On a night dedicated to honoring their contributions to the program, Northwestern’s seniors came up big.
Matt Delguyd and Will Durkee notched crucial victories to help No. 13 NU (10-5, 5-3 Big Ten) to a 19-15 victory over No. 17 Indiana (4-8, 2-5) on Friday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Fittingly, it was a senior who put the finishing touches on NU’s Senior Night triumph.
With the Cats leading 15-12 with two weight classes to go, Delguyd, ranked 12th at 197 pounds, stepped to the mat against 10th-ranked senior Brady Richardson, who had defeated Delguyd at this year’s Midlands tournament.
But Delguyd came out aggressively and dominated the entire match, taking control in the first period with an emphatic takedown and near-fall that put him ahead 5-0. Richardson barely managed to escape but Delguyd added takedowns in the second and third periods to go ahead 10-3.
With an additional point for riding time, Delguyd earned the major decision, putting the Cats ahead, 19-12, and sealing their fifth conference win of the season.
“I’ve been working in practice on putting pressure on the other guy,” Delguyd said. “You’ve got to move forward and get shots in, and I’ve worked with the coaches on that. I feel like I play good defense on my feet so it’s hard to take me down. When I get ahead, I can force my opponent to open up their offense and take shots. I was able to play that to my advantage.”
In what has become a familiar pattern, the Cats had to scramble for the victory after falling behind early – they lost four of the first five matches.
Seventh-ranked senior John Velez stayed within one point of top-ranked senior Joe Dubuque but fell 6-2 after Dubuque notched a takedown and near-fall in the last 30 seconds.
“We knew Indiana was good down below,” coach Tim Cysewski said. “We knew our hands were full down there. But it’s just a matter of matchups. John wrestled tough; he didn’t just get beat by some guy off the street.”
With NU down 12-3 going into the second half, 19th-ranked Will Durkee stepped in at 165 pounds against Indiana sophomore Max Dean, looking to ignite the Cats’ attack. Durkee did just that, picking up an escape late in the second period that provided the only point in the tough battle of wills.
“You get used to it after a while, being a senior,” Durkee said about the pressure of wrestling with the team well behind. “It’s also been the case a couple of times this year. I had the same situation against Iowa (last Sunday) and came up short, so I wanted to make up for that.”
Channeling the momentum from Durkee’s victory, All-American sophomore Jake Herbert, ranked second at 174 pounds, tied the match and extended his winning streak to 34 by making quick work of sophomore Marc Bennett. Herbert got two early takedowns, then flipped Bennett onto his back and pinned him just 1:32 into the first period.
After NU’s 10th-ranked sophomore Mike Tamillow scored a 4-2 decision at 184 pounds against sophomore Joe Curran, the Cats pulled ahead 15-12 and set the stage for Delguyd.
“To win in front of the home fans with my family there in the last match at the arena was really nice,” Delguyd said. “It gives us a lot of momentum going into (the Big Ten championships).”
Reach Andrew Simon at [email protected].
