Jan. 22, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Controversy and disqualifications marked the Purdue-Indiana dual in the Intercollegiate Ahtletic Facilty on Sunday, afternoon, with the Hoosiers coming away with with a 24-13 victory.
The heat of the in-state rivalry was stepped up a notch when disqualifications were called to end the 133 pound and 149 pound matches, with each team getting him with one of the calls.
With Indiana leading 3-0 after a Joe Dubuque decision over Brandon Tucker at 125, Chris Fleeger and Andrae Hernandez took to the mat in a match that was dominated by the Boilermaker senior. Fleeger scored a takedown in the first minute and added two back points before Hernandez escape at 1:17 of the period. 20 seconds later Fleeger posted another takedown, this time adding two nearfalls for five more backpoints and an 11-1 lead after three minutes. Hernandez opted for a neutral start in the second period and, just over one minute into the period, was taken down by Fleeger, who was called for an illegal hold. The IU coaches and trainers came to the side of their wrestler and declared him unable to continue, giving the Hoosiers the six team points due to the disqualification of Fleeger.
The shoe was placed on the other foot one match later when, after Jason Cook beat Nick Spatola at 141 by an 8-2 decision, Matt Cooper was disqualified for an illegal hold that injured Doug Withstandley. In the opening minute of the 149-pound match, Cooper got a headlock in on Withstandley and took the Boilermaker down for two points plus back points. However, Cooper was called for an illegal hold on Withstandley's neck, and the Boilermaker was deemed unable to continue. With the second disqualification of the dual in the first four matches, the team score was knotted at 9-9.
Indiana reclaimed their team lead, this time doing on the mat in full matches, winning by decision at 157, 165 and 174. At 157, Brandon Becker defeated Jake Murphy by a 7-1 score. In the next match, Max Dean was awarded four stalling points in a sudden-victory defeat of Dan Bedoy, 11-8. The match was the second of Bedoy's season. At 174, Marc Bennett scored a takedown in the final 30 seconds to defeat Nick Corpe 4-3.
Purdue got an expected big win at 184 pounds as Ben Wissel put an 18-4 major decision on Justin Curran. Wissel score two takedowns in each period, and ran Curran around the mat to the tune of four stalling points, en route to his 26th win of the season. Wissel is now 26-2, and has moved into a tie for seventh on the Purdue career wins list with 102, a number that was previous reached by Joe Urso and Joe Lilovich, both of whom wrestled at Purdue from 1985 to 1988.
With the team score posted at 18-13, the Hoosiers would ice the Big Ten dual win with victories at 197 by Brady Richardson over Nathan Moore (11-6), and at heavyweight by Dave Herman over Aaron Keough (4-2).
The Boilermakers are now 8-5 for the season and 0-2 in Big Ten duals, and will travel to Iowa City and Madison next weekend for duals vs. the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday, Jan. 27, and the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, Jan. 29.