Jan. 8, 2011
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The 18th-ranked Purdue wrestling team dropped its second dual of the day at the 23rd-Annual NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, suffering a 21-19 loss at the hands of 17th-ranked Central Michigan University (CMU) at the UNI Dome on Saturday. A pair of Boilermakers scored pins in the loss, while two others earned wins to keep the score close.
The Boilermakers lost the opener for the second straight match as freshman Camden Eppert lost a 2-0 decision to CMU's Christian Cullinan, but Purdue junior Matt Fields shocked the wrestling world with a surprising pin of ninth-ranked Scotti Sentes. Sentes looked like he was on his way to bonus points, taking Fields down and turning him twice for an 8-0 lead after three minutes. Fields made the unorthodox choice to take top position in the second frame and took full advantage, catching Sentes in a cradle and sticking him at the 3:47 mark to give Purdue a 6-3 team score lead.
Fellow junior Jake Fleckenstein pushed the advantage to 9-3, earning his first win of the year at 141 pounds as he downed Scott Mattingly, 3-2. Fleckenstein went to the third period trailing 1-0, but after selecting the bottom position he escaped and hit a nice high-crotch takedown to build the decisive advantage.
The Boilermakers took a serious hit over the next four matches as the Chippewas went on a 15-0 run to take an 18-9 advantage. It started as 149-pound Purdue senior Sam Patacsil had to default against Donnie Corby after injuring his right arm, and followed as Eric Cubberly upset fellow Boilermaker senior Colton Salazar, 9-5. At 165 pounds, CMU's Ryan Cubberly snared a takedown with just 13 seconds left in the match to edge Purdue freshman Patrick Kissel, and the 174-pound contest went all the way to a tie-breaker before fifth-ranked Chippewa Ben Bennett edged out 10th-ranked Purdue senior Luke Manuel, 4-1.
No. 12 junior A.J. Kissel got the Boilermakers off the slide at 184 pounds as he needed just 1:44 to stick CMU's Chad Friend and knife the score to 18-15. Ninth-ranked senior Logan Brown followed Kissel's lead and overwhelmed Craig Kelliher in a 9-1 major decision to regain the Boilermakers' lead, 19-18. Kelliher wrestled simply not to get pinned as after giving up a takedown in the first 15 seconds he flattened out and took four stalling calls, just one away from disqualification.
The Purdue lead was shortlived as third-ranked heavyweight Jarod Trice posted an 8-2 decision over Boilermaker junior Roger Vukobratovich to seal the CMU victory. Purdue falls to 3-3-1 with the loss and resumes competition on Friday with a Big Ten Dual at Michigan.
RESULTS
125- Christian Cullinan (Central Michigan ) DEC Eppert, Camden (Purdue University) 2-0
133- Fields, Matt (Purdue University) FALL Scotti Sentes (Central Michigan ) (3:14)
141- Fleckenstein, Jake (Purdue University) DEC Scott Mattingly (Central Michigan ) 3-2
149- Donnie Corby (Central Michigan ) Def Patacsil, Sam (Purdue University) DEF (4:00)
157- Eric Cubberly (Central Michigan ) DEC Salazar, Colton (Purdue University) 9-5
165- Ryan Cubberly (Central Michigan ) DEC Kissel, Patrick (Purdue University) 2-1
174- Ben Bennett (Central Michigan ) TB-2 Manuel, Luke (Purdue University) 4-1
184- Kissel, A.J. (Purdue University) FALL Chad Friend (Central Michigan ) (1:44)
197- Brown, Logan (Purdue University) MD Craig Kelliher (Central Michigan ) 9-1
285- Jarod Trice (Central Michigan ) DEC Vukobratovich, Roger (Purdue University) 8-2