AMES – No. 14 Iowa State beat No. 15 Pittsburgh in convincing fashion by a score of 23-14 Sunday afternoon. The Cyclones had three bonus-point wins in the affair.
Redshirt sophomore No. 7 149-pounder Paniro Johnson had won 13 in a row coming into his match against Pittsburgh’s Kade Brown and was certainly looking for his 14th.
Brown was not allowing Johnson any takedowns early, even if Johnson secured a couple single-leg shots. This defensive stance from Brown led to a sudden death overtime period.
Johnson finally broke through in the OT period, notching a takedown and bringing Hilton Coliseum to its feet.
“I think he’s getting the mentality, but he’s just gotta get better at wrestling,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser said. “You get in that front headlock position that many times, and you don’t score once from it. That’s when you know you have to get back to the drawing board.”
Johnson is now 10-0 in the 149-pound weight class and will look to continue that streak against some tough opponents this upcoming weekend, including Northern Iowa’s No. 14 149-pounder Colin Realbuto.
“On paper that was a mismatch, and the guy did a good job keeping it close, but it was only a matter of time,” Dresser said.
No. 21 174-pound redshirt sophomore MJ Gaitan took on Pittsburgh’s No. 18 Luca Augustine in the match of the day. Dresser has noted in the past that Gaitan tends to wrestle like a “crazy man.” Gaitan was 0-2 against Augustine coming into this match.
After a quiet first period, Gaitan exploded for a body slam takedown, much to the Hilton faithful’s appraisal. Gaitan survived the final period, and rode that one takedown to the finish line for a 4-2 victory.
“I’ve actually wrestled the guy twice before so that is maybe why it was a little slower,” Gaitan said. “My coaches said it was going to be a one takedown, so I was just going to have to be great and stay in good position and that’s what I did.”
“I thought he did a great job in terms of slowing things down,” Dresser said. “Usually he’s flying all over like a crazy man, but when you wrestle a solid guy like this, he would just pick you apart.”
Sophomore 125-pounder Ethan Perryman has had a string of top-ranked opponents, so it was probably refreshing to go against a more inexperienced wrestler in Pittsburgh, freshman Colyn Limbert.
Perryman blitzed Limbert out the gate with four takedowns in the first two periods. Limbert kept giving up single-leg takedowns, and Perryman didn’t fail to take advantage. He won by a major decision, 21-8.
“I was super excited. I’m not one to celebrate a lot, but I was happy to get my first win in Hilton,” Perryman said. “I wrestled that kid before, so I kind of knew what he was going to bring to the table.”
No. 5 133-pound sophomore Evan Frost got put in a peculiar position by Pittsburgh’s Tyler Chappell, who wasn’t allowing Frost to attack his legs in the first period, but that quickly changed in the second.
Frost barraged Chappell. He kept hitting him with single-leg takedowns until he saw his opportunity arise. Frost secured the pin on Chappell and gained Iowa State bonus points, much to Dresser’s liking.
“On paper that was a mismatch, and the guy did a good job keeping it close, but it was only a matter of time,” Dresser said.
Freshman No. 26 heavyweight Daniel Herrera wrestled a ranked opponent again, this time in Pittsburgh’s No. 13 Dayton Pitzer.
Herrera may have learned a thing or two from his previous matches against top opponents, as he looked in control during the beginning of the match and had a takedown at the buzzer of the second period.
The third period was a different story, as Pitzer had a takedown and finished the period riding out Herrera for a 5-3 decision win.
“He was right there, but just had a freshman mistake,” Dresser said. “When you get taken down instead of coming to your feet, you’re rolling around like a high school kid, but he [Herrera] was a high school kid last year. It’s just a technical mistake that he made, but he will figure it out.”
