Iowa tops Iowa State 21-15

I have stated for years on this blog that Iowa Wrestling is my entertainment. Iowa came from behind to defeat Iowa State tonight 21-15 in a very entertaining dual meet.

Iowa won six of ten matches including a tech fall and a major decision to win for the 20th straight time over Iowa State.

Iowa State got off to a fast start when true freshman Adrian Meza defeated Kael Petersen 5-1 at 125. In one of the main matchups at 133 #9 Drake Ayala defeated #5 Evan Frost, 11-7. That was a high level match that you normally see late in the NCAA National Tournament.

Zach Redding defeated Ryder Block 5-4 at 141 to make the team score 6-3 Iowa State. Petersen and Block did not look confident to me at all and I believe they can both wrestle quite a bit better than what we saw tonight.

149 was a great matchup of top talent. #4 Kyle Parco scored three points off of one sequence without scoring a takedown or back points. Very rare. Parco was awarded one point when Anthony Echemendia was called for locked hands, followed by one point for an escape. A challenge by Coach Tom Brands then awarded Parco another point for an illegal crackback. That one point was the difference for a 4-3 Parco win. As with the match at 133 these two could see each other again late in the National Tournament.

The surprise of the night was when #1 ranked Jacori Teemer injured his leg and had to injury default to Paniro Johnson at 157. Iowa State was awarded six team points and took a 12-6 lead into intermission.

At 165 Michael Caliendo defeated Connor Euton 12-7 in a match that I was expecting bonus points from. I must admit that it did not look good for the Hawks at that point with Iowa State up 12-9.

Iowa then won three straight matches with two new additions to the lineup. Patrick Kennedy got the call over Nelson Brands at 174 and Angelo Ferrari was picked over Gabe Arnold at 184.

At 174 Patrick Kennedy defeated Aiden Riggins by a 19-4 tech fall and Iowa took a 14-12 lead.

There was another surprise when elite true freshman Angelo Ferrari made his Carver-Hawkeye debut with an impressive 8-2 decision over #15 Evan Bockman at 184. Ferrari is the biggest recruit in the Tom Brands era and looks the part. That was a great match to watch.

At 197 Stephen Buchanan looked solid in a 10-0 major decision over elite recruit Christian Carroll. That pushed the team score to Iowa up by 21-12 to clinch the dual meet.

Ben Kueter had a chance with a late cradle but could not capitalize as #4 Yonger Bastida won 7-2 at Hwt.

So Iowa had a disaster happen at 157 where their #1 ranked wrestler gave up six points instead of scoring points. Iowa responded and won the dual meet.

To me that is all that matters. This was the 20th straight time that Iowa has defeated Iowa State in wrestling and they are always tough dual meets.

The only real concern is how serious is the injury that Teemer suffered to his leg. Iowa has four backup wrestlers at 149 with Caleb Rathjen, Victor Voinovich, Kael Voinovich and Miguel Estrada. Kael Voinovich and Estrada have been impressive so far this season as true freshmen. I hope that they both get a chance to wrestle varsity.

I was standing by listening to Coach Brands on the KXIC radio show following the meet.

When asked about the changes in the lineup at 174 and 184 Coach Brands said they wanted to shake things up. Ironside stated it was great to have that type of depth to be able to do that.

We are four months away from Nationals. This Iowa team will develop and be fun to watch this season.

Nothing against Ironside and Grace on the radio and a brief commentary from Tom Brands but Angelo Ferrari had the best quote of the night at the press conference:

“Even on my worst night I need to be the best in the country.”

Gotta love the attitude. Angelo Ferrari is going to be entertaining us Hawkeye fans for years.

I saw who I call The Living Legend…Dan Gable on my way out. How humbling it is to know and talk to him. Some brief insight is always welcomed.

Thank you Iowa Wrestling for great entertainment in tonight’s dual meet.

Iowa will be in action next at the Journeymen Wrestling Uncivil War in St. Charles, Missouri on Friday, December 6 against Princeton and Army.