ILLINI WIN! BEAT UNC & CMU, MORE LINDENWOOD AND TĪNĒ ILLINI

 

FRONT PAGE HEADLINE: ILLINI WIN! 

The ILLINI won both duals yesterday. The appetizer was Central Michigan University, which lost to the good guys by the score of 3-32. The main course consisted of a 20-13 win over the University of North Carolina. 

This was a very good win for the ILLINI, as Intermat had UNC ranked #22, while the ILLINI were not in the top 25. Additionally, Wrestlestat.com predicted a 24-7 win for the Tarheels. If you go on that site right now and plug in Kannon Webster versus his North Carolina opponent, it pops up as a 5-4 win for the UNC kid. 

On the mat, it was actually 5-1 for Kannon Webster.

Overall, it was a great day for the ILLINI. The team achieved a massive beatdown over one team while also winning a paper upset over another. Plus, Austin O'Connor received his NCAA and ACC Championship rings before the UNC dual. 

The BTN+ stream was excellent. We can even stop it to use the bathroom. Brian Swaw is a pro on the color analysis, and we've been lucky to have excellent student play-by-play announcers. It was smart of the school to close up the bleachers in front of the camera to make room for sweet walk outs for the wrestlers.  

This was the box score for that beatdown of Central Michigan:

Weight	Matchup	Score
125:	Sean Spidle (CMU) dec. Justin Cardani (ILL), 5-0	ILL 0 I CMU 3
133:	Kole Brower (ILL) dec. Vince Perez (CMU), 8-6	ILL 3 I CMU 3
141:	Danny Pucino (ILL) dec. Ja'Kerion Merritt (CMU), 4-2	ILL 6 I CMU 3
149:	Kannon Webster (ILL) major dec. Corbyn Munson (CMU), 13-5	ILL 10 I CMU 3
157:	Joe Roberts (ILL) dec. Johnny Lovett (CMU), TB-2 2-1	ILL 13 I CMU 3
165:	Caden Ernd (ILL) dec. Tyler Swiderski (CMU), 8-2	ILL 16 I CMU 3
174:	Edmond Ruth (ILL) tech. fall Alex Cramer (CMU), 23-6 (6:02)	ILL 21 I CMU 3
184:	Dylan Connell (ILL) major dec. Cody Brenner (CMU), 10-2	ILL 25 I CMU 3
197:	Isiah Pettigrew (ILL) dec. Cam Wood (CMU), 10-3	ILL 28 I CMU 3
285:	Luke Luffman (ILL) major dec. Bryan Caves (CMU), 18-6	ILL 32 I CMU 3

Note that the box score is wrong in that KANNON WEBSTER beat a fireplug named Trenton Wachter, who already has 30 collegiate wins. From our reporter's notebook: KOLE BROWER got a win over a strong three-year starter for CMU. This was not his first dual win for the ILLINI. He's a veteran now. 

Against a ranked opponent, JOE ROBERTS showed that he was ready for the big time with a smart controlled win over Johnny Lovett that went to TB2. This is the kind of win that looks really good at NCAA selection time.

The Chippewa who wrestled at 141 was strong and had Michigan state championship credentials, but that poor soul got PUCINO'D. He was holding up Danny's leg after a single until the ILLINI hit a funk roll and immediately stood up with his opponent's leg in the air.

EDMOND RUTH is a bad man. He went back-to-back-to-back with his underhook series until he hit a tech fall score against a top-20 talent. He's up to #5 in the rankings. Hope to see more LUKE LUFFMAN cradle attempts. Luuuke is now up to #8 in the polls. 

CADEN ERND with his first dual win as an ILLINI! DYLAN CONNELL looked strong with a major, and ISIAH PETTIGREW continued to impress. 

Coach Poeta had a lot to say after the duals. FightingILLINI.com quoted him as saying:

"Pretty happy with how today went," said head coach Mike Poeta "We beat a really tough team in UNC and we beat some really good individuals against CMU. Tony Madrigal being out there for the first time I thought he looked great; Kannon Webster is impressing us more and more.'

'Joe Roberts with a big win over Lovett (CMU) who's ranked 15th in the country, that's a big win for him. Roberts hasn't fully believed that he's belonged, but a win like that makes me very excited for him. He got a little banged up in that match that's why Braeden Scoles wrestled against UNC and he looked great in his first action. We gave both Caden Ernd and Chris Moore an opportunity at 165 and both guys made a good case for themselves.'

