CEDAR FALLS - Top-ranked Wartburg College's march to a third straight Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals title ran into a brick wall built by old nemsis Augsburg Sunday at the UNI-Dome.

The Knights saw their 39-match win streak come to an end when the Auggies used a pair of late pins to storm to a 21-20 victory in the Division III finals.

Wartburg was leading matches at 174 and 197, only to see Augsburg's Zach Molitor and Jared Massey reverse their fortunes and record falls.

"That 174-pound match … he came back and got the fall. That is all heart," first-year Auggies head coach Mark Matzek said. "Massey, he's a gamer, and all the credit goes to him."

Massey's victory made it 21-17, requiring the Knights to get a technical fall or pin at heavyweight to pull out their fifth Duals title.

Wartburg heavyweight John Helgerson won, but it was only a 3-1 decision over Andy Witzel.

It was the seventh time in championship history Augsburg and Wartburg faced each other in the finals, and the victory gave the Auggies a 4-3 advantage over the Knights.

Each program owns four NWCA Duals titles, but Augsburg used motivation from last year's third-place finish, the first time it had failed to reach the finals since the tournament went to separate divisions in 2002.

"We used it as motivation," Matzek said. "But we not only wanted to make it back to the finals, but to win it. The guys set that as a goal to do, and we did it."

The loss stunned Wartburg and sent veteran coach Jim Miller searching for answers.

"We talked about it coming in this wasn't going to be easy, and it wasn't, obviously," said Miller. "Every point counts. We talked about that I don't know how much. You get pinned twice, lose by one point. That is a national championship. That is tough … a tough way to lose it."

Augsburg scored a pair of narrow wins to open the dual - one-point decisions by Seth Flodeen over Mark Kist at 125 (6-5) and Travis Lang at 133 over Matt Kelly (5-4), before Zach McKray registered a third-period pin for Wartburg at 141 pounds.

The Auggies won a pivotal match at 149 when all-American Willy Holst decisioned defending national champion Jacob Naig, 6-3.

The Knights, however, rebounded to take the next two matches to grab a 13-9 lead heading into 174, where Grant Jenkins was leading 3-1 when he and Molitor got into a scramble situation on the edge of the mat with Molitor ending up on top of Jenkins and recording the pin in 6:23.

"It is always hard to swallow when something like that happens," Miller said. "They took advantage of it, and we're going to have to live with it."

Romeo Djoumessi put Wartburg back on top, 17-15, with a major decision at 184, leading into Massey's big win at 197.

Nick Shandri took down Massey seconds into the match, but Massey reversed him to his back and scored the fall in 2:14.

"Those big wins … those were all heart," Lang said. "Those big wins is what took the cake."

While the losses are lessons in the bank for Jenkins and Shandri, Miller doesn't like to learn when a championship is on the line.

"I'd rather win than learn lessons," Miller said. "I don't like losing and then learning some lesson. I'm mad. I don't like it.

"Some lessons are hard to learn. Give up too many bonus points and it is hard to win a championship.

"I thought we had it in our hands and didn't take advantage of it."

Wartburg and Augsburg will have a rematch on Jan. 30 at Si-Melby Hall in Minneapolis.

Miller sees it as a challenge to his squad.

"We will have a chance to measure our progress," Miller said. "Hopefully something good will come out of this."

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com