For a second, it appeared somebody was going to ruin Jake Herbert’s Senior Day.
Wrestling at Welsh-Ryan Arena for the last time Sunday in a 34-13 loss to No. 1 Iowa, the undefeated and top-ranked Herbert was tied 2-2 with Iowa’s third-ranked Phil Keddy heading into the final period of their bout at 184 pounds. After having beaten Keddy 15-1 at December’s Midlands tournament, Herbert looked like he was a wrong step away from dropping his first match since the 2006 NCAA Championship.
“It’s disappointing,” Herbert said. “It’s sad that it was the last time I’m going to wrestle here, and I’m sad it couldn’t be a better performance.”
Herbert eventually escaped from Keddy’s grasp to earn the point he needed for a 3-2 victory.
“I didn’t feel in any danger of getting scored on,” Herbert said. “But he kept the score a lot closer, which made it seem like the match was closer.”
It was the closest match of Herbert’s season. Of his 26 victories, 24 have been either pins, major decisions, or technical falls, the other exception being a 6-3 victory against Kent State’s Dustin Kilgore on Nov. 15.
“Jake slowed himself down, which he shouldn’t have done,” coach Tim Cysewski said. “But the points he needed to score, he did, and a true champion does that.”
Herbert will appear for Northwestern again in a few weeks at the Big Ten and NCAA Championships, but the loss to Iowa marked his final appearance at Welsh-Ryan, where he never lost a match in an NU singlet.
For many of NU’s wrestlers, the defeat to Iowa and a 23-18 loss to No. 6 Ohio State on Friday created a wasted weekend. NU wrestlers suffered four falls, one technical fall and three major decisions at the hands of opposing grapplers.
NU (9-8-1, 2-5-1 Big Ten) nearly pulled out the victory against Ohio State (16-2, 7-1), leading 18-13 with two wrestlers to go, but a pin and major decision by Buckeyes wrestlers against 197-pound John Schoen and heavyweight Paul Rands allowed them to escape with the victory. NU also lost three of the 10 matches in overtime.
Against Iowa (24-0, 8-0), NU never really had a chance. The Hawkeyes brought three top-ranked wrestlers, four more top-five competitors and two who are merely ranked. The reigning national champions also brought a large and vocal fan contingent.
“Guys have to understand that wrestling Iowa is just like wrestling anybody else,” Cysewski said. “They don’t get that yet, but they will.”
Cysewski understands Hawkeye wrestling – he was an All-American for Iowa at the 134-pound weight class in 1976.
“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Cysewski said. “If you believe you’re going to have a hard time with somebody, well guess what’s going to happen.”
Luckily for NU, its two wrestlers who likely will be competing for a national championship appeared to be in great shape.
Herbert, despite a shaky outing Sunday, pinned Ohio State’s T.C. Pendleton for his 13th pin of the year Friday night. He was scheduled to wrestle the No. 2 184-pounder in the country, Mike Pucillo, but Ohio State opted to have him wrestle in the 197-pound weight class to avoid facing Herbert.
Brandon Precin, the No. 4 wrestler at 125 pounds, had arguably his best weekend of the year. On Friday, he soundly defeated Big Ten Wrestler of the Week Nikko Triggas, 17-2. On Sunday, he went up against the No. 5 wrestler in the country, Iowa’s Charlie Falck, and pinned him in the second period, handing Falck only his third loss on the season.
“I was able to force him into a compromising position he couldn’t get out of,” Precin said. “I feel like I’ve been training my focus towards the end of the season and I feel like I’ve been able to hit my stride a little bit.”
