No. 19 Northwestern defeats Spartans, 31-6
Franklin Gomez, Rex Kendle pick up wins for the Spartans
EVANSTON, Ill., 01/23/09 - The Michigan State wrestling team lost its
first road dual of the season on Friday, Jan. 23, falling to No. 19
Northwestern, 31-6. The Spartans (5-3) are now 3-1 on the road. The
Wildcats (8-3) finished the night by wining five-straight bouts to put
them ahead for good.
MSU junior Franklin Gomez earned his 12th win of the season, winning a
12-6 decision against Northwestern's Eric Metzler. Gomez, who holds the
No. 1 ranking at 133, is now 12-0 this season.
"For whatever reason, I don't think we wrestled to our full potential
tonight," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "We looked a little flat, a
little tired, and combine that with the fact that Northwestern is a very
good team, it was a disappointing evening. We'll try to regroup and get
ready for Minnesota."
At 149 pounds, redshirt freshman David Cheza dropped a 12-5 decision to
Northwestern's Andrew Nadhir to give the Wildcats the 3-0 lead. Nadhir
recorded three takedowns in the first period to gain the early lead,
which he wouldn't surrender.
The 157-pound bout went scoreless until midway through the second
period, but Northwestern's 17th-ranked Jason Welch recorded two
takedowns in the final two periods to defeat Spartan sophomore Anthony
Jones Jr., 6-0. The decision gave the Wildcats a 6-0 lead after two
bouts.
MSU senior 165-pounder Rex Kendle recorded a takedown, an escape and
added 3:27 of riding time to earn the 4-0 decision over Frank Battaglia
and cut Northwestern's lead to 6-3.
At 174, Spartan redshirt freshman Ian Hinton fell behind 3-0 after the
second period to Robert Kellogg, but earned two points in the third to
cut the lead to one. Despite Hinton's valiant effort, the 3-2 margin was
how the bout would end. The decision gave the Wildcats a 9-3 lead.
Top-ranked 184-pounder Jake Herbert pinned MSU senior Nick Palmieri in
1:26 to give Northwestern the 15-3 lead going into the break. The
Wildcats then took an 18-3 lead after John Schoen beat Spartan redshirt
freshman Tyler Dickenson, 7-3, at 197.
At heavyweight, MSU junior Alan O'Donnell dropped an 11-2 major decision
to Bennett Kuhar, which extended Northwestern's lead to 22-3. Wildcat
125-pounder Brandon Precin, ranked third in the nation, followed with a
pin over MSU's Eric Olanowski in 5:18 to give Northwestern a 28-3 lead
heading into the final two bouts.
Gomez defeated Metzler at 133, but sophomore 141-pounder Joel Trombly
lost the final bout of the night to No. 16 Keith Sulzer to seal the
Wildcat victory.
The Spartans will head to Minnesota on Sunday, Jan. 25, to face the
ninth-ranked Gophers at 3 p.m.
FINAL RESULTS
149 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. David Cheza (MSU), 12 - 5; NU leads, 3-0
157 #17 Jason Welch (NU) dec. Anthony Jones Jr. (MSU), 6 - 0; NU leads,
6-0
165 Rex Kendle (MSU) dec. Frank Battaglia (NU), 4-0; NU leads, 6-3
174 Robert Kellogg (NU) dec. Ian Hinton (MSU), 3-2; NU leads, 9-3
184 #1 Jake Herbert (NU) pins Nick Palmieri (MSU), 2:26; NU leads, 15-3
197 John Schoen (NU) dec. Tyler Dickenson (MSU), 7 - 3; NU leads, 18-3
285 Bennett Kuhar (NU) maj. dec. Alan O'Donnell (MSU), 11 - 2; NU leads,
22-3
125 #3 Brandon Precin (NU) pins Eric Olanowski (MSU), 5:18; NU leads,
28-3
133 #1 Franklin Gomez (MSU) dec. Eric Metzler (NU), 13-6; NU leads, 28-6
141 #16 Keith Sulzer (NU) dec. Joel Trombly (MSU), 7 - 0; NU wins, 31-6
