Tony Ramos spent the afternoon of Dec.12 playing takedown with Buffalo’s Justin Farmer. Ramos recorded 9 takedowns en route to a 22-7 technical-fall victory — he tallied 4 in the first period, 4 more in the second, and just 1 in the third to secure the victory. The Hawkeyes enforced this form of torture on Buffalo wrestlers throughout their 46-0 victory. Black and Gold wrestlers accrued 57 total takedowns in 10 matches. Ramos’s 9 tied for the most on the team — Mike Evans also had 9 at 174 pounds.
This kind of wrestling doesn’t occur by accident. Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands said after the dual that Buffalo entered Carver-Hawkeye Arena with the goal of limiting the number of bonus points that Iowa inevitably garnered — each Hawkeye came away with a bonus-point victory in the dual. “We were having a hard time, I think as a team — we really have to catch some things on top if we’re going to put guys away,” Brands said on Dec. 12. “We struggled a little bit. Their arms seemed short, like they had dinosaur arms.”
Two Iowa wrestlers did record pins in the dual — Michael Kelly and Derek St. John recorded back-to-back pins at 149 and 157 pounds — but a myriad of takedown attacks filled most of the dual. Each Iowa wrestler has a specific takedown attack that he favors over others. Cory Clark prefers using a two-on-one setup that allows for him to attack using both a single-leg sweep and a double-leg takedown.
Ramos’s takedowns came more in the form of drags and go-behinds, mainly because Farmer turtled up and refused to open up against the nation’s third-ranked 133-pounder. The tactic allowed for Farmer to avoid the pin but not the technical fall. “When I was pinning guys, I was scoring a lot of points and wearing them out,” Ramos said. “We’re trying to get back to scoring a lot of points. And when things open up, we take them as they’re happening.”
The heavier weights favored two takedowns in particular. Nick Moore, who claimed a 13-4 major-decision at 165 pounds, favored a sweep that involved him lifting his opponent’s leg, throwing him off balance. Moore collected 5 takedowns in his bout. Of Evans’ 9 takedowns, he favored a double-leg takedown. He lifted Buffalo’s Rrok Ndokaj and planted him into the mat, cruising to a 22-6 technical fall.
Ethen Lofthouse preferred a similar takedown to what Moore used, but he also had his fair share of go-behinds for 2 easy points. Lofthouse accounted for 8 takedowns. Both Sammy Brooks and Bobby Telford tallied 5 takedowns apiece at 197 pounds and heavyweight.
That 57 takedowns came against a team such as Buffalo — which entered the Dec. 12 dual with a 1-4 record — isn’t surprising. But the kind of catch-and-release method used by Iowa wrestlers wore out the entire Buffalo team and served as a good warm-up before second-ranked Penn State heads to Carver this weekend. “You can’t look past anybody,” Telford said. “Just ready to keep going. We’ve got a big one Saturday.”
