No. 25 Indiana Wrestling defeated the visiting Michigan State Spartans inside Wilkinson Hall on Monday by a score of 32-13, in a postponed dual that was originally scheduled for Sunday, before a winter storm descended upon much of the midwest.
The Hoosiers were victorious in seven of the 10 bouts, maintaining a pristine home record and leveling their Big Ten dual record at 2-2. The win acts as a quality rebound from Friday’s shutout loss to No. 1 Penn State in Happy Valley.
Although the weather delayed the start of the contest by over 24 hours, No. 11 Jacob Moran provided no shortage of intensity at 125 pounds for the Hoosiers. The graduate student wasted no time initiating offense, scoring a takedown in the first 30 seconds against redshirt junior Nick Corday. Prior to the second period’s conclusion, Moran achieved a 15 point lead and a technical fall victory.
After the match, head coach Angel Escobedo spoke on Moran's performance.
“The mission is to go get bonus points,” Escobedo said, “he went out there and he accomplished that.”
Moran’s mastery was followed up with fireworks in the 133-pound bout, when Michigan State’s No. 30 Caleb Weiand was awarded an escape in the final 10 seconds of regulation. At the time, the match was tied, with Indiana’s Blaine Frazier having accumulated over three minutes of riding time. The escape point canceled out the effect of the riding time point, forcing overtime. In sudden victory, Weiand proved to be the better wrestler from a neutral position, scoring the winning takedown in under a minute of extra time.
Moran and Weiand’s wins combined to create a 5-3 score in favor of the home team. In the 141-pound bout, No. 25 redshirt sophomore Henry Porter extended Indiana’s lead with a technical fall of his own, which he secured with a quartet of near fall points that established a final score of 20-3 over redshirt senior Andy Hampton.
Once again, though, the Spartans responded. In a clash of young, unranked competitors, freshman Evan Gosz extended Indiana redshirt freshman Joey Buttler’s dual losing streak to four matches with a 20-6 major decision triumph. In the first period, two Gosz takedowns and four earned near fall points generated a 10-1 lead after three minutes. Buttler’s comeback effort was parried by another flurry of scoring in the third period, granting Gosz the win in the 149-pound bout.
At 157 pounds, redshirt sophomore Bryce Lowery sent the Hoosiers into the halftime break on a high note, disallowing the Spartans from stringing a pair of consecutive wins together. Michigan State’s redshirt freshman Darius Marines presented a respectable effort, but Lowery emerged victorious with a 4-2 regular decision. At the break, Indiana led 13-7 at home as a group.
Lowery’s win would become the first of five straight for the Hoosiers, including the 165-pound bout, No. 19 redshirt junior Tyler Lilliard exited the break with a 20-5 technical fall win over graduate student DJ Shannon. Then, No. 29 Derek Gilcher brought in bonus points with his own technical fall, winning 19-4 over Connor O’Neill in the 174-pound bout.
At 184 pounds, redshirt freshman Sam Goin pinned redshirt sophomore Luke Vanadia in emphatic fashion with over a minute left to wrestle in the third period.
After the meet, Goin spoke with the media about his impactful fall.
“Even though I got the pin,” Goin said, “there’s still some things I need to work on, so I’m never satisfied.”
The final win of the five match streak involved No. 14 Gabe Sollars, who earned a hard-fought regular decision win over No. 27 Kael Wisler. Then, heavyweight redshirt junior Josh Terrill provided a silver lining for the Spartans with his defeat of redshirt freshman Caleb Marzolino in the 285-pound bout, as Terrill recorded a fall to counterplay Goin’s from earlier in the dual.
Terrill’s late pin, though, came too little too late for Michigan State. Indiana strung together an abundance of bonus points in the middle to upper weight classes in order to race past the Spartans, 32-13.
Indiana will travel across state lines for its next dual opportunity on Friday at 10 p.m. in Champaign against the No. 12 Illinois Fighting Illini.
