Michigan
Northwestern
Wolverines Battle Back to Knock Off No. 19 Northwestern
1/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 21, 2011
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Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Score: #11 Michigan 22, #19 Northwestern 12
Records: U-M (7-2, 2-0 Big Ten), Northwestern (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten)
Attendance: 636
Next U-M Event: Friday, Jan. 28 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 7 p.m. (TV: Big Ten Network)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- For the second time in as many Big Ten Conference dual meets this season, the No. 11-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team battled back from an early deficit to upend No. 19 Northwestern, 22-12, on Friday evening (Jan. 21) at Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines claimed seven individual bouts, earning bonus points in one, to deal Northwestern its first loss of the season.
Trailing 12-6 at the intermission break, Michigan claimed the last five matches to surge past the Wildcats and claim its third consecutive dual win.
Sophomore/freshman Dan Yates (Hesperia, Mich./Hesperia HS) initiated the Wolverine rally with a rally of his own at 165 pounds, controlling the second two periods to edge past Kevin Balka, 5-2. The Wildcat wrestler won the first period, scoring out of an extended scramble on the mat and riding out the frame to take the initial advantage. Yates countered a throw attempt in the second and immediately used a leg turk to add three back points. He nearly had Balka on his back again in the third with deep half but ran out of time at the final buzzer, settling instead for the decision win.
After missing the last two weekends with injury, senior/junior captain Justin Zeerip (Fremont, Mich./Hesperia HS) was victorious in his return to the lineup, claiming a big 10-1 major decision against Robert Kellogg at 174 pounds. Zeerip converted on three takedowns, including two in the middle period, drew three stalling calls and built up 3:23 in riding-time advantage to secure his sixth bonus win of the season.
Junior/sophomore Hunter Collins (Gilroy, Calif./Gilroy HS) put the Wolverines in the driver's seat with a 7-3 decision over Aaron Jones in a swing match at 184 pounds. Collins used Jones' offense to gain the first lead, scrambling out of a single-leg shot and nearly settling back into a Peterson position before spinning around for the two-point takedown. With the score knotted a two apiece after two period, Collins started down in the third and was almost ridden for riding time before making the most of his third roll attempt to reverse Jones to his back, tacking on five points late to ice the match.
The Wolverines ended the dual with back-to-back decision victories from two of its most reliable performers. Fifth-year senior Anthony Biondo (Clinton Twp., Mich./Chippewa Valley HS) used a takedown in the waning moments of the 197-pound contest to secure his 3-1 win over John Schoen. The wrestlers traded escapes and a couple flurries through the first six-plus minutes of action before Biondo finally converted on a deep single-leg attempt, sweeping the leg to return Schoen to the mat and claim his first lead with 30 seconds remaining on the clock.
Junior/sophomore heavyweight Ben Apland (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South HS) put an exclamation point on his team's win with a commanding 7-3 decision over Ben Kuhar in the final bout. Apland finished on takedowns in the first and second periods and added points for stalling and 1:11 in time advantage to cruise to victory.
The Wildcats claimed three of the opening five bouts, earning bonus points from its top-10 wrestlers at 125 and 157 pounds, to build its six-point advantage midway through the dual. Senior/junior captain Kellen Russell (High Bridge, N.J./Blair Academy) and sophomore/freshman Eric Grajales (Brandon, Fla./Brandon HS) secured back-to-back decisions at 141 and 197 pounds, respectively, to put U-M on the board at the lowerweights.
Grajales earned an upset in the latter match, rallying from an early deficit to roll past No. 11-ranked Andrew Nadhir, 11-5, and claim his third straight dual win. Nadhir struck first, scoring out of an early scramble, but the Wolverine responded with a win in another flurry moments later to break open the match, defending a deep single leg with a butt slide and subsequent guillotine to put Nadhir on his back for five quick points. Grajales countered another half shot to add another takedown in the third and despite giving up a late reversal, accumulated 1:41 in time advantage to cap the effort.
Russell, ranked No. 1 nationally at 141 pounds, similarly cruised in the preceding matchup, using a pair of first-period takedowns and a second-period reversal to knock off Kalev Friendly, 7-3. The Wolverine captain converted on an early single leg and added a duck under late to quickly build a three-point lead and riding time. Russell rolled to earn his reversal midway through the middle frame and rode out most of the third to accumulate 2:47 in time advantage. Russell is 23-0 on the season.
The Wolverines (7-2, 2-0 Big Ten) will hit the road next weekend for a pair of conference duals, traveling to Columbus, Ohio, to face rival Ohio State at 7 p.m. on Friday (Jan. 28) before wrapping up the weekend on Sunday (Jan. 30) with a 2 p.m. slate against Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.
