As Robert Kellogg flailed on his back, it didn’t seem like things were going Northwestern’s way.
No. 19 Northwestern and No. 15 Wisconsin were tied at 10 after six matches when Kellogg stepped to the mat for his match at 174 pounds at Welsh-Ryan Arena. With two of the last three Badgers ranked in the top 10 in the nation, the pressure was on Kellogg to beat Wisconsin’s Travis Rutt.
“We needed him to win that match,” coach Tim Cysewski said.
But Kellogg wasn’t winning. Trailing 4-1 with less than a minute left, the redshirt freshman didn’t appear to have much of a chance to escape from Rutt’s grasp.
“I knew I couldn’t get out,” Kellogg said. “But I knew that he was tired.”
A few seconds, a loud cheer, and a flurry of twists and turns later, Kellogg had reversed and pinned his opponent. Instead of three points going to Wisconsin (6-5, 0-2 Big Ten) for winning a decision, NU (9-3, 2-0) got six and went on to win 21-19. It was the Cats’ second Big Ten victory of the weekend after a 31-6 romp over Michigan State (5-3, 0-1) on Friday night.
The Cats didn’t do anything unexpected all weekend. They didn’t upset any of the five top-10 wrestlers they had to face, including Michigan State’s No. 1-ranked 133-pounder Franklin Gomez. None of NU’s ranked wrestlers lost to an unranked opponent.
In the weekend’s two duals, that was enough to send the Cats to victory.
“It’s great any time you can get two Big Ten wins, especially at home, in a row,” Cysewski said.
Top-ranked senior Jake Herbert stretched his record for the year to 20-0 at 184 pounds by pinning Michigan State’s Nick Palmieri on Friday night and defeating Wisconsin’s Eric Bugenhagen by technical fall Sunday.
“It was an alright weekend,” Herbert said disdainfully.
The statement was indicative of the high standards Herbert has set for himself by winning every match since 2006. The main reason Herbert expressed his disappointment was his inability to pin Bugenhagen after the sophomore spent most of the seven-minute match trying to avoid confronting Herbert.
“The kid kept trying to run away and backing off,” Herbert said. “But I should be able to find a way to get in there and get him on his back.”
Third-ranked 125-pound junior Brandon Precin also pinned his Spartan opponent, Eric Olanowski, and beat Wisconsin’s Drew Hammen in a major decision, 12-0, to extend his record for the year to 20-1.
Jason Welch, the 157-pounder ranked 17th in the nation, won both his matches by 6-0 decisions. NU’s other ranked wrestler, Keith Sulzer, a 141-pounder ranked 16th in the country, won his first match of the weekend 7-0, but lost to No. 5 Zach Tanelli of Wisconsin.
Arguably the most pivotal match of the weekend resulted in a loss for NU. When heavyweight Ben Kuhar came out for the last match against the seventh-ranked heavyweight in the nation, Wisconsin’s Kyle Massey, the Badgers trailed by five, and needed a pin, which is worth six points, to win the dual. Kuhar ended up losing by decision, 5-1, but managed to stay off his back, allowing NU to emerge with the 21-19 victory.
