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The streak is over: #3 Iowa falls at #6 Iowa State, 20-14

by: Tanner Lafever13 hours agoTannerLafever

It was bound to happen at some point, but the end of Iowa’s two-decade winning streak against its in-state rival still isn’t going to sit well.

Not with Hawkeye fans and certainly not with the Iowa team that found itself on the losing side of a 20-14 dual in Ames on Sunday afternoon.

#3 Iowa fell behind early and never led, as the six-ranked Cyclones celebrated a victory they’d been chasing since 2004.

The result also marks the first Cy-Hawk loss in the head coaching career of Tom Brands – who was 19-0 prior to Sunday’s outcome.

Simply put, the Hawkeyes just weren’t good enough – from match-to-match, period-to-period or position-to-position. And in a road dual, against a team with nine top-11 ranked wrestlers like Iowa State, that’ll cost you.

Asked what the difference was in several key moments throughout the dual, Tom Brands offered a different (and longer term) perspective:

“I don’t look at it that way. I look at it like we’ve got work to do, and we’ll keep doing the work,” said Brands. “I’m not sure we failed in critical moments. I think that we can get better, and we’ve got the guys to get better.”

That may be the case, but in this Cy-Hawk rivalry – especially if you’re Iowa – ‘failure’ is the only word that comes to most folks’ mind when the other team walks out of the arena as the victor.

With Hilton Coliseum as Sunday’s setting, here’s how that failure played out on Sunday afternoon.

Senior stalwarts suffer surprising upsets

With everything that went on in this dual, Iowa was still just two wins away from walking out on top.

And if you’d have told a Hawkeye supporter beforehand that they could cast their lot with Drake Ayala and Patrick Kennedy to make that happen, they’d have taken you up on it in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, on this day – as my Grandmother would say – they’d have been S.O.L.

(I’ll let you look that one up.)

In a top-six matchup at 133 pounds, #3 Drake Ayala controlled #6 Evan Frost in the early going – offering the only substantive offense, which finally paid off with a second-period takedown to take a 3-1 lead.

But after a late single by Frost – which Ayala nearly scrambled out of for a takedown as the period expired – the Cyclone owned the rest of the match.

Leading, 3-2, Ayala surprisingly chose neutral in the third, despite having little trouble on bottom in last year’s (11-7) win or Sunday’s loss. Almost immediately, Frost was right back on the leg, scoring to go ahead 5-3, then scrambling to another takedown to put things away in the final minute.

Meanwhile, at 174 pounds, #2 Patrick Kennedy saw the result of his own prior matchup flipped against #11 MJ Gaitan.

After an early Gaitan headlock attempt forced PK to roll off his back, the Hawkeye scored a takedown to go ahead 3-0. But despite initiating all the offense, he could never build his lead – in fact, falling behind as Gaitan scrambled to a pair of takedowns.

Trailing 8-5 entering the third, an escape plus two (justified) stall points forced sudden victory. But once there, Kennedy couldn’t convert his pressure into points – leaving it up to tiebreakers where Gaitan escaped, then rode out the Hawkeye for the stunning 9-8 win.

Asked afterwards about the two results, Tom Brands responded:

“Drake Ayala is not defined by that match,” he said. “And Patrick Kennedy made some mistakes that are known to him – that I don’t go in those positions, especially with that guy.”

“Their character will prevail. That’s not a prediction, that’s just who they are and what I believe about them – those two guys in particular, their character will prevail.”

Four more to forget

Those upsets in hand, Iowa State still wasn’t home free unless it A) matched/exceeded Iowa’s bonus point output, and/or B) found its way to six match wins.

As it turned out, the Cyclones did both.

After winning a coin toss to start the dual at 285 pounds, ISU got exactly its intended result as #1 Yonger Bastida dominated #6 Ben Kueter, 11-4.

In fact, Iowa was fortunate not to give up bonus points, as Kueter – who never threatened an attack of his own – escaped with maybe a second left on the clock to prevent the major.

At 141, #7 Nasir Bailey lost his own lopsided matchup against a Cuban Cylone, #6 Anthony Echemendia.

Echemendia basically rag-dolled Bailey from the jump, including several thunderous takedowns. Were it not for some iffy tactics, he probably could’ve gotten a technical fall rather than ‘settling’ for the 15-2 major decision.

Continuing chronologically, #12 Jordan Williams returned to the lineup at 157 – and was hanging right in against #3 Vinny Zerban, too.

Then, in a 4-2 match to start the third, Williams was thrown to his back attempting to escape.

Now trailing 8-2, the first-year Hawkeye compounded his misery after an eventual escape, when he strangely stopped wrestling on the edge of the mat, allowing Zerban to collect a takedown to secure the major.

And at 197, fan-favorite #4 Mo Endene suffered his first defeat as a Hawkeye – falling 8-2 against four-time (Missouri) All-American #2 Rocky Elam.

