Thought about turning to the next match, but we need to enjoy last night first. I was hopeful that there would be some fun matches with the young lineup we have, and last night did not disappoint. Terukina vs Strickenberger did not happen, but Gill is ranked #30 by WS, so a really good win. We got the advantage of key takedowns late in matches, and it started with Oakley against a similarly ranked opponent. I look forward to the day when Simcox is more aggressive on his feet, but we are not there yet. He, along with Root and Hepner, enjoy the scrambles, and it was in a scramble that looked bad early for him that he emerged with the victory in sudden death. Askew is a 141 pounder wrestling up, and it showed in size last night. His opponent may have been less than 100%, but Nate took the match to him after getting down early and came out with a good win.
Root deserves special recognition for going in against the #1 wrestler at his weight, and wrestling like he could win. The crazy part is that he was in it to the last second. He did everything right, and just lost to a really good wrestler. Great match that should give him a lot of confidence going into a couple of big matches. Hepner looks like he is having fun, but he also wrestles like he has something to prove. I really like that attitude, and hope he is able to prove his skills.
I hope Murabito is okay today, as he was clearly in pain. Good job finishing the match, and had the ref not gotten so crazy with the stalling calls he might have only given up a 3 team point loss. I won't go into my historical view on stalling, but this match would have been better served with an older ref (or just a good ref).
Huge wins for Dailey and Platt against ranked wrestlers. Dailey getting the key takedown and controlling the match was a big deal against a quality opponent. As for Platt's match, there is just so much to say. 3 takedowns, including 1 late were the difference in the match that the ref tried to give away with stalling calls. I haven't kept up with the rules as well as others may have, but the rule was always that if you are on top and your opponent stands up you have to attempt to return them to the mat. It is hard to see and count stalling warnings/calls as the ref is generally out of sight of the camera when they are calling them. That said it was clear that the ref made at least 1 stalling call and awarded a point to WVU in a sequence where Platt tried 3 times in 10 seconds to return the wrestler to the mat. All were successfully defended, but that was terrible officiating. Was not pleased with him getting ridden out for the entire 2nd period. In the end the late takedown won the day.
Neves took care of business, though waiting to sudden victory to get his first takedown would not have been my preference.
Huge win for the team, and perhaps some confidence going into 2 tough matches this weekend. Fun match to watch, and a great night for the team with all of the young wrestlers coming through, and the veterans largely taking care of business. By Tuesday we will see if this has any significant impact in individual rankings, and it should for several of the wrestlers.
If you did not see the match, it is still available on the espn app.