#11 Michigan 22, #19 Northwestern 12
Individual rankings from InterMat
| Match | Score |
| 125 -- #1 Brandon Precin (NU) major dec. Sean Boyle, 13-6 | NU, 4-0 |
| 133 -- Levi Mele (NU) dec. Zac Stevens, 8-3 | NU, 7-0 |
| 141 -- #1 Kellen Russell (U-M) dec. Kalev Friedly, 7-3 | NU, 7-3 |
| 149 -- Eric Grajales (U-M) dec. #11 Andrew Nadhir, 11-5 | NU, 7-6 |
| 157 -- #7 Jason Welch (NU) tech. fall Brandon Zeerip, 18-3 (7:00) | NU, 12-6 |
| 165 -- Dan Yates (U-M) dec. Kevin Balka, 5-2 | NU, 12-9 |
| 174 -- Justin Zeerip (U-M) major dec. Robert Kellogg, 10-1 | U-M, 13-12 |
| 184 -- Hunter Collins (U-M) dec. Aaron Jones, 7-3 | U-M, 16-13 |
| 197 -- #13 Anthony Biondo (U-M) dec. John Schoen, 3-1 | U-M, 19-13 |
| Hwt -- #10 Ben Apland (U-M) dec. Ben Kuhar, 7-3 | U-M, 22-12 |
N O T E S
• With tonight's win, the Wolverines improved to 70-8-1 in the all-time series against Northwestern.
• Michigan is 3-0 in duals at Cliff Keen Arena this season.
• Entering the weekend, Northwestern was one of only three Division I programs unbeaten or untied. Cal Poly and Penn State were the other two.
• Senior/junior Kellen Russell improved to 23-0 with his decision win at 141 pounds and extended his win stream to 24 straight matches, dating back to his win in the seventh-place contest at the 2009 NCAA Championships. It is now the longest winning streak of his collegiate career.
• Sophomore/freshman Eric Grajales' 11-5 decision over No. 11 Andrew Nadhir was his second over a ranked opponent this season. He previously pinned West Virginia's No. 14 Brandon Rader (2:19) in the wrestlebacks at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, held Dec. 3-4.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland
On the Wolverines' comeback win ... "We knew we would struggle a bit early on. They're starting out with their No. 1 guy, and we knew that would be a tough match. They're tough throughout their lineup, but they're especially tough below. Overall, I'm really pleased with our effort. Coming in these guys were undefeated at 14-0. They were feeling good about their wrestling and had a lot of confidence, so I knew it was going to take a great effort to get a win tonight. We're getting better from week-to-week. The guys are working hard and are excited. We've got some challenges ahead us, so we need to keep building on this.
On sophomore/freshman Eric Grajales ... "That kid can just wrestle. He's coming along. His mat sense is getting a lot better, and he's feeling a lot better out there. Everything is coming together for him. We're starting to see what kind of wrestler he's capable of being. He can wrestle. I see that every afternoon. But he's still lot a little ways to go. We've got to keep building off of this."
On senior/junior Justin Zeerip ... "It was nice having him back in the lineup tonight. I was hopeful, when we started working him out in the middle of the week, that his knee would hold up. He didn't have any problems with it, so we're happy about that. It's difficult sometimes when you're letting some of these guys sit midseason to get over some bumps and bruises, but it's always nice to get them back into the lineup as soon as you can and keep them healthy."
On Michigan's rebound after the intermission break ... "That 165 kid was hard to wrestle. I was starting to get a little worried, but Danny [Yates] kept fighting through his positions and ended up coming out on a top of a big scramble and took total control of the match after that. Of course, Justin [Zeerip] had a big win for us at 174. I thought [Hunter] did a great job. That was a hard-fought battle at a big swing match, and that was the turning point in the dual. Northwestern has some tough, scrappy guys, but I thought we won all the matches we needed to win. It was a good win for Michigan."
U-M Sophomore/Freshman Eric Grajales
On tonight ... "My confidence is huge. I had rough start, but I'm getting into the swing of things. My conditioning is coming around, and I feel really good. We've still got about eight weeks left in the season, so I've got time to get to where I need to be at the end of the season. I've just got to keep things rolling.
On his knack for scoring out of scrambles ... "I took a lot of grief for that in high school. People said I didn't have real moves, that I just got lucky when I scrambled into weird positions. But I feel like that's where I best. That's wrestling. You can practice a double leg perfectly 100 times, but in a match, I can't predict what a person's going to do and things change. I think that's where I'm best -- when I get into weird positions. I've wrestled for so long, I feel like I've been in every position imaginable. I feel like know what to do and without even thinking about it. I think at the beginning of the season, I thought I could scramble my way out of any position, so I was letting guys in on my legs too much. It wasn't working as well as I expected. Now, when I'm putting people on their heels and attacking, it's putting me in positions I want to be rather than where they want to be."
U-M Senior/Junior Justin Zeerip
On his return to the lineup ... "I had wrestled pretty well at the [Southern] Scuffle -- a lot better than I had been wrestling previously this season to that point. So, I just wanted to keep it going on the same note, keep wrestling well, focusing on getting the first takedown and scoring points. It felt pretty good tonight. It was killing me the last two weeks not being able to wrestle. So, it felt great to get out and wrestle tonight. I was happy with how my knee felt, and I was happy with how I competed."
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
