Following a disheartening 45-0 loss to Ohio State on Jan. 11, No. 23 Indiana wrestling returned home and earned a much-needed 26-12 dual meet victory over Maryland Sunday afternoon. The Terrapins entered the meet losers of four straight, including a 28-11 loss to Purdue on Friday.
After suffering his first loss of the season against Ohio State, No. 12 graduate student Jacob Moran resumed his dominance for Indiana in the 125-pound bout against Maryland’s Presden Sanchez. Moran toppled the sophomore 20-4 and earned six takedowns, ending the match before the end of the second period. The technical fall gave Indiana an early 5-0 lead.
“The great thing about wrestling is every week, especially in the Big Ten, you’re going to face high-level guys,” Moran said after the meet. “Don’t get too high on the highs and don’t get too low on the lows.”
Maryland provided a rebuttal in the 133-pound bout, with No. 16 redshirt senior Braxton Brown taking down freshman Jackson Blum by decision 4-0. The two were scoreless after the first period, but four points for Brown in the second squashed the hopes of a Hoosier upset.
Unranked redshirt sophomore Dario Lemus jumped out to an early 3-0 lead for Maryland against Indiana’s No. 25 redshirt junior Henry Porter in the 141-pound bout. However, three takedowns for Porter in the second period propelled him into an 11-6 lead through two periods. Lemus had no answer in the final two minutes, giving Porter a 14-7 victory by major decision.
Another first period ended with no score in the 149-pound bout between Indiana’s redshirt sophomore Joey Buttler and Maryland’s No. 7 redshirt senior Carter Young. Two challenges went the way of Maryland in the bout, with a Young takedown being confirmed, and a Buttler takedown being overturned. In the second period, an escape in the first ticks and a takedown at the end gave Young a 4-0 advantage entering the final period. Buttler was unable to score more than an escape in the third, leaving the mat with a 7-1 loss to Young.
In hopes of providing the Hoosiers with more points before intermission, No. 33 redshirt sophomore Bryce Lowery led by a score of 4-1 in the final seconds of the 157-pound bout. With time expiring, Lowery pinned redshirt sophomore Michael Pizzuto at the buzzer, bringing a roar to Wilkinson Hall. Lowery dramatically flipped his victory from by decision to by fall, and gave Indiana a 15-6 halftime advantage.
“I just wanted to put moves together to put me in position to score, and we got there, got the fall,” Lowery said after the meet.
No. 20 redshirt junior Tyler Lillard extended the Hoosier lead in the 165-pound bout, triumphing over junior AJ Rodrigues 18-5. The Lillard major decision victory featured five takedowns, including three in the first period.
Indiana continued to cruise against the Terrapins with redshirt sophomore Orlando Cruz bouncing freshman Seth Digby in the 174-pound bout by a score of 7-3. The Hoosiers pulled farther away with No. 14 redshirt freshman Sam Goin’s 13-3 win over freshman Sepanta Ahanj- Elias in the 184-pound bout. The decision and major decision victories thrusted the Hoosiers into a 20-point lead with two rounds remaining.
In the sole matchup between two ranked opponents, Indiana’s No. 13 redshirt junior Gabe Sollars and Maryland’s No. 15 sophomore Branson John put on a show for the fans in Bloomington. John led 3-1 after the opening period and would add an escape before the end of the second. Sollars tallied an escape and a stall point in the third period to cut the lead to 4-3 with 20 seconds left. In the end, John was able to evade the threat of Sollars, winning the bout by decision.
“At least you put yourself in position to win,” head coach Angel Escobedo said about Sollars after the meet. “We’re going to make the adjustments and next time you wrestle that guy, you know how you can score.”
In the heavyweight matchup, Indiana’s redshirt freshman Caleb Marzolino and Maryland’s redshirt sophomore Joey Schneck wrestled for bragging rights with the dual meet out of reach for Maryland. Schneck took a 1-0 lead into the final period and exploded for six more points in the final two minutes to defeat Marzolino 7-3.
With the 26-12 conference victory, Indiana wrestling moved to 6-2 on the season and 1-1 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers will next travel to University Park, Pennsylvania for a matchup with No.1 Penn State on Friday.
“Best team in the nation,” Escobedo said. “Let’s go toe-to-toe. Let’s punch them in the mouth. Let’s get after it. Let’s not back down.”
