RECAP OF ILLINI v. INDIANA DUAL
This was the Fan Fest dual in Indianapolis the day before the B1G football championship game. The ILLINI slaughtered the Hoosiers 34-3, yet this was a much better Hoosier team than in recent years. We are impressed with Angel Escobedo and how he has taken a dead program and mouth-to-mouthed it so that it is functionally alive.
Take Jacob Bullock for example.
That fellow looked like a heavyweight Baby Huey a couple of years ago. After some strength training, he now looks like a linebacker. He has not only gotten stronger and much more muscled, but he's also gotten quicker and better.
Thing is, this is a different ILLINI team as well.
From top to bottom, this team has big-time winners. Even Caelan Riley at 125 is coming around. We'll talk about Riley and each individual wrestler soon, but first, the atmosphere.
We weren't there.
It was described by people who were there as being awe inspiring, and it looked like that on video. BTN brought the entire first team to the dual with Jim Gibbons, Tim Johnson and Shane Sparks. They spent some time on the sideline interviewing the coaches while they were coaching their wrestlers.
Of course, we have to:
The Big Ten also brought their top-quality cameras, and they showed excellent montages about the teams. One of those was about the Dinner Theater dual with Missouri, and it was well done. Jim Gibbons, who attended that dual, had a lot of great things to say about it.
125.
The match started at 125 with CAELAN RILEY versus Jacob Moran, a really good wrestler for Indiana even though he has a baby face. The final score was a very respectable 2-5 against a Hoosier who is now 8-1 on the year, and whose only loss is to the #2 guy in the country by one point. In this match, Riley needed to protect his legs from Moran. The ILLINI is tall, and that means long legs that need protection.
He also had some trouble getting out from bottom. Moran is a cagey veteran and a good rider, but Caelan will need to keep working on that. On the plus side, the Libertyville kid was in great condition and worked hard during the entire match, and we can see him turning the corner. He's not there yet. He's turning.
We'd love to see him turn his length to an advantage with some heel picks, or when it is desperation time, a deep inside or outside trip.
133.
LUCAS BYRD was dominant on the mat against a very tough Angelo Rini. Against Byrd is the Wyrd, opponents like to try to stay off their backs, and that's what Rini did. Lucas scored with an escape, a stall point and a ride out in the third period that included a number of mat returns that pleased Shane Sparks to no end. The final score in the match was ILLINI's Byrd 3, Indiana 0.
We think Lucas has decided to be impossible to score on this season, and he has been. Against a slew of ranked wrestlers this year, he has given up zero points.
141.
It was Henry Porter who had to try to keep pace with the Irish-Italian Leprechaun Cyborg named DANNY PUCINO. The Hoosier showed that he was in shape by fending off waves of attacks. At one point in the proceedings, the ref called stalling on Pucino, and Coach Poeta, micced up with Tim Johnson, said something along the lines of "our guy's taken fourteen shots to their one."
Danny scored on one of those many attempts with a slick cross-ankle pick and left with a 4-1 win for the good guys.
149.
We always like to see wrestlers take it to their higher-ranked opponents. If you are still wrestling in the third period against one of the top guys in the country, take a committed shot. Run back to the circle. Keep your head up.
Go for it.
Unfortunately for Indiana's Anthony Bahl, he went for it a little too much against one of the best in the country. Like a bad singer thinking he or she can hit the low B-flat and then the high-F in the National Anthem. First, he was penalized a point for head-butting KANNON WEBSTER out of bounds. Then, he started with the hard clubs--which might be better described as looping rights and lefts.
That just pissed Kannon off, who had seemed content to get a tech fall via a ton of takedowns. With anger in his blood, though, Webster put Bahl on his back, sunk in the reverse half and pinned him. Then, as the announcers noted, the ILLINI swaggered off the mat.
Later in the broadcast, Kannon was awarded most outstanding wrestler of the match.
157.
The entire first period of the match between Ryan Garvick and JASON KRAISSER was comprised of two ******* awesome scrambles initiated by insane dumps from the ILLINI wrestler. What strange magic is this? I mean, seriously, LOL?
Watching this first period after already knowing that Jason won 2-0 made it pure entertainment. If we didn't know the final outcome, our intestines would've eaten each other from anxiety during those three minutes. One last: WOW!
Jim Gibbons said on the broadcast: "That was the biggest action-filled three minutes of scrambling for no points I think we've ever seen!" Well said, Coach. The second period finished with another sixty-second scramble for no points. But Kraisser escaped and then rode Garvick out in the third for a riding point and the 2-0 win.
165.
