overtime. CaRon Watson answered with a fall at 125-lb over Dante Rigal at 4:06.

Gabriel Howard and Ethan Krey kept the momentum going for the gold squad at the 133-lb and 141-lb weight classes. Howard took a 8-2 decision over Jackson Shea and Krey won over Maximus Barajas 3-2. 

Ben Peters closed out the night with a win for the blue team with a 6-2 decision over Andrew Shea.

The Chargers officially kick off the season on November 6 at the Luther Hill Invite in Indianola, Iowa.