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#3 Hawkeyes skunk #19 Panthers on Friday night in Iowa City

by: Tanner Lafever2 hours agoTannerLafever
Mo Endene
As he's been wont to do during his brief Iowa career, 197-pounder Massoma Endene once again stole the show - this time with a dramatic, last-second victory over #4 Mac Stout. (Photo Credit: Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Iowa City, Iowa was no safe haven for the #19 Pittsburgh Panthers on Friday night.

In fact, other than potentially swiping a Carver cone on the way out the door, the visitors won’t have much of anything positive to take with them back to the east coast.

Such is life after a 36-0 dual shutout at the hands of the host Hawkeyes.

Sure, the Panthers hung around in some early matches despite sizable ranking discrepancies. But they didn’t win any of them, either.

By the time third-ranked Iowa got things rolling in the middleweights, there was no stopping the Black & Gold momentum. And it carried all the way through several high-level upper weight matchups, including the evening’s headliner at 197 pounds – where once again, Massoma Endene stole the show.

“When it’s bright light time he doesn’t want to be left out of the party,” said Iowa head coach Tom Brands of his undefeated 197-pounder.

“When it’s bright light time he wants to be the main attraction.”

That was exactly the case on Friday night.

In the marquee matchup of the dual, the ever-impressive Endene picked up the biggest win of his (brief) Division I career – defeating returning All-American Mac Stout with a last-second takedown that send Carver-Hawkeye Arena into a frenzy.

With it, he continues the improbable journey that has thus far taken him from junior college, to three-time Division III national champion to the Iowa lineup – where he earns more and more adoration from Hawkeye fans each time he steps on the mat.

Of course, Endene couldn’t shut out Pittsburgh all by himself. So, here’s how the full dual played out as Iowa rebounded with authority from its loss in the National Duals Invitational final just five days ago.

Slow start never stalls

Iowa didn’t exactly come out of the gates with its hair on fire in this one.

At 125 pounds, it took sudden victory for #7 Dean Peterson to convert the lone takedown following an action-minimal regulation. But convert the takedown he did, eventually, following a shot/scramble sequence that lasted over a minute – and concluded just before the buzzer sounded.

Two bouts later, #8 Nasir Bailey (and his unranked opponent) were similarly offense-averse at 141 – outside of Bailey’s second-period takedown immediately following an escape by Anthony Santaniello.

On either side of those matches Iowa started to find its footing – particularly in the bonus point department.

Both Drake Ayala (133) and Ryder Block (149) secured major decisions thanks to dogged third-period takedowns. For the latter, a 12-2 win over #20 Kade Brown represents just the latest sign that Iowa may’ve found not only an answer, but a pretty darn good one to folks’ questions about 149 entering the season.

At 157, Victor Voinovich III turned the page on a rough Sunday at National Duals, nearly chasing down a major decision of his own in an 11-6 win over Pitt freshman Vince Bouzakis.

#3 Michael Caliendo kept the momentum going out of intermission, picking up Iowa’s first (and only) technical fall of the dual with a takedown tour-de-force against #25 Dylan Evans.

Caliendo’s seven takedowns in the 22-6 win were more than triple Pittsburgh’s team tally for the entire dual (two).

Hawkeyes hammer headline matchups

In my preview of this dual, I singled out a trio of matchups for Iowa fans to keep a close eye on.

Thankfully, all three materialized for the listed 11,424 fans in attendance. And even better for them – Iowa prevailed in impressive fashion in each of them.

I’ve already mentioned Endene’s win at 197.

The Wartburg transfer found himself behind just 30 seconds in against 2025 ACC champion Mac Stout following an early takedown. And for a while after, Stout seemed the more likely of the two to score another.

But Endene steadily built into the match, and in his own oddly relaxing way (described by Tom Brands as a “controlled panic”) seemed to have Stout right where he wanted him with the final seconds ticking away.

“I was talking to (2025 NCAA champion Stephen) Buchanan after this past weekend, and I was like, I have to start learning how to see when somebody breaks,” said Endene during his post-dual interview.

“And for the first time in my career, I could really see that he was like, ‘OK, let me hold on to this lead.’”

“He was backing up. His stance was very good throughout the whole match, but then he lifted up a little bit. It was going backwards and I’m like, ‘OK, now’s the time to go forward – keep going.’”

“And I found a way to score on him.”

This guy is just something else, folks. And just like Hawkeye fans out there, I too can’t wait to see what he might pull off next.

The dual’s two other high-profile matchups didn’t have nearly the drama of 197, but were telling, nonetheless.

At 174, #2 Patrick Kennedy showed how much difference eight months can make – turning a 7-6 match against #14 Luca Augustine at NCAAs in March into an 11-2 major decision on Friday.

PK scored two first-period takedowns to build an early lead, then found another with 0:35 remaining to secure bonus points.

Meanwhile, sophomore heavyweight Ben Kueter was back on the mat after sitting out the National Duals Invitational last weekend.

Despite some time off the mat, Kueter grinded his way through the full seven minutes against #12 Dayton Pitzer – whom he, like Kennedy/Augustine had defeated in the bloodround last March.

A second-period escape and a third-period ride out – including a big mat return just before the buzzer – were enough to get it done in a 2-0 decision.

Now, Kueter – and the rest of the Hawkeyes – turn their attention squarely toward next Sunday’s rivalry showdown in Ames.

Welcome back, Gabe

Before I go, one more Hawkeye deserves mention for both his performance on the mat and his press conference post-dual.

I’m talking about Gabe Arnold, who stepped in for Angelo Ferrari at 184 pounds and kept the pedal to the metal in a 15-5 major decision of Chase Kranitz.

Arnold’s trying 2024-25 season (and the offseason that followed) have been the source of much discussion in the Iowa wrestling sphere and beyond.

But with a renewed focus/perspective that he shared at length during team media day, he took the mat in an Iowa singlet on Friday night to a noticeably louder applause from the home fans.

And with the personality (not to mention skillset) that he has, why wouldn’t people be excited to see the best version of Gabe Arnold?

Heck, don’t take my word for it. Listen to Arnold tell it himself.

In an awesome post-dual press availability, the redshirt sophomore shared his love/gratitude for his teammates, his coaches, the Iowa fans – and if you can believe it, even the Iowa media.

And to top it all off, as only Gabe Arnold can, he laid out his big goals for the rest of the 2025-26 season, too:

We can evaluate said prognostications of his at a later date, however.

Because on this night, just about everything went Iowa’s way – and that’s all that matters.

Full dual results

#3 Iowa 36, #19 Pittsburgh 0
125 – #7 Dean Peterson (I) dec. Tyler Chappell (P), 4-1 SV1
133 – #3 Drake Ayala (I) major dec. #32 Evan Tallmadge (P), 13-4
141 – #8 Nasir Bailey (I) dec. Anthony Santaniello (P), 4-2
149 – #10 Ryder Block (I) major dec. #20 Kade Brown (P), 12-2
157 – Victor Voinovich III (I) dec. Vince Bouzakis (P), 11-6
165 – #3 Michael Caliendo (I) tech. fall #25 Dylan Evans (P), 22-6
174 – #2 Patrick Kennedy (I) major dec. #14 Luca Augustine (P), 11-2
184 – Gabe Arnold (I) major dec. Chase Kranitz (P), 15-5
197 – #8 Massoma Endene (I) dec. #4 Mac Stout (P), 5-4
285 – #6 Ben Kueter (I) dec. #12 Dayton Pitzer (P), 2-0
Officials: Angel Rivera, Jaime George
Attendance: 11,424

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