Northwestern
Indiana
Northwestern Drops 23-11 Decision at Indiana
2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 15, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 16 Northwestern visited 20th-ranked Indiana Sunday, where the Hoosiers picked up seven wins on its way to a 23-11 victory. Jake Herbert and Keith Sulzer posted wins for the 'Cats while Andrew Nadhir won his epic bout at 149 to improve to 5-1 in Big Ten action.
NU drops to 2-3-1 in league competition entering the final weekend of the regular season where it will face No. 6 Ohio State on Friday and top-ranked Iowa on Sunday, both at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The day's marquee matchup came at 125 where third-ranked Wildcat Brandon Precin took on defending national champion and fifth-ranked Angel Escobedo. It was a low-scoring affair as expected, with the first period ending in a scoreless tie. Precin started the second in bottom position and escaped to take the lead only to have Escobedo score in the same fashion to begin the third. Neither wrestler could score the rest of the way, sending the bout into sudden victory.
In the extra session, Escobedo managed to gain control of the action to earn two points for the winning takedown. Both of Precin's losses this season have come in overtime to former national champions, the other being to Paul Donahoe of Edinboro.
The match got underway at 174 where Indiana grabbed a 3-0 lead thanks to an 9-6 decision by IU's 15th-ranked Trevor Perry over Northwestern redshirt freshman Robert Kellogg. Two first-period takedowns and a two-point near-fall gave Perry control of the match, but Kellogg evened the affair at six with a reversal in the second. From there, however, Perry escaped to begin the final period and tacked on the riding time point to earn the win.
At 184, Herbert took to the mat against IU junior Seth Parker and went right to work, picking up a takedown and two back points early on. He finished the first period with four takedowns and remained in control in the second, notching another near-fall, this time for three points. He went on to win by technical fall, 20-5, improving to 24-0 and putting NU ahead, 5-3.
But Indiana surged ahead with consecutive wins at 197, where Matt Powless over came NU's John Schoen by an 8-2 margin, and at heavyweight, where Northwestern true freshman Paul Rands was on the short end of 10-2 outcome against Nathan Everhart. The first period came to an end with Everhart holding a slim 2-1 lead, but the Hoosier scored on an escape, takedown and near-fall in the second to gain control. His riding time advantage pushed his lead to eight points for the four-point major decision.
After the win at 125 by Escobedo, Indiana collected another four points with a major decision win at 133 by Matt Ortega against NU's Eric Metzler.
No. 16 Keith Sulzer (16-7) righted the ship for NU with a hard-fought decision against Andrae Hernandez at 141. Sulzer took a 2-1 lead into the third period before Hernandez took the lead with a reversal. But Sulzer responded with a reversal of his own to notch a 4-3 victory.
Nadhir took on IU's Nick Walpole in a match that ended regulation tied at one apiece. Neither wrestler managed to score in either of the first two overtimes, sending the match into tiebreakers. In the first period of the tiebreaker, Nadhir picked up a point for an escape, which Walpole answered with one of his own in the second period. But Nadhir finally outlasted Walpole with a dramatic takedown to win three points for the 'Cats as the match ended in a 5-2 decision.
In the day's second bout between two ranked opponents, NU true freshman Jason Welch (No. 13) took on Indiana's Kurt Kinser (No. 14) at 157. Kinser held a 2-0 lead after one period and continually thwarted Welch's attempts to rally, eventually winning 8-1.
Indiana then closed the match with a 16-14 win by Paul Young over Northwestern senior Dominic Marella. Marella scored on two takedowns and a near-fall in the first period but Young eventually tied the bout at seven in the second. In the third, Young collected three takedowns to take control, and Marella's late escape and subsequent takedown left him just short of tying the match.
No. 20 Indiana 23, No. 16 Northwestern 11
174: No. 15 Trevor Perry (IU) dec. Robert Kellogg (NU), 9-6 (IU 3, NU 0)
184: No. 1 Jake Herbert (NU) TF Seth Parker (IU), 20-5 (NU 5, IU 3)
197: Matt Powless (IU) dec. John Schoen (NU), 8-2 (IU 6, NU 5)
285: Nathan Everhart (IU) MD Paul Rands (NU), 10-2 (IU 10, NU 5)
125: No. 5 Angel Escobedo (IU) dec. No. 3 Brandon Precin (NU), 3-1 (SV) (IU 13, NU 5)
133: Matt Ortega (IU) MD Eric Metzler (NU), 10-2 (IU 17, NU 5)
141: No. 16 Keith Sulzer (NU) dec. Andrae Hernandez (IU), 4-3 (IU 17, NU 8)
149: Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. Nick Walpole (IU), 5-2 (TB-2) (IU 17, NU 11)
157: No. 13 Kurt Kinser (IU) dec. No. 14 Jason Welch (NU), 8-1 (IU 20, NU 11)
165: Paul Young (IU) dec. Dominic Marella (NU), 16-14 (IU 23, NU 11)
Players Mentioned
