Wildcats squeak past Badgers 19-18
Northwestern 19, Wisconsin 18
125: Precin (NU) dec. Cudd 3-2 OT (3-0)
133: Metzler (NU) dec. Tanelli 3-1 (6-0)
141: Ruschell tech fall Kohlberg (NU) 22-6, 3:12 (6-5)
149: Turner fall Gould (NU) 3:51 (6-11)
157: Henning maj dec. Marella (NU) 11-1 (6-15)
165: Donar dec. Hagel (NU) 6-4 (6-18)
174: Hayes (NU) dec. Maciag 8-4 (9-18)
184: Herbert (NU) maj dec. Brandvold 16-5 (13-18)
197: Tamillow (NU) dec. Herbst 5-0 (16-18)
285: Fox (NU) dec. Massey 3-2 (19-18)
EVANSTON, Ill.– Dustin Fox’s (Galion, Ohio/Galion) escape in the third period of the final match proved to the be the difference as the Wildcats defeated ninth-ranked Wisconsin Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 19-16. The Wildcats trailed 18-6 heading into the last four matches, but the ‘Cats won all four to claim their first Big Ten victory of the season and hand Wisconsin its first dual loss.
The win improves the Wildcats to 11-5 on the year, 1-2 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin picked up their first loss to drop to 15-1, 1-1 in the Big Ten.
Brandon Precin (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) started off against Wisconsin’s Collin Cudd at 125 lbs. and after furious action for the first three minutes, the match still remained scoreless heading into the second.
The freshman started down to begin the second frame and escaped to take a 1-0 lead. Neither wrestler could gain advantage after that and Precin went into the third with the 1-0 lead starting on top.
Cudd evened the match at 1-1 and then notched an escape to pull ahead 2-1 with one minute remaining. The Badger surrendered a point for stalling to knot the match at 2-2 with 10 seconds to go. The freshman could not get his takedown before the buzzer and the bout went into overtime.
The one-minute period ended scoreless and the first match of the night headed into a second overtime with Precin down. The freshman escaped with 10 seconds to go and pulled ahead 3-2 with Cudd starting down for the third overtime.
The Badger could not escape the freshman’s grasp and Precin won his first match in a Big Ten dual to give the ‘Cats a 3-0 leading after one bout.
Eric Metzler (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) took to the mat against Zach Tanelli. For the second-straight match, the first period ended with no score. Tanelli escaped to pull ahead, 1-0, and the Wildcat could not equal the score before the buzzer.
Metzler escaped in the third to even the score at 1-1 with a little over one minute remaining in the match. With a little over 10 seconds remaining, Metzler found a way to get his opponent to the mat for the two-point takedown. With the 3-1 decision, the Wildcats led 6-0. For the first time in Big Ten matches, the ‘Cats’ two lowest weights got on the board with valuable points.
NU would surrender the next four matches to the Badgers and the 6-0 lead would turn into an 18-6 deficit.
Wisconsin’s Kyle Ruschell took an early 2-0 lead over James Kohlberg (Rolling Meadows, Ill./Rolling Meadows), wrestling in the place of the injured Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) at 141 lbs., but Kohlberg notched a late escape to pull closer at 2-1. Ruschell found his groove and took the match by technical fall to make the score 6-5.
Marty Gould (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) took to the mat next at 149 lbs. against Wisconsin’s seventh-ranked Tyler Turner. Turner scored two points with a takedown in the final 20 seconds of the first period to take a 2-0 lead.
Turner pinned the Wildcat midway through the second period for six team points. Wisconsin took an 11-6 lead going into the 157-pound match. It was the first pin surrendered by the ‘Cats in Big Ten duals.
Dominic Marella (Roselle, Ill./Conant) faced sixth-ranked Craig Henning at 157 and fell behind in the first period, 2-0. Marella escaped to close to 2-1, but Henning scored a swift takedown to pull ahead, 4-1. The Badger cruised to the 11-1 major decision to give Wisconsin a 15-6 lead.
