Ambition got the best of Brandon Precin, and perhaps his No. 1 ranking, against Iowa on Friday night.
The redshirt senior was pinned with 49 seconds left in his Midlands Championships rematch with Matt McDonough during Northwestern’s (15-2, 3-2 Big Ten) 31-9 loss to No. 8 Iowa (11-0-1, 4-0) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The last time Precin and McDonough faced off, Precin won 3-1.
“I was wrestling a good match,” Precin said. “I just got a little too greedy.”
Precin (125) dominated the first period, scoring an early takedown and then riding out the period for a 2-0 lead. After a scoreless second period, Precin started the third with an escape to push his lead to 3-0. However, in the last minute, McDonough took down Precin and pinned him to give the Hawkeyes the early 6-0 advantage.
“I’m disappointed, of course,” coach Drew Pariano said. “It was one of those nights where if one thing went wrong, then another thing did. It kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
Following the shock of McDonough’s pin, the Wildcats were never able to respond. NU dropped eight of the 10 matches on the night. Redshirt senior Andrew Nadhir and redshirt junior John Schoen supplied the only victories of the night. Schoen got his win when the Hawkeyes forfeited the 197-pound match.
“You hope it never affects the team,” Pariano said. “But let’s be honest. It did.”
Sophomore Levi Mele (133) was unable to match Tony Ramos’ scoring plays and lost 9-3. Freshman Kaleb Friedley (141) seemed to have gotten the Cats going with an early take down, but a reversal by Mark Ballweg pinned him in just under three minutes.
Nadhir (149) finally put the Cats on the board with a convincing 11-4 decision over Matt Ballweg. The victory gave NU three points, but it still trailed 15-3.
The match was scoreless after the first period, but Nadhir started the second with an escape and a takedown to assume control of the match. Nadhir added another takedown in the period and countered Ballweg’s escape with another takedown to lead 7-2. After yet another Ballweg-escape just seconds later, Nadhir answered with a takedown. But in the last 15 seconds, he was unable to finish a fifth takedown and secure a major decision for NU.
“I wrestled an alright match,” Nadhir said. “I did some positive things in the third period. I should have definitely gotten the major decision.”
In the 157-pound matchup, No. 8 Jason Welch was the better wrestler through the first two periods. However, during a crazy third period, Derek St. John scored two takedowns, including one with 16 seconds left to beat the redshirt sophomore 4-2 and give Iowa an 18-3 lead at the break.
“The only thing you can say is that the first five matches are over with and we need to move forward,” Pariano said. “The lower weights this year for us have more nationally ranked guys and a guy we think can win a national title. Most of what I did say can’t be said in public.”
In the second half, the Cats were dominated again, combining for 14 total match points in four matches.
Sophomore Kevin Bialka (165) lost 3-0, while redshirt sophomore Brian Roddy (174) returned to the mat for the first time in three weeks and lost 17-9. Senior Aaron Jones (184) lost 8-2 and redshirt junior Ben Kuhar lost his heavyweight match 10-4.
NU will now beginning preparing for Purdue on Friday.
“This has to piss us off and motivate us,” Nadhir said. “We need to wrestle smarter next time.”
For Precin, it will be particularly important to rebound from the loss.
“It can’t be the end of the world for him,” Pariano said. “Wrestling is his entire world, but Brandon’s too tough to let this be the end of the world for him.”
