In a night dedicated to senior Hawkeye wrestlers to close the regular season, with Kyle Parco waving goodbye to Iowa fans and Stephen Buchanan bowing in their final matches, a freshman stole the show.
The last regular season dual meet of the year pitted No. 3 Iowa against No. 2 Oklahoma State, featuring a stacked lineup full of top-ranked wrestlers in their respective weight classes. The Hawkeyes escaped with a 21-16 upset win. And to add to the excitement, Carver-Hawkeye Arena was buzzing after news dropped that true freshman Angelo Ferrari would be taking the reins at the 184-pound bout in place of Gabe Arnold for No. 3 Dustin Plott.
While the eighth bout ultimately sent Iowa fans into an absolute frenzy, the match definitely did not start out that way. Ferrari and Plott’s first period mirrored much of Ferrari’s 2-1 loss against No. 1 Carter Starocci of Penn State — where the low-scoring affair gave the Iowa wrestler his first loss in over three years of competition.
“I think that loss to Carter Starocci was probably the best thing for me,” Ferrari said. “I think it lit a fire in me and really pushed me further than I thought I could go.”
The fire indeed was lit inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. After an uneventful first period which resulted in a 0-0 score, Plott opened up the second period with an escape to give the Oklahoma State wrestler a 1-0 advantage. Ferrari’s patience on the mat soon changed as the Hawkeye went down 1-0 and shortly recorded a takedown to lift Iowa fans off their seats as Ferrari then had a narrow two-point lead.
Shortly after the takedown by Ferrari, Plott recorded another escape to bring the match to 3-2. Plott’s collegiate experience soon became evident in the third period as the Cowboy wrapped his arms around Ferrari and eventually was awarded a riding time point to tie the match at 3-3 upon the third period’s conclusion.
Now in overtime with the next point scored deciding the winner, Ferrari used home crowd advantage to his favor and took what energy was left in the tank into scoring attempts.
Two failed offensive opportunities by Ferrari in the first minute of overtime kept Plott in the match until a sudden shifty takedown with 31 seconds left in overtime sent the Cowboy packing home.
Fueled by a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Ferrari took the opportunity to hold up a three with his hand — signaling to the Iowa crowd and then to the Oklahoma State bench that he just recorded the upset.
“I got the takedown out of there,” Ferrari said. “I think I awarded [the takedown] before the ref. But that’s to show that I got three points.”
Brands attributed Ferrari’s win to his elite mindset on the mat.
“He got ready to wrestle, tribute to him,” Brands said. “Then he got ridden, went into overtime, and then he was in some scrambles. He probably didn’t feel really good out there, but he had a lot of guts. So he made it go his way.”
Brands, however, would not address whether Ferrari would see more time in postseason play.
“I don’t ever talk about this stuff,” Brands said. “Why would I start now? We love Angelo Ferrari. We love Gabe Arnold. We love both. We’re going to put the guy on the mat that makes the most sense.”