'Edmond Ruth really opened up, when he's on the attack something always happens. He either scores on the shot, scores on a body lock or gets a stall call. If my percentage of getting one of those three things happened every time I pulled the trigger I would be pulling it a lot on the mat.'

'Isiah Pettigrew showed a lot of heart, he only started wrestling his junior year of high school. That would be like starting a sport when you're 50 years old, it's very late in the wrestling world. Having Luke Luffman back is awesome I am extremely confident rolling into the last match with him and he's a big part of us being on a roll right now."

The North Carolina dual box score looks like this:

Weight	Matchup	Score
125:	Spencer Moore (UNC) dec. Justin Cardani (ILL), 5-2	ILL 0 I UNC 3
133:	Tony Madrigal (ILL) major dec. Caden McCray (UNC), 8-0	ILL 4 I UNC 3
141:	Lachlan McNeil (UNC) major dec. Danny Pucino (ILL), 8-0	ILL 4 I UNC 7
149:	Kannon Webster (ILL) dec. Jayden Scott (UNC), 5-1	ILL 7 I UNC 7
157:	Braeden Scoles (ILL) dec. Sonny Santiago (UNC), 4-2	ILL 10 I UNC 7
165:	Chris Moore (ILL) dec. Isaias Estrada (UNC), 2-0	ILL 13 I UNC 7
174:	Edmond Ruth (ILL) major dec. Sabino Portella (UNC), 10-1	ILL 17 I UNC 7
184:	Gavin Kane (UNC) dec. Dylan Connell (ILL), 2-0	ILL 17 I UNC 10
197:	Max Shaw (UNC) dec. Isiah Pettigrew (ILL), SV-1 8-5	ILL 17 I UNC 13
285:	Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. Cade Lautt (UNC), 8-2	ILL 20 I UNC 13

TONY MADRIGAL looked good. Really good. There were three matches in a row involving true Freshmen. BRAEDEN SCOLES and CHRIS MOORE earned their first dual wins as ILLINI. KANNON WEBSTER moved his record to 3-0.

EDMOND RUTH was more subdued in this match, but he still earned a major against a fellow who was working hard to stay away from that underhook. LUKE LUFFMAN had a nice, controlled, almost easy win against a guy who will be in the NCAA tournament. 

Although DYLAN CONNELL and ISIAH PETTIGREW lost, they looked quite good against their ranked opponents. Connell's opponent was an AA last year, and Pettigrew's was a qualifier and is ranked top twenty this season. 

TOP STORY: FRESHMEN!

In a surprise announcement, Kannon Webster is no longer a redshirt. He's a starter. The Washington Community phenom has now wrestled in three duals and is 3-0 on the season. It seems that the young man has decided to BRING IT ON! COME AT ME, BRO. 

Additionally, Braeden Scoles and Chris Moore got their first dual starts in the UNC match, with both of them showing why they were blue chip recruits. They beat veteran wrestlers and looked good doing it. Stay tuned to this page, Twitter and Instagram for the next couple of days as we prepare a video celebrating these first ILLINI wins.  

STILL ON PAGE ONE: DEPTH

This might be just as big a story as the ILLINI Freshmen. Of course, much of the depth is due to the Freshmen who constituted a Top Ten recruiting class. We are starting to get a glimpse of Coach Mike Poeta's team, and it is looking very good. What that depth begins to look like is this: One ILLINI wrestler lost both of his matches yesterday. Three wrestlers won both of their matches (Luffman, Ruth and Webster).

But here's the Ace on the River: There were three other weights where one wrestler won against CMU and a different wrestler won against North Carolina (Brower and Madrigal, Roberts and Scoles, Ernd and Moore). In this group there were two Freshmen, Scoles and Moore, but there were four veterans. 

We are seeing depth in action. 

That's not to mention Lucas Byrd out with an injury and the Brawlnagels taking Olympic redshirts. Finally, there are the wrestlers who were at Lindenwood the day before.

PAGE TWO: MORE LINDENWOOD

There was no stream of the Lindenwood Open, which sucked mightily, but we were able to obtain some photos and videos. We'll put up the videos in a later post. 

LIFESTYLE SECTION: TĪNĒ ILLINI

Today's tīnē illini segment is all about America and All Americans. Nothing says America more than Caitlan and Jordan Blanton walking their little ones around the greatest land in the world. We love this picture because this is America:

And be sure to show your little one some other All Americans (besides yourself):

That bow, the sweater, the t-shirt, that face. Adorbs!

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Dual photos credit to Jennifer Butler/Fighting ILLINI; Lindenwood photos credit to ILLINI fans; TĪNĒ ILLINI photos credit to the Blantons.