Hoosiers gain key victories

Angel Escobedo is lucky that his family and friends were not late for Senior Night at University Gym. Donning white shirts with a winged letter “A,” Escobedo’s entourage did not get to see him on the mat for long.

The No. 1 senior pinned Michigan’s Sean Boyle just a little more than one minute into the first period, sending the Hoosiers (15-3, 4-3) on their way to a 22-13 victory against Michigan (4-12, 0-5).

Escobedo’s 39th pin was the appropriate way for him to finish. The former national champion did not want to mess around when he stepped onto the mat.

“I wanted to feed into the crowd and get them on their feet with some type of big move,” Escobedo said. “I wanted to show fans some excitement and leave off on a spectacular note.”

Senior Matt Coughlin, who had yet to register a Big Ten win at 149 pounds,was determined to break into the winning column.

In typical Coughlin fashion, the senior was able to grind out a 3-2 win against Michigan’s Mark Boyer. His victory broke a 6-6 tie the Hoosiers would not look back on.

With senior Trevor Perry still on the shelf with an injured back, No. 2 heavyweight Nate Everhart was the only other senior on display Friday, and he had a 12-4 victory against Ben Apland.

Juniors No. 6 Kurt Kinser (157 pounds), No. 12 Paul Young (165 pounds) and Eric Cameron (184 pounds), also notched wins.

“Guys fought hard for our seniors tonight,” Escobedo said. “The time flew by and to think that I’m never going to wrestle here again is kind of sad.”

PURDUE

The No. 13 Hoosiers got a pin for the win from No. 12 Paul Young at 165 pounds to take down Purdue (10-9, 1-5), 22-17.

A rare come-from-behind win was necessary for the Hoosiers to put them in an early 8-0 hole after they dropped the first two matches at 174 and 185 pounds.
But an upset win from sophomore Matt Powless at 197 pounds got the Hoosiers right back in it. The No. 15 ranked Powless allowed only an escape point in his 4-1 win against Purdue’s No. 13 Logan Brown.

The senior bookend duo of Everhart and Escobedo wrestled back-to-back matches. Just as Everhart has been doing all year, he came through with a clutch pin to give the Hoosiers a 9-8 lead.

Escobedo was wrestling one of his first ranked opponents in the Big Ten this season in Purdue’s No. 17 Cashe Quiroga. A series of takedowns and a couple of near pins was all Escobedo needed to for the win, 19-5.

But the 13-8 lead would not last long for the Hoosiers.

The Hoosiers dropped three out of the next four matches, putting the Hoosiers behind 16-17 with just one match remaining.

Luckily for the Hoosiers, Young was determined to give his team a victory against the bitter rivals. The junior delivered the move of the day, pinning his opponent to give the Hoosiers the comeback win.

The 22-17 win puts the Hoosiers above .500 in the Big Ten heading into their showdown at Michigan State next Friday. IU has not finished a season above .500 since 1996, including when they finished 12th at the NCAA Championships two years ago.

“We’ve wrestled really well this season and I think that coming in, these guys knew that this was going to be a special season for us,” IU coach Duane Goldman said.