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IOWA CITY — Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy made his season debut. Freshman Angelo Ferrari stepped in the Hawkeyes’ lineup for the first time.
Both provided a boost for the Hawkeyes, ignited to the home crowd and highlighted a key four-match stretch that extended their success against Iowa State.
Kennedy posted a technical fall over former teammate Aiden Riggins at 174 pounds and Ferrari defeated No. 17 Evan Bockman by decision, lifting No. 2 Iowa to a 21-15 victory over No. 12 Iowa State Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes (4-0) extended their dual win streak over Iowa State (1-2) to 20 in a row, including a 19-0 mark under Iowa Coach Tom Brands.
“It meant everything,” Ferrari said after his first Cy-Hawk Series experience. “We don’t talk. We just follow it up with action and that’s what we did.”
Both teams exchanged wins through the first half of the dual with Iowa State up, 12-6, at the midway point after Paniro Johnson won by injury default over No. 1 Jacori Teemer at 157.
The upper weights seemed to get a message at intermission.
“It was too quiet upstairs,” Brands said. “Terry was up there breathing fire. We had a bad thing happen at the break. Hey, you’ve got to get rady to go.”
Michael Caliendo topped Connor Euton, 12-7, at 165 to pull Iowa within 12-9.
Kennedy took the mat instead of No. 9 Nelson Brands. He dominated Riggins, who transferred to Iowa State in the offseason. Kennedy tallied six takedowns for a 19-4 victory. he scored the final takedown with one second left for the match termination, extra team point and 14-12 advantage.
Ferrari, who won a title at the Grand View Open on Saturday, emerged from the tunnel to a loud pop from the crowd instead of No. 5 Gabe Arnold.
The move was last minute and Ferrari said he was excited enough to call his parents, who attended the dual. The challenges and different styles he faces in the practice room prepared him for this moment.
“I just felt ready,” said Ferrari, who was ranked as the No.1 overall recruit in the Class of 2024. “I have the best partners in the country all around me. I’m wrestling better guys than this guy every single day. How can I not dominate out there?”
Ferrari said he didn’t feel any nerves, coming out to 14,847 fans in a historic rivalry.
“I’d say I live for these moments,” Ferrari said. “There is nowhere I’d rather be on a Saturday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“I love it out there. Love the experience.”
Ferrari beat Bockman to make it 17-12, giving Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan a chance to seal the dual win.
“I don’t think I wrestled my best match,” Ferrari said. “I think there are a lot of finishes I could have gotten. The way I think of it is on my worst night I still have to be the best in the country.
“That wasn’t my best performance. I’d say it was pretty mediocre but if I make those adjustments and keep getting better. I can kill these guys.”
Iowa has a logjam of talent at 174 and 184. Brands and Arnold have wrestled in the first three duals but the Hawkeyes were just as impressive with Kennedy and Ferrari.
Brands said he was just shaking things up.
“We decided those things and it’s not like there is a certain time of the day and you have to make a decision,” Brands said. “You’re talking about it the whole time. You’re talking about it when they sign their letter of intent. How you’re able to use them.”
Iowa’s Drake Ayala and Kyle Parco posted top-10 victories at 133 and 149, respectively. No. 7 Ayala scored a takedown in the first and stormed back from a one-point deficit with two third-period takedown in an 11-7 decision over No. 5 Evan Frost.
“He was in a tough scrap and persevered,” Brands said about Ayala. “I like that he wasn’t forcing things that he likes to force and it came more natural. It’s progress. Love it. Love him. He’s a leader and he was gutsy in that match.
“We had some gutsy performances tonight.”
No. 4 Parco benefitted from two penalty points in a bizarre final period with Anthony Echemendia. Parco attempted to escape and Echemendia was hit for locked hands. The match continued while Parco had a chance to complete his escape.
Parco scored his escape. Time was stopped and the penalty for a technical violation was assessed. Iowa State challenged the call and it was upheld.
During the break, Iowa then asked for a review of an illegal crack back trip for a mat return. Iowa’s challenge was successful, leading to another penalty point and a 4-3 lead for Parco, which stood for the final score.
“It was kind of a crazy dual meet,” Iowa State Coach Kevin Dresser said. “Echemendia’s match, we get the only takedown and we lose because of two dumb things where we locked our hands and jumped up. Both were really questionable but they reviewed them.
“The referees reviewed both of them and we lost both reviews, so I stand by what the referees reviewed. I’m not going to whine and cry about it, but I think a lot of people could say we out-wrestled them. We made some technical mistakes.”
Buchanan dominated Christian Carroll, 10-0, at 197 to make it 21-12 with only heavyweight left. He recorded bonus points in the final seconds. The Hawkeyes closed matches strong, including Buchanan, Ferrari, who was shooting until the end looking for a major, Ayala and Kennedy.
“It’s a seven-minute match,” Brands said. “It’s important that you wrestle the entire match. That’s controlling what you can control and that’s making things go your way when things seem like they may not be going your way or maybe tough to get it going your way. You just keep, keep, keep and all of a sudden things go your way.”
Brands declined to speculate on the severity of Teemer’s inujry, saying, “We’re with Teemer.”
Iowa State received decisions from Adrian Meza (125), Zach Redding at 141 and Johnson. Yonger Bastida made his season debut and first match since the NCAA Championships in March. He used two takedowns for a 7-2 decision over Ben Kueter to close the dual.
“I think there was a lot of good stuff there,” Dresser said. “Obviously, we have to figure out how to win this. We’ve been knocking on the door for a long time and we haven’t broke the door down, yet.
“I told the team I was really proud of the effort we had at a lot of weights.”
AT IOWA CITY
Iowa 21, Iowa State 15
(Individual takedowns in parentheses)
125 pounds - Adrian Meza (ISU) dec. Kale Petersen, 5-1 (1,0); 133 - Drake Ayala (I) decl. Evan Frost, 11-7 (3,1); 141 - Zach Redding (ISU) dec. Ryder Block, 5-4 (1,1); 149 - Kyle Parco (I) dec. Anthony Echemendia, 4-3 (0,1); 157 - Paniro Johnson (ISU) won by injury default over Jacori Teemer; 165 - Michael Caliendo (I) dec. Connor Euton, 12-7 (2,1); 174 - Patrick Kennedy (I) technical fall Aiden Riggins, 19-4 (6,0); 184 - Angelo Ferrari (I) dec. Evan Bockman, 8-2 (2,0); 197 - Stephen Buchanan (I) major dec. Christian Carroll, 10-0 (2,0); Hwt. - Yonger Bastida (ISU) dec. Ben Kueter, 7-2 (2,0)
MEET STATISTICS
Takedowns - Iowa 16, Iowa State 8. Reversals - Iowa 2, Iowa State 0. Escapes - Iowa 12, Iowa State 19. Nearfall points - Iowa 0, Iowa State 0. Penalty points (awarded) - Iowa 6, Iowa State 0. Riding-time points - Iowa 2, Iowa State 1. Total match points - Iowa 72, Iowa State 44. Attendance - 14,847.
Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com
