Jason Erwinski barely waited for the referee to blow the whistle before making his first move Sunday. It took the Northwestern wrestler only 17 seconds to pounce on Iowa’s Jason D’Agata.
The crowd murmured in sympathy as D’Agata squirmed under Erwinski’s grasp for the rest of the match until the NU wrestler pinned him after 3:43.
But the crowd soon began to feel sorry for the Wildcats as they suffered a 44-6 loss to No. 2 Iowa in their last dual meet of the season. NU (5-12, 0-8 Big Ten) also fell 25-14 to No. 9 Ohio State on Friday.
“Iowa is a very good team, but they don’t do anything special to you,” said NU coach Tim Cysewski, who was an All-American at Iowa in 1976. “They are going to keep coming at you — they don’t know the word reverse.
“There’s no secret about it, everyone knows about it, it’s just a matter of wrestling these guys. Now we know more about what to expect and how they act.”
Erwinski knew what was he going up against because he and D’Agata had beaten several of the same opponents this year. But by the time he stepped up to the mat, the Cats were already down 24-0 after three pins and two decisions won by the Hawkeyes. Erwinski not only prevented NU from being shut out in his last home meet, but he was able to leave Welsh-Ryan Arena with a win after a disappointing loss against Ohio State.
“Friday I wrestled the fourth-ranked (wrestler) in the country, and I came close in that one but didn’t pull it out, so that was pretty much what motivated me (Sunday),” Erwinski said.
Fellow senior John Giacche couldn’t avenge his Friday loss to No. 14 Jeff Ratliff. Giacche came out strong against the Hawkeyes’ Luke Moffitt, but soon fell victim to a pin at 2:25.
“I don’t think I could feel any worse — that’s not the way you want to go out,” Giacche said. “It’s tough when you get caught in the first minute and a half of a match.”
The Hawkeyes tallied five pins in 10 matches, one of which came against NU heavyweight Matt Repchak. The sophomore filled in at the position for the weekend because junior Mike Little and freshman Scott Johnson were still out of action.
Cysewski was apprehensive about putting Repchak in the spot because he said the sophomore was “not in shape” to compete, but after forfeiting the position for the past two weeks, he put Repchak in this weekend against the top two heavyweights in the country.
No. 2 Tommy Rowlands recorded a technical fall Friday, and Iowa’s top-ranked Steve Mocco pinned Repchak in 33 seconds.
“Everyone expected me to lose badly, with the exception of maybe my mom,” Repchak said. “There’s probably nobody who really expected me to do more than I did. I’m a little disappointed that I basically lived up to what everybody expected of me.”
The Cats fared a little better against Ohio State, but Cysewski was still critical of their performance.
“I thought we let that one go,” he said. “I thought we started out fast, like we figured, and then Ballard wrestled well and got a pin. I thought we had a good opportunity to win two more matches, but the upper weights hurt us a little bit.”
The Cats will be back in action on March 8-9 at the Big Ten Tournament in Madison, Wis.
Despite his performance this weekend, Giacche said he is looking forward to what could be his last collegiate meet.
“A lot of guys fold when it comes to Big Tens,” Giacche said. “My weight class is wide open, so I am getting really excited for it.”
