Nov. 7, 2015
#BoilerNotes
- Purdue's win over Northern Illinois was its 20th in the series (20-8-1) ... Boilermakers extended their winning streak against Eastern Michigan to seven straight.
- In three duals, Purdue combined for a 19-11 record ... Luke Welch (133) and Chad Welch (165) went 3-0, while Alex Griffin won both of his matches at 149.
- Of the Boilermakers' 19 wins, four came by fall, two were major decisions, there was one technical fall and one injury default was received ... pins came from Tyler Kral (285), Tanner Lynde (184), Drake Stein (197) and C. Welch ... C. Welch and Jacob Morrissey (174) provided major decisions ... C. Welch contributed the technical fall, winning his first match of the season 15-0.
- C. Welch posted three-straight bonus point victories (MD, TF, F) ... it's the first time in his career he's won three in a row with bonus points ... the pin was the 11th of his career and the tech fall was the fourth ... his 15-0 tech fall marked the third time in four career tech falls he shut his opponent out ... he totaled 14 back points, which is nearly half of his back point total a season ago.
- Three of the 19 wins were upsets, two of which came in head-to-head matchups between ranked wrestlers ... the other was an unranked Purdue grappler sticking the nation's 13th-ranked 197-pounder.
- Redshirt senior Drake Stein won his 12th career match by fall ... his dozen career pins are the most on Purdue's roster.
- Redshirt freshman Ben Thornton (125) and true freshman Jon Morales (184) wrestled their first dual matches at Purdue ... Thornton won his first career match with a 4-1 decision.
YPSILANTI, Mich. -- The Purdue wrestling team won two of its three duals at the season-opening Eastern Michigan Duals in the Convocation Center on Saturday. The Boilermakers claimed seven weights in a 30-9 win over Northern Illinois in their first dual and closed the day by beating Eastern Michigan 30-13 powered behind three falls. They were tripped up 18-16 in their second dual in a comeback by Central Michigan.
Four-straight bouts with bonus points highlighted Purdue's win over Northern Illinois. After an injury default at 157, Chad Welch made quick work of Andrew Morse with a 15-0 technical fall in 3:04. C. Welch took the Huskie down off the first whistle and then tilted for three consecutive four-point nearfalls. An escape to start the second sealed the deal. Jacob Morrissey followed with a 14-6 major decision at 174 and Tanner Lynde (184) recorded the fastest fall of his career, sticking Quinton Rosser in a mere 1:13.
In their next dual against Central Michigan, the Boilermakers stormed out by claiming five of the first six contests and building a 16-3 lead. Among those wins was a 6-3 decision from No. 15 Danny Sabatello as he knocked off No. 11 Zach Horan at 141 pounds. Doug Welch, the 13th-ranked grappler at 157, scored the winning takedown with 16 seconds remaining on his way to a 2-1 upset of No. 9 Luke Smith. An 8-0 major decision ensued at 165 from C. Welch, but it was the Chippewa's from there on out.
Central Michigan won the next two weights by a combined three points and a 4:51 fall at 197 by Jackson Lewis brought CMU within a point at 16-15. A penalty point evened the 285 bout at 1-1 early in the third and Newton Smerchek managed to escape from Purdue's Tyler Kral for a 2-1 decision and ultimately the dual.
Purdue and Eastern Michigan were tied at 9-9 midway through, but the Boilermakers won four of the five upper weights with three of those wins coming by fall. C. Welch's impressive day culminated with a 2:43 stick of Derek Davison to put Purdue ahead 15-9. Morrissey put up a 6-5 decision at 174 and the Eagles claimed 184 with a major decision to narrow the gap to 18-13 with two weights to go.
At 197, Drake Stein was after No. 13 Anthony Abro from the first whistle. A throw by the redshirt senior that stunned the Eastern Michigan fans earned him six points to take a 6-3 lead into the second period. Stein escaped at the start of the second and threw Abro once again, this time straight to his back for a fall at 4:52 and his first-ever win over a ranked opponent.
Kral closed out the dual with a first-period pin of Gage Hutchison. The 2:49 fall came after the redshirt junior reversed the Eagle for the third pin of his career.
Purdue returns to dual competition Nov. 20 and 21 in a trip east to Pennsylvania for three opponents. The Boilermakers will wrestle at Bloomsburg, followed by NCAA Division II Shippensburg and Lock Haven on the Bald Eagles' home mat in Lock Haven.