The scrambling just kept going into the next weight as it was BRAEDEN SCOLES with Derek Gilcher's leg up for almost a minute, then it was the Hoosier's turn to hoist the ILLINI's leg up for about a minute. Eventful first period, but no score. The second period consisted of Scoles riding out Gilcher for the full two minutes. He had a cradle locked up for a second, but Gilcher wisely dropped down and broke the grip.
In the third period, Braeden chose down, and he was out in :07. Gilcher had no opportunity during the remaining 1:53 of the period to get a takedown. The Hoosier was never close to scoring. That's because Scoles is in great shape, and his shape and strength wore out Gilcher.
As we suspected, Scoles continued his unbeaten streak, but it was not a bonus point win. His bonus percentage drops to 88.89%. LOL.
174.
Shane Sparks said during the broadcast: "If I need a couple of security guards, I want the Braunagel twins." It was DANNY BRAUNAGEL bringing the fire against Nick South. The first period ended 7-2 for Brawny, as he scored a couple of takedowns and got a stall point against the Hoosier, who thought that his best offense was to run away.
In the end, the Brawlnagel scored another takedown and the 11-3 major decision to add a bonus point to the ILLINI scorebook.
184.
In the first period, EDMOND RUTH used Donnell Washington's leg attack to get behind him and then used a trip and a dive to seemingly secure a takedown. The call on the mat was no takedown, but the refs prudently decided to take an official review.
The call was overturned!
Edmond rode that takedown and his mat skills to a hard-fought 4-2 win over a very dangerous Hoosier. Ruth now has an NCAA win over him and a dual win. That's pretty special.
Brian Swaw called it the match of the dual, and he's right about that. There was a lot on the line, and the excellent wrestling lived up to the hype.
197.
It was Gabe Sollars with the takedown in the first period and a ride that timed out at 1:30 before ZAC BRAUNAGEL escaped. It looked dire. But Big Brawny did not lose his veteran composure. Just as time was running down in the first, he hit his own single, switched to a double and covered for three.
That gave him the 4-3 lead after the first period. Sollars took down in the second and escaped quickly. A go-behind for Zac in the second stretched the lead to 7-4. After Zac let him up, it was the Hoosier with a takedown at the end of the second to give him the 8-7 lead.
In the third, the ILLINI showed more of that Senior composure getting a takedown with :20 left to go in the match for the 10-8 win!
285.
Poor Jacob Bullock. Guy keeps working hard, turns his body into something Hercules might be proud of, works hard on his wrestling, and what does he get? He has to face LUKE LUFFMAN again. The ILLINI has been there since high school state championship finals, all the way to dual and tournament matches to be a human stop sign for Bullock.
It was the Hoosier with the first period takedown.
Bullock used a knee snatch to pull up the leg and tree-topped Luffman from the inside. The Pride of Urbana was out with an escape almost immediately. It was 1-3 at the end of the first. LUUUUKE again escaped quickly in the second period. Bullock got a quick escape in the third. It was now 4-2 in his favor.
But then!
Luffman hits a low ankle dive and drives out the back door to get around Bullock, and before the Hoosier could grab an ankle, then drives into him from another angle to put him on his back for the pin! The ILLINI bench erupts! What a way to end a dual.
FROM FIGHTINGILLINI.COM
The official write-up at FightingILLINI.com can be found here, and this is their box score:
FULL RESULTS
| Weight | Matchup | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 125: | #23 Jacob Moran (IND) dec. Caelan Riley (ILL), 5-2 | ILL 0 I IND 3 |
| 133: | #2 Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. #24 Angelo Rini (IND), 3-0 | ILL 3 I IND 3 |
| 141: | #19 Danny Pucino (ILL) dec. Henry Porter (IND), 4-1 | ILL 6 I IND 3 |
| 149: | #10 Kannon Webster (ILL) pins Anthony Bahl (IND), 4:43 | ILL 12 I IND 3 |
| 157: | #27 Jason Kraisser (ILL) dec. Ryan Garvick (IND), 2-0 | ILL 15 I IND 3 |
| 165: | #14 Braeden Scoles (ILL) dec. #26 Derek Gilcher (IND), 2-0 | ILL 18 I IND 3 |
| 174: | #16 Danny Braunagel (ILL) major dec. Nick South (IND), 11-3 | ILL 22 I IND 3 |
| 184: | #12 Edmond Ruth (ILL) dec. #23 DJ Washington (IND), 4-2 | ILL 25 I IND 3 |
| 197: | #13 Zac Braunagel (ILL) dec. #28 Gabe Sollars (IND), 10-8 | ILL 28 I IND 3 |
| 285: | #11 Luke Luffman (ILL) pins #26 Jacob Bullock (IND), 5:52 | ILL 34 I IND 3 |
No offense to anyone on the current roster but imagine if this team still had Maximo to lead us off at 125. Anyways this team is stacked and poised for a monster year.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for Ohio State and Iowa, brother!
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