On Friday night, the No. 21 Indiana Hoosiers welcomed the Purdue Boilermakers to Wilkinson Hall for what would become a thrilling battle between rivals. In the end, the home team narrowly emerged victorious, winning 20-16 on senior night and closing the Big Ten dual season with a triumph.
Both teams sent ranked wrestlers into action throughout the evening, ranging from true national championship contenders to those fighting to prove they’re worthy of a spot in the sport’s penultimate tournament. Following the senior night ceremonies and a heartfelt video message from Indiana head coach Angel Escobedo, the action began at 125 pounds.
Indiana’s graduate student No. 17 Jacob Moran opened the evening with a 21-5 technical fall win over Ashton Jackson. Moran followed through with his usual routine of scoring takedowns early and often, en route to a key bonus point win. In a dual that would go down to the wire, Moran’s five team points proved to be influential as the night progressed.
In the 133-pound bout, Purdue responded, indicating that it did not intend to allow Indiana to enjoy its senior night so easily. Redshirt junior Blaine Frazier stepped onto the mat for the Hoosiers in a weight class that has experienced a great deal of rotation this season, and lost by a score of 6-2 to Purdue’s redshirt senior Blake Boarman.
Purdue paired the win at 133 pounds with a win at 141 pounds to steal the lead from the home team. No. 31 junior Greyson Clark upset No. 25 redshirt junior Henry Porter with defiant defense and incredible control of the bout. Clark won 8-0, scoring four team points for the Boilermakers with the major decision victory.
Once again, though, at 149 pounds, the lead exchanged hands. Indiana redshirt sophomore Joey Buttler found himself down 4-2 against Purdue’s No. 30 redshirt junior Gavin Brown as the time on the clock waned. Buttler repeatedly lunged for the winning takedown, with Brown expertly defending each and every one of his shots. However Buttler rode the wave of the crowd’s energy and scored the winning takedown in the final seconds to complete the ranked upset, receiving a vivacious standing ovation from the home fans.
In the 157-pound bout, Purdue’s No. 28 redshirt senior Stoney Buell quieted the crowd almost immediately, scoring a takedown and four near fall points in one impactful move against redshirt sophomore Bryce Lowery. Lowery stormed back over the course of the second and third periods, combining escapes and takedowns to tie the match up at nine points apiece, but Buell’s riding time point granted him the 10-9 individual win and Purdue the 10-8 team lead at the intermission.
The intermission did not reduce the energy in the building or on the mat in any capacity, with the 165-pound bout featuring two of the dual’s best individual wrestlers. Purdue’s No. 3 junior Joey Blaze, coming off of a monumental win over Iowa’s former No. 3 Michael Caliendo, faced a worthy opponent inside Wilkinson Hall. No. 17 redshirt junior Tyler Lilliard scored a reversal that put him in contention for the upset, but Blaze protected his status as an undefeated wrestler who has yet to be taken down this season with a narrow 4-3 regular decision victory.
The 174-pound bout began Indiana's resurgence, with Indiana’s No. 28 graduate student Derek Gilcher winning 9-2 over No. 16 Brody Baumann with impressive defense and control in the top position. At 184 pounds, No. 22 redshirt freshman Sam Goin swung the lead back to the side of the home team with a regular decision win of his own, 7-1 over No. 26 redshirt junior James Rowley.
With two bouts remaining, the Hoosiers led 14-13, with Indiana possessing the only ranked wrestler remaining in the starting lineup. That wrestler was No. 22 redshirt junior Gabe Sollars, who pinned freshman Noah Weaver in the first minute of the 197-pound bout to slam the door shut on the Boilermakers and seal the team triumph for the Hoosiers.
After the meet, Indiana head coach Angel Escobedo shared his perspective on Sollars’ pivotal pin.
“To be honest,” Escobedo said, “once he got the takedown and put the guy’s arm behind his back, I was like ‘he’s going to pin this guy…’ I didn’t get wrapped up in the moment because I knew what was going to happen and I just wanted to stay focused, but I loved the energy, the fans went crazy, that was fun.”
The heavyweight bout that followed may not have impacted the dual’s team result, but it undoubtedly provided additional entertainment and intrigue for the fans in attendance. Purdue’s redshirt senior Hayden Filipovich provided the Boilermaker bench with a silver lining to the evening in the form of a 2-0 regular decision win over Indiana freshman Matt Kowalski. Filipovich escaped to open the second period, and rode Kowalski for the entirety of the third period to seal the result.
Although Filipovich granted Purdue the final win of the night, Indiana narrowly emerged triumphant in thrilling fashion with dynamite wins throughout the evening. Both the Hoosiers and the Boilermakers now look forward to postseason action, as many of their wrestlers will meet again in the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Championships in the coming weeks.
After the meet, Escobedo spoke about the direction of the team after earning its ninth dual win of the season.
“Every year we’re getting better…” Escobedo said, “we’re like, ‘one step forward, one step forward,’ and for us, this team, it’s like ‘we’re not done yet, we’ve still got Big Tens, we’ve still got NCAAs and we want to get guys on the podium at nationals.’”
The Big Ten Championships are set for March 7 and March 8 in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University, where the conference’s best will contend for automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships.
Regardless of Indiana’s postseason performance, the Hoosiers closed their regular season in emphatic fashion, winning their sixth dual at home and ninth overall in front of a wild crowd. Time will tell whether or not the success at the end of the regular season will transfer to success in a packed postseason for the continually building Indiana Hoosiers.