At 165 lbs., Greg Hagel (Linwood, N.J./Blair Academy) took on Jake Donar and although Donar had a good opportunity at a takedown late in the period, he did not get his points in time and the first period ended scoreless.
Donar scored a two-point reversal halfway through the second to take a 2-0 lead. A two-point near-fall gave the Badger a 4-0 lead. Hagel reversed back to close to 4-2 with 40 seconds remaining in the second, but surrendered an escape to allow Donar to take a 5-2 advantage into the third period.
Hagel scored his second reversal of the match to close to 5-4 with 30 seconds remaining in the match, but could not find the equalizer and Donar took the 6-4 decision. Wisconsin led 18-6 heading to the upper weights — Northwestern’s strength. The comeback began with 14th-ranked 174-pounder Nick Hayes (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Lewis Central).
Needing to turn the tide in the dual, Hayes took on Matt Maciag at 174. Hayes scored a takedown in the first minute to pull ahead 2-0. The Badger escaped to close to 2-1 at the end of the first.
Hayes escaped early in the second to pull ahead, 3-1. The Wildcat notched a takedown with his foot barely on the out of bounds line to take a 5-2 lead with one minute left in the second and on top. Maciag took a point with an escape to close to 5-2 with 40 seconds left and the second period ended with the Wildcat holding a three-point advantage.
The Badger could not escape Hayes until there were 40 seconds left in the third, but the junior came right back with a thunderous takedown to extend his lead to 7-3. Maciag escaped, but with the riding-time advantage, Hayes took the 8-4 decision and the ‘Cats started to climb back, making the score 18-9 with the most dangerous weapon in the ‘Cats’ arsenal up next.
Top-ranked 184-pounder Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) took to the mat against Wisconsin’s 16th-ranked Tyler Brandvold hungry for a win and bonus points to bring the Wildcats closer. He needed only 30 seconds to score his first points with a two-point takedown. Brandvold spent the rest of the first on his stomach and Herbert took a 2-0 lead into the second period.
Herbert reversed 10 seconds into the second to pull ahead 4-0 and both wrestlers went neutral after the junior gave up an escape. Herbert promptly dropped the Badger to the mat for another takedown. After yet another two-pointer, Herbert led 8-2 going into the third.
After a Brandvold escape, Herbert scored his fourth takedown to extend his lead to 10-4. The top-ranked junior, trying for more bonus points, dropped Brandvold for another takedown and led 12-4. After another takedown and riding time, Herbert took the 16-5 major decision and the ‘Cats closed the gap to 18-13. Herbert improved his perfect record to 19-0 on the season.
Second-ranked Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) came next at 197 lbs. against 12th-ranked Dallas Herbst. The Wildcat struck first with a two-point takedown midway through the opening frame. Tamillow had the Badger set up in the closing seconds, but could not score the pin or near-fall before the buzzer. The junior went into the second leading 2-0.
The Wildcat went ahead 3-0 with an escape, causing the grapplers to go neutral. Tamillow took another point to go ahead 4-0 heading into the third period.
After another Tamillow escape, the junior took the 5-0 decision and the ‘Cats put themselves into position to take the dual if fourth-ranked heavyweight Dustin Fox could take his match. The Wildcats trailed 18-16 heading into the final bout.
Fox came close to a takedown of Massey in the final minute of the first period, but the opening frame ended scoreless with Fox on top to being the second.
The Badger escaped with one and a half minutes remaining to pull ahead 1-0, but the junior came right back with a two-point takedown to take the lead, 2-1. Massey registered a late escape to tie the score at 2-2 heading into the third.
The Wildcat started down for the final frame and brought the crowd to its feet with an escape in the first 20 seconds. Fox held on for the 3-2 decision and after trailing by 12, the ‘Cats notched their first Big Ten win, 19-18.
“The first Big Ten win is always a special one, “head coach Tim Cysewski said. “Our lower weight guys came up a little short in the first two duals, but tonight, they came up big. Heavyweights just have to worry about wrestling. Dustin has been there before and it’s great to have him in that spot.”
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