(UPDATED TO INCLUDE 165 TO HWT) Reviews of the Duals with SIUE and Chattanooga
I am going to spend most of my words in this post to discuss the SIUE dual. That's because Jay provided us with an excellent first-hand breakdown of the UTC dual here.
Here is the grainy, jumpy video of the ILLINI/SIUE dual. [NOTE: Since I first posted this, it appears that SIUE has taken down the video of the Triangular. I can't find it on youtube, either]. I do appreciate that the Cougars put this on the internet; otherwise, we'd have nothing.
It seemed that Jake Reicin and Trey Sizemore wrestled extra matches, but I don't see where they're listed on any of the school's websites or at wrestlestat.com. I'm guessing that there's a short clip of Reicin. It's hard to tell, though. I'm pretty sure that the video does show the end of a match where Sizemore's hand is raised.
Here's the box score for the SIUE dual:
No. 23 Illinois at SIU-Edwardsville
133: Byrd (ILL) win by forfeit
141: Ervin (SIUE) over W. Rachal (ILL) (Dec 3-2)
149: Kanzler (ILL) over Tyus (SIUE) (MD 13-5)
157: Roberts (ILL) over Kristoff (SIUE) (Dec 8-2)
165: D. Braunagel (ILL) win by forfeit
174: Shannon (ILL) over Gschwendtner (SIUE) (Dec 7-6)
184: Z. Braunagel (ILL) over Villalobos (SIUE) (MD 13-5)
197: Yarnell (SIUE) over Nepomnyashchiy (ILL) (Dec 3-0)
285: Luffman (ILL) over McKiernan (SIUE) (Dec 8-3)
With the three forfeits at 125, 133 and 165, any mystery left about the outcome of the dual was cleared up. SIUE forfeited those weights against UTC as well, so this wasn't a case of ducking. So, the match started off at 141 with what turned out to be the most compelling battle of the day.
We Rachal. The ILLINI faced off against the Cougar's best wrestler, a returning NCAA qualifier and part of the Ervin legacy of wrestling in Kentucky. No score after a first period in which the ILLINI took the only legitimate shots, including this Flying Squirrel in the waning seconds:
There was only an Ervin escape in the second, and, again, We Rachal took the legitimate shots. In the third, Rachal had a beautiful kick over to get the reversal and make the score 2-1 for the good guys. Ervin eventually escaped then received a bogus stalling call on Rachal (who had taken all of the legitimate shots in the match, and who has to be allowed the opportunity to circle in when Ervin's escape occurred at the edge of the mat). The ILLINI throw the brick, but the call is confirmed (suspiciously by the same people who made the call in the first place!), and Ervin holds on for the 3-2 win.
Christian Kanzler. Very early in the first period, Kanzler hits a beautiful shrug by and leg trip that I swear he must've learned from Coach Poeta. During the ride, Kanzler gets a tilt with a quick four count. (I know the count seemed quick in the Gutierrez/Cardani match, but this was equally quick. The ref just counts fast.). The Cougar escapes, making it 6-1.
Christian hits another sweet takedown, this one an ankle pick. Another escape makes it 8-2. Kanzler has used his time at ILLINOIS to improve. He now has an impressive arsenal of holds. In the second, the Cougar escapes, making it 8-3. A very nice duck adds another two to the ledger. Another Cougar escape. Christian hits a bodacious sweep single, and a final escape ends the match.
Joe Roberts. It was good that Joe had this match to quickly bounce back from the loss to Chattanooga. Roberts used an underhook the whole first period looking for short offense, including trips, leg sweeps (!) and high crotches. In the second period, they start neutral. Roberts continues to work, and the ILLINI gets a point because the Cougar has been stalling. 1-0 at the end of two.
In the third period, the Cougar tried to ride legs, but Roberts stood up, untangled himself, and escaped. Roberts uses the underhook for a shrug by and grabs a leg to score the takedown. After an escape, Roberts uses the short offense for another takedown and release. A final takedown comes from the defense of a Cougar attempt.
Danny Braunagel. This was a forfeit, so not much to say except that the ILLINI have really nice forfeit-taking skilz. Cardani, Byrd and Little Brawny lope out on the mat, raise their own arm in victory after vanquishing their invisible foe and head back to the bench.
SIUE had 12,860 students in the Fall of 2020. It's sad that they couldn't find three with the temerity to challenge Cardani, Byrd and Braunagel. The good news is that the answer to the problem was sitting on the SIUE bench, dressed splendidly: Former ILLINI stud Daryl Thomas was a fantastic hire by Head Coach Jeremy Spates. Things are looking up in Edwardsville!
