Who: #1 Iowa vs. #17 Michigan
Date: Friday – February 13th, 2015
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Iowa City, IA Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Radio: 800 KXIC AM
Online: A BTN plus video stream is available online at btn2go.com.
Play-by-Play: IAWrestle.com
#1 Iowa Hawkeyes 11-0
125- #5 Thomas Gilman
133- #6 Cory Clark
141- #6 Josh Dziewa
149- #2 Brandon Sorensen
157- #16 Mike Kelly
165- #9 Nick Moore
174- #3 Mike Evans
184- #8 Sammy Brooks
197- #6 Nathan Burak or Kris Klapprodt
285- #2 Bobby Telford
#17 Michigan Wolverines 6-5 (4-4)
125- #20 Conor Youtsey
133- #9 Rossi Bruno
141- George Fisher
149- #13 Alec Pantaleo
157- #10 Brian Murphy
165- #10 Taylor Massa
174- Jake Salazar
184- #12 Dominic Abounder
197- #8 Max Huntley
285- #7 Adam Coon
Tonight the Iowa Hawkeyes will wrestle for the outright Big Ten regular season title. The title can be won by a group of seniors that have been the face or should I say the characters of the Hawkeye wrestling program. From Mike Evans infamous mustache to Bobby Telford’s clever quotes. This group has earn the right to win a Big Ten title tonight.
The matches to keep your eye on tonight are #6 Cory Clark vs #9 Rossi Bruno, #2 Brandon Sorensen vs #13 Alec Pantaleo, #9 Nick Moore vs #10 Taylor Massa, #8 Sammy Brooks vs #12 Dominic Abounder, #6 Nathan Burak vs #8 Max Huntley and #2 Bobby Telford vs #7 Adam Coon.
Rossi Bruno wrestles tonight this will be a great match based off how their common opponent results look on paper. They both have wrestled five common opponents with similar results. Clark does have a win over Zane Richards 4-2 but lost to Richards last month 6-5. Richards defeated Bruno very early on in the season 5-2. Clark will be favored but look for this one to be a close bout.
The matchup at 149 pounds may not seem like one fans would think about worrying about but Pantaleo has wrestled their common opponents just as well as Sorensen. Pantaleo defeated Sal Mastriani 10-3 and Jake Short 8-4 and Sorensen defeated Mastriani 6-0 and Short 4-0. Sorensen needs to make sure he doesn’t look past Pantaleo.
Nick Moore has an opportunity to win a big match on senior night against Taylor Massa. Moore and Massa have been up and down throughout the season. I have this as a toss up because of the inconsistency from both wrestlers. Carver-Hawkeye Arena will need to get behind Nick Moore tonight.
Matches to watch has been next to Sammy Brooks name quite often this season and he’ll have another tough matchup tonight against Dominic Abounder. Brooks will look to grind this match out from their feet. Both are hammers from top position and I am looking forward to a brawl. Brooks has used his big gas tank all season long to gas his opponents early in the match and then capitalize late in the match once they are worn out.
The match at 197 pounds features to evenly ranked opponents. #6 Nathan Burak against #8 Max Huntley. This is a tough one to predict because both of them struggled with Morgan McIntosh and Kyle Snyder. Burak does has a 2-1 decision over Snyder and I look for this match to come down to a single takedown. Burak has to stay active from neutral position to get past Huntley tonight.
Coming off a B1G Wrestler of the Week performance over sixth-ranked Jimmy Lawson, Bobby Telford will look to be in the running for another wrestler of the week honor. He will face #7 Adam Coon, a wrestler that won two matches over the Iowa senior a year ago. Telford currently is 21-1 on the season and carries a 96 career win record into this match. This match can lock up the number one seed for Bobby Telford and you can’t bet the house he’ll be fired up!
After the dual the Hawkeyes will honor eight seniors. Seniors Mike Evans and Bobby Telford have been four year starters for the Hawkeyes, with both of them closing in on 100 career wins. Telford has spent his entire career as the Hawkeye heavyweight and is a two time All-American. Evans, also a two time All-American spent his first season at 165 for the Hawkeyes. After a brief stint at 165 as a sophomore, he eventually bumped to 174 where he has earned his All-American honors the last two years. Evans has a 29-2 record at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and Telford is 26-5.
Nick Moore has spent three years as the 165 starter for the Hawkeyes, and as a freshman he filled in at 157 for an injured Derek St. John. Moore is 69-27 in his career and 22-5 in CHA. Moore is looking for his first All-American honor this year.
Mike Kelly dropped to 149 as a freshman and spent the last three years making various starts at that weight. Now at 157, a more natural weight, he is ranked for the first time in his career and has a 53-33 record (13-7 in CHA).
Josh Dziewa got his first opporotunity as Iowa’s full time starter last season at 141 and his career record is 75-22 (14-3 in CHA).
The final Hawks being honored are Matt Gurule (133) and Jeremy Fahler (184). Together Gurule and Fahler have combined for nine starts for the Hawkeyes and are 22-10 and 35-11 respectively.
Iowa will also honor manager Maddie Schossow tonight as well.
You can follow our play by play post which will be posted later this afternoon.
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