Dec. 2, 2011

IOWA CITY, Iowa - No. 15 Jesse Delgado upset No. 1 Matt McDonough with a takedown in overtime, but Illinois' three other weight class victories weren't enough as the Orange and Blue fell to No. 1 Iowa, 20-13 in front of 7,330 fans at Carver Hawkeye Arena.

"Our guys competed hard and showed some fire," head coach Jim Heffernan said. "While we are proud of our effort, we were in position to win but missed the opportunity. We are getting better and our guys are buying into what we are doing. We have a good team and will continue to get better."

Delgado gave McDonough his first dual loss of his career on Friday night. Delgado earned the first points of the match with a takedown before McDonough scored a quick escape to make the match 2-1. McDonough got a takedown to get a takedown to gain the lead 3-2 to close out the first period. McDonough opened the second with an escape followed by a takedown to take a 6-2 lead. Delgado recorded a reversal to cut the lead to 6-4 through two periods. After choosing down to start the third, Delgado notched a quick escape and takedown to go up 7-6. A stalling point allowed McDonough to force overtime with the match at 7-7. A takedown in overtime gave Delgado the win.

"Awesome win for Jesse against a great opponent," Heffernan said. "He trains with the expectation to be the best and will have a ton of success."

The dual started at 149 with No. 8 Eric Terrazas taking on Mark Ballweg. After Terrazas scored an early takedown and Ballweg escaped, the score was 2-1 after the first period. Terrazas chose down to start the second and had a quick takedown, while both scored escapes and to make the score 5-2 after two. After Terrazas scored a takedown and riding time, he earned the Orange and Blue's first victory of the night with an 8-4 decision to put Illini on the board first, 3-0.

At 159, Iowa's Derek St. John earned riding time over Jackson Morse to start the second period. St. John began on bottom and scored an escape and a takedown to go up 5-0 on Morse. Morse scored an escape to make it 5-1 going into the third period. The Illini then earned two points off stalling points to bring the match to 5-3. However, St. John posts two takedowns to earn the 10-5 decision and even the dual at 3-3.

Illini's Dan Stelter wrestled at 165 for the Orange and Blue, filling in for injured Conrad Polz. Stelter and Iowa's Mile Evans were scoreless after the first period. Evans started down in the second but escaped 14 seconds in to take the 1-0 lead then scored a takedown to increase the lead to 3-0 to close out the second. The two wrestlers started neutral in the third period, but after two stall warnings on Stelter, Evans was awarded the point to win the match at 5-0 and push the Hawkeyes lead to 6-3.

Third-ranked Jordan Blanton took on No. 6 Ethen Lofthouse at 174 as both wrestlers were scoreless after the first period. Lofthouse started down in the second and score a quick escape to go up 1-0. Lofthouse followed with a takedown to go up 3-0 over Blanton into the third. After Lofthouse added a minute of riding time at the beginning of the third, Blanton escapes to cut the score to 3-1. Lofthouse got another takedown to push the score to 5-1 and earned the 6-1 decision by the addition of riding time to give Iowa a 9-3 lead.

At 184, Tony Dallago scored a takedown and added two more near-fall points to go up 6-0 before an escape and a takedown by Jeremy Fahler to make score 6-3. Dallago escaped and Fahler responded with a takedown to put the score 7-5 heading into the second. The two started neutral while Fahler took down Dallago to tie the score at seven, but Dallago escaped to go up by one. The third period was dominated by Dallago as he opened with an escape and moved score to 11-7 with a quick takedown. Three near-fall points extended his lead to four at 14-7. Fahler escaped but Dallago quickly put him back on the mat to push the score to 16-8. Dallago earned the riding time point to seal the 17-8 major decision and cut the dual score to 9-7.

No. 15 Mario Gonzalez wrestled Iowa's Tomas Lira at 197 and scored an early takedown, only to be followed by an escape by Lira. Lira goes up 3-2, while Gonzalez scored a takedown and Lira escaped to even the score at 4-4. Gonzalez gets his second takedown of the period but Lira followed with an escape to make it 6-5. Another takedown by Gonzalez gave him an 8-5 lead going into the second period. An escape by Lira was the point scored in the second to make it 8-6 heading into the third. An early reversal and an escape by Lira pushed the score to 10-7 before Lira scored a takedown to make the score 10-9. However, Gonzalez's riding time point made the final score 11-9 to give the Illini the 10-9 lead with four weight classes remaining.

Pat Walker took on sixth-ranked Bobby Telford and was scoreless through the first two periods. Telford opened the third with a quick escape and that would be the only scored point in the bout with riding time giving Telford the 2-0 decision to give the Hawkeyes the lead 12-10. However, Delgado's match at 125 gave the Illini the 13-12 lead.

Third-ranked B.J. Futrell took on No. 2 Tony Ramos with Ramos earning the quick takedown followed by an escape by Futrell to make the score 2-1. Ramos then scored another takedown while Futrell recorded another escape to increase the score to 4-2 to end the first period. Futrell started down in the second and captured a quick escape to tighten the score to 4-3 before Ramos got his third takedown and a point off Futrell's illegal hold to increase the score to 7-3. Futrell scored another escape before Ramos got another takedown, making the score 9-4. Ramos started down to begin the third and recorded a quick escape to make the score 10-4. A takedown, followed by an escape and a point for riding time gave Ramos the 13-5 major decision to push Iowa's lead to 16-13 with one weight class left.

In a pivotal match Daryl Thomas took on Montell Marion as Marion notched two takedowns with Thomas recording an escape pushing the score 4-1 through the first. An escape and a takedown in the second gave Marion a 7-2 lead after two. Thomas opened the third with an escape but a takedown followed by a point for stalling against Thomas, along with a riding time point. Marion would pick up a 11-2 major decision to give the Hawkeyes the dual win 20-13.

"We know we are a good team," Heffernan said. "We will continue to word hard and make progress with the idea that we want to win championships as a team."

The Fighting Illini will have two weeks off before hosting UT-Chattanooga at Huff Hall on Sunday, Dec. 18 with the dual beginning at 1 p.m. CT.

Iowa 20, Illinois 13
149 - Eric Terrazas (IL) dec. Mark Ballweg (I), 8-4
157 - Derek St. John (I) dec. Jackson Morse (IL), 10-5
165 - Mike Evans (I) dec. Dan Stelter (IL), 5-0
174 - Ethen Lofthouse (I) dec. Jordan Blanton (IL), 6-1
184 - Tony Dallago (IL) major dec. Jeremy Fahler (I), 17-8
197 - Mario Gonzalez (IL) dec. Tomas Lira (I), 11-9
Hwt. - Bobby Telford (I) dec. Pat Walker (IL), 2-0
125 - Jesse Delgado (IL) dec. Matt McDonough (I), 11-7 (OT)
133 - Tony Ramos (I) major dec. B.J. Futrell (IL), 13-5
141 - Montell Marion (I) major dec. Daryl Thomas (IL), 11-2