DJ Shannon. DJ won by a 7-6 score over Kevin Gschwendtner. This gives him a 4-2 record on the year and that's counting a couple of losses by disqualification at the MSU Open. He also has a win over the #37 wrestler from Cal Poly, Adam Kemp, who has an 8-2 record this season. I don't recall the match with SIUE at all, except that I thought DJ coulda put it on this Cougar. Still, Gschwendtner is one of the better wrestlers on that team.
Zac Braunagel. This was a 13-5 major decision for Big Brawny. His opponent, Sergio Villalobos, looked to me like a Max Lyon (Purdue) clone. He was very big. Come to find out, this is Villalobos' third season in the Cougar starting lineup, and last year, he wrestled at 197.
According to the writeup at FightingILLINI.com, "Zac had off season shoulder surgery and today was his first time on the mat competing since March." Given that knowledge, this was a superb result. Villalobos lost by major to Wisconsin's Chris Weiler earlier in the season, so it seems that Big Brawny has come back healthy, which is great news.
Nikita Nepomnyashchiy. Nepo faced the third-best wrestler on the Cougar roster and made a great go of it, losing only 0-3.
Luke Luffman. The second-best SIUE wrestler is their heavyweight Colton McKiernan, and Luuuke simply out-worked him all three periods. The Cougar is rated the #53 heavyweight in the country and is quite the specimen, but it is Luffman who walks off with a sparkling 6-1 record. By the end of the match, Luuuke had worn out his opponent.
Final Notes About the SIUE Dual
First, it was great to see the ILLINI in action! Kudos for SIUE for putting the matches on the internet. I wish they would've kept them there for at least a couple of days, but beggars.
Second, it was great to start the Poeta Era off with two wins.
I've heard rumblings that Duncan and Carr will be second semester wrestlers, which is probably smart, as they can concentrate on studies now and then on their wrestling goals without fear of injury or getting worn out during the first part of the season.
The ILLINI have to be very happy to have We Rachal on the team. The guy could be starting at other D1 programs. He wrestles smart matches but also has the explosions and the cardio you dream of for somebody in the next-man-up position. It was kind of funny, though, to see the official SIUE wrestling website list this fantasy box score, omitting Rachal (and Nepo as well):
Christian Kanzler has made significant improvements during his time at ILLINOIS. This is another wrestler the ILLINI is very fortunate to have on the squad. He's filled in whenever needed and sports a very nice 5-2 record.
Big Luke got a very important win over McKiernan. It is the kind of win that will have an impact, at least to a degree, on his NCAA seeding. Those are the matches you need to win!
The Chattanooga DualI just wanted to add a few comments as Jay has already provided us with a great recap here. Video of the entire Chattanooga dual doesn't seem to exist, but most of it is here on SIUE's facebook page. [NOTE: It appears that SIUE has since taken down the video].
Justin Cardani had his three weaknesses exposed in the Chattanooga dual. (1) He didn't finish when he had the chance, (2) He faced a bigger wrestler, and (3) He let his opponent ride legs. If Cardani can correct these three issues, he would be an All American. If he corrects two of them, he might be an AA.
The first serious takedown attempt was illustrative: Cardani shot a beautiful head-outside single and stood up in a position to score with a single or double finish. That is improvement! But he didn't seem to know what to do from there. The whole match would've been very different if Justin had planted Guttierez on his butt at that moment. As for leg rides, Justin needs to either get immediate hip separation with his quickness, talk to Byrd or Pucino about how they get out of leg rides, or be ready to catch the leg as it goes in (last resort).
Lucas Byrd faced a guy who looked twice his size and still had gas. The ILLINI All American took this time to experiment on some new moves. He has an arsenal that is being equipped like a Call of Duty game.
The ILLINI haven't had all their starters for a dual or tournament yet this year. They haven't even had all of their Brawlnagels. They needed them against UTC. Danny and Zac both faced very good NCAA-qualifier-caliber wrestlers, and they won. An amazing misdirection single from DJ Shannon was a big applause line. That might've been the best takedown of the Triangular. Luffman is much more confident and assertive this year. He jams in the underhook and refuses prisoners. Sweet ankle pick, too!
The IWB&F "Man of the Match" was Nikita Nepomnyashchiy. This was his first start in a dual for the ILLINI. He made the most of a sweaty-palm opportunity by attacking his foe right of the whistle and never letting up. The ILLINI has wrestled at 184 this year but faced a 197 pounder in this match. The wrestlestat.com algorithm had Thomas Sell beating Nepo by a 19-1 tech fall. Instead, Nepo majored him. ABSOLUTELY ******* AWESOME!
And you better believe that that bad word a couple words ago was all capital letters.
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