COEUR d'ALENE - Two of the top dogs in wrestling went head-to-head Saturday at Christianson Gymnasium, with North Idaho College wrestling against Clackamas Community College of Oregon City, Ore.

The top dog - or Cougars, in this case - won 31-12, with a few of the Cardinals battling a case of the flu. Clackamas, ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA, led 25-9 at times over No. 2 NIC, which lost its first dual meet since Nov. 7 at Labette Community College of Parsons, Kan.

"You know what, they outwrestled us," Cardinals coach Pat Whitcomb said. "It looked like we were a step behind, even with the guys who won looked like they were a step behind. We could blame it on that flu that's going around, but it's excuse, excuse, I'm sure they (Clackamas) are battling some things too. But they came out and outwrestled us, period. That's the way it is ... we wrestled OK versus Southwestern Oregon (a 35-17 win for NIC earlier in the day). You're not going to outwrestle a No. 1 team wrestling OK. This one's got to sting a little bit and it better, because you'd better not be happy with losing. But there's a lot of things we can correct."

After Michael Nguyen of NIC got things started by beating Korbin Levin 8-2 in the 125-pound match, Clackamas won five straight matches, starting with Lawrence Otero pinning Tyler Hardy at 133 and the streak was finished at 165 pounds, when No. 1-ranked Kyle Bateman won a 5-4 decision over No. 2 Dajour Reece.

Nguyen bounced back after losing his first match of the day to his brother, No. 6-ranked Matthew Nguyen of Southwestern Oregon by pin at the 4:34 mark.

The hot streak helped Clackamas take a 19-3 lead, but got as close as 19-9 after Jordan Cooks, ranked fourth in the nation, pinned Brandon Davidson at the 6:19 mark.

"Those kids (at NIC) are all tough," Clackamas coach Josh Rhoden said. "I think there were three guys that were ranked in the top four. We really got it rolling, they were down a guy or two, as we were. We got a big win at (1)33, (1)41 was nice. Our 149-pounder got us points, with Christopher Garcia winning. We were really pushing the pace on them and the rest of the kids felt like we could pick it up a bit and our guy at 157 (Eleazar DeLuca) beat Tyler McLean (7-2), who is a really tough kid. We could've been on the other end of some of those matches (that we won), some of those matches were tight. The score's not indicative of how they wrestled."

Reece led 3-2 toward the end of the second period, but within the last 30 seconds, Bateman summoned up a takedown slam toward the edge of the mat. Bateman attempted to pin Reece's shoulders, but the freshman from Phoenix fought it off, and Bateman pulled out a 5-4 win.

"I didn't wrestle like I usually do," Reece said. "My legs were a little heavy, I was sluggish. He collar tied me (on the takedown). I defended everything. We've got to pick it up, we get nervous when we werestle some of the top teams."

The dual meet was the final one before the winter break, until NIC wrestles the University of Great Falls on Jan. 17 at Missoula, Mont. The Cardinals' next home match is Jan. 28 against Simon Fraser.

CLACKAMAS 31, NORTH IDAHO 12

125 - Michael Nguyen, NIC, d. Korbin Levin, 8-2. 133 - Lawrence Otero, CCC, p. Tyler Hardy, 1:24. 141 - Robert Rizzolino, CCC, d. Bryce Weatherston, NIC, 4-2. 149 -Christopher Garcia, CCC, md. Tyler Booth, 21-8. 157 - Eleazar DeLuca, CCC, d. Tyler McLean, 7-2. 165 - Kyle Bateman, CCC d. Dajour Reece, 5-4. 174 - Jordan Cooks, NIC p. Brandon Davidson, 6:19. 184 - Adrian Salas, CCC, p. Cruz Del Angel, 1:36. 197 - Ihoghama Odighizuwa, CCC p. Johnathen Dennis, 1:36. 285 - Taylor Kornoely, NIC d. John Morin 5-3.

NORTH IDAHO 35, SOUTHWESTERN OREGON 17

125 - Matthew Nguyen, SOCC, p. Michael Nguyen, 4:34. 133 - Thaddeus Nelson, SOCC p. Tyler Hardy, 1:24. 141 - Bryce Weatherston, NIC p. Walker Damewood, 3:52. 149 - Tyler Booth, NIC, md. Quinn Johnston 14-0. 157 - Tyler McLean, NIC d. Adrian Lyons-Lopez. 165 - Dajour Reece, md. Kiante Davis 12-4. 174 - Andrew Orr, SOCC tf. 18-2. 184 - Cruz Del Angel, NIC, by forfeit. 197 - Johnathen Dennis, NIC, by forfeit. 285 - Taylor Kornoely, by forfeit.