AMES — It may not have been the domination Iowa was looking for, but the Hawkeyes got the job done at Iowa State. In the 2013 wrestling edition of the Cy-Hawk Corn series at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa took down rival Iowa State, 23-9. Not quite the Hawkeyes’ 32-3 stomping of the Cyclones last season but enough for the Hawks to pick up their second win of the season.
Iowa’s Mike Evans set the tone of the dual with major decision at 174 pounds, and Ethen Lofthouse followed up at 184 pounds with a 4-0 shutout of Lelund Weatherspoon to put Iowa up 7-0 through the first two matches of the afternoon.
But unfortunately for Iowa, two Hawkeye backups took the mat and fell to Cyclone opponents to bring Kevin Jackson’s squad within 1. Sammy Brooks, in place of Nathan Burak, fell to Kyven Gadson, 3-2, and Terrance Jean-Jacques dropped the heavyweight bout to Quean Smith in overtime.
But following the defeats, Cory Clark put a halt to the run with a victory over Earl Hall. In his closest match of the young 2013 season, the redshirt freshman escaped with an 8-7 win, picking up the deciding point because of 2:44 of riding time at the midway point of the dual.
“From the beginning to the end of the match you have to wrestle hard, whether that stuff happens,” Clark said, referring to Hall’s persistent wrestling. “[I’d] rather it happen early than late even thought it kind of happened early and late. Wrestle hard, and that’s what got me through the match.”
Immediately following the break, the snarl of the Hawkeye-Cyclone rivalry was on full display when133-pounder Tony Ramos slapped a beat down on Dakota Bauer — a bout that featured seven takedowns on the redshirt freshman — for a 16-5 win. When the two appeared unwilling to shake each other’s hands, a flurry of boos rained down from the Cyclone faithful, to which Ramos bowed and raised his arms while facing the crowd with a smile.
“Across the mat — blood was boiling over there, including mine,” Jackson said.
When Ramos’ fun was finished and a few more tilts ensued, Iowa had secured its 11th-straight dual victory over Iowa State. But that didn’t mean the most entertaining match of the afternoon carried no weight.
Redshirt freshman Gabe Moreno squared off with Iowa’s Nick Moore at 165 pounds to close the dual. Heading into the third period, a Moreno escape was the only point that separated the two, but Moore took an escape and takedown to win the match 3-1 and push the final team score to 23-9.
Rivalry and all else aside, Iowa head coach Tom Brands gave credit to the Cyclones. The eight-year head coach said Jackson’s grapplers came out with fight and gave Iowa a run for its money.
“I think they did a pretty good job … of doing what they wanted to do in some of those matches where they kept it close enough to where they could maybe win in the end.” Brands said.