With Iowa trailing 17-14 entering the dual’s final bout, Endene would’ve need to win by six-plus points to swing the team tiebreaker in Iowa’s favor – a huge ask given the difficulty of beating Elam in the first place.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter, as Elam used his length/strength to collect two takedowns in an otherwise competitive bout.

A few lights in the darkness

With Iowa behind the 8-ball all dual long, there were a few guys who kept the Hawkeyes in it until the very end.

Nobody did more to help the cause than #3 Michael Caliendo at 165.

In a match that some (me included) thought could be tight against #22 Connor Euton – based both on their 2024 meeting, and Caliendo’s form so far this season – the Hawkeye had other ideas.

By the time his 20-5 destruction was complete, Caliendo had seemingly put Iowa back in good position to win the dual, trailing just 11-14.

(The aforementioned Patrick Kennedy result quickly squashed that momentum, however.)

Meanwhile, Iowa’s next two best performances came courtesy of Dean Peterson and Ryder Block.

At 125, #7 Peterson evened the dual at three-apiece with a third-period takedown of #9 Stevo Poulin.

After a slow start, Peterson seemed to really build throughout the match – and felt a deserved winner (4-2) after scrambling to the winning takedown with 30 seconds remaining.

In the process, he flipped a 6-4 loss to Poulin from last year’s NCAA Championships.

As for Ryder Block, the redshirt sophomore continues to impress as a first-time, full-time starter.

Not only did he defeat #2 Paniro Johnson at 149 pounds, but he did so wrestling Johnson’s type of match.

The explosive Cyclone tends to lull opponents into single-takedown affairs, where he strikes for the winning score. But #10 Block was his equal at every turn, defending Johnson’s lone best attempt in sudden victory, then escaping in three seconds during the first tiebreaker to set himself up for the 2-1 win.

Asked about his 149-pounder, Tom Brands said, “Close match. Takedowns are at a premium. Takedowns blow that match over. We’ve got to score more.”

Iowa’s final win was by top-ranked Angelo Ferrari at 184 in an another low-scoring victory by the unflappable freshman.

Were it not for some repeated defensive wizardry by #10 Issac Dean, Ferrari may’ve found himself in bonus-point territory. Alas, the Cyclone’s total lack of interest in offense ultimately cost him in the 2-1 defeat.

Where to next?

Don’t get it twisted, Iowa fans, the Cyclones are really darn good – especially in a dual format.

So, it’s not so much the loss – however painful – that should sting, but the way in which the Hawkeyes lost.

Of the 10 Iowa wrestlers to take the mat, only four registered takedowns (nine total). And six of those came from Michael Caliendo.

So far this season, weights like 141 and 157 have been early enigmas – despite the additions of two highly-ranked transfers. And Iowa’s young homegrown heavyweight – albeit first recovering from offseason surgery, then recently returning from another brief absence – hasn’t sniffed a takedown against either of two ranked foes thus far.

Meanwhile, two-time NCAA finalist Drake Ayala already has three losses by the end of November. And Patrick Kennedy was just upset in a result that nobody would’ve predicted.

There are bright spots, to be sure – and potential for point scoring elsewhere.

But after a month of wrestling, we’ve learned that Iowa (5-2) has a ways to go before the postseason arrives.

“It’s more about what we’re going to see down the road,” said Tom Brands. “How do you right the wrong and how do you go forward?”

Prior to Sunday, the Hawkeyes had ‘gone forward’ with a Cy-Hawk dual victory in hand for 20 consecutive years.

With that streak now having come to a bitter end, their forthcoming response will tell a lot about the rest of the 2025-26 season to come.

Match-by-match results

#6 Iowa State 20, #3 Iowa 14
285 – #1 Yonger Bastida (ISU) dec. #6 Ben Kueter (Iowa), 11-4
125 – #7 Dean Peterson (Iowa) dec. #9 Stevo Poulin (ISU), 4-2
133 – #6 Evan Frost (ISU) dec. #3 Drake Ayala (Iowa), 11-5
141 – #6 Anthony Echemendia (ISU) major dec. #7 Nasir Bailey (Iowa), 15-2
149 – #10 Ryder Block (Iowa) dec. #2 Paniro Johnson (ISU), 2-1 TB1
157 – #3 Vinny Zerban (ISU) major dec. #12 Jordan Williams (Iowa), 11-3
165 – #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) tech fall. #22 Connor Euton (ISU), 20-5
175 – #11 M.J. Gaitan (ISU) dec. #2 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa), 9-8 TB1
184 – #1 Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) dec. #10 Issac Dean (ISU), 2-1
197 – #2 Rocky Elam (ISU) dec. #4 Massoma Endene (Iowa), 8-2
Officials: Titus Godbolt, Matt Sorochinsky
Attendance: 12,292

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