Wrestlers come away with pair of dramatic upsets

By Mike Urena
And Paul Trembacki

It came down to the final overtime of the final match of the meet, but the Purdue wrestling team held on — literally — to beat No. 7 Michigan State and post its second upset in as many nights Saturday at home.

Unranked Purdue (8-5, 2-4 Big Ten) led 15-14 heading into the final match — the Heavyweight competition. Whichever wrestler won the match won the meet for his team.

Boiler big man Jake Vercelli battled Spartan Matt Lamb to a 1-1 tie after three periods. In overtime no one scored and the match — and the meet — went to a 30-second sudden-victory period.

The first person to score would win and after Vercelli held on for 20 seconds, Lamb was called for two false starts, Vercelli was awarded a point and the crowd in the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility erupted.

Match. Meet. Major upset.

"It wore me out pretty good," Vercelli said. "But that’s why we train for this kind of stuff in the room."

Vercelli, ranked 20th in the nation, was 0-1 in his career against ninth-ranked Lamb, which made the win all the more impressive to Purdue coach Jessie Reyes.

"This is the best I’ve seen Vercelli wrestle," Reyes said. "Staying focused against the top kid was what I want to see."

The Boilers' successful weekend, which included an upset of No. 23 Wisconsin Friday, made Reyes a happy man.

"We just won the close ones," Reyes said. "Jason (Silverstein) won the close one, while our 157 and 165 guys also won them close."

At 125 pounds, Purdue’s Silverstein (16-6, 3-3 Big Ten) upset fourth-ranked Chris Williams of Michigan State in the first duel of the night. Trailing 1-0 in third period, Silverstein scored a takedown on Williams with 11 seconds left to win the match 2-1.

Clovis Crane, the Boilermakers' 157-pounder, defeated Michigan State’s Charles Sageman in overtime, improving his Big Ten record to 3-0. Trailing 2-0 early in the third period, Crane fought back with a takedown on Sageman with 30 seconds left on the clock, tying the match 2-2, and sending them into sudden death. Crane rolled Sageman over in overtime for the 4-2 victory.

At 165, Purdue’s Kirk Moore improved to 12-8, scoring a last-minute escape point in the third period to win 4-3 against Cory Posey of Michigan State to make the meet score 10-9, Spartans.

Jared Williams picked up a 7-6 win at 184 after 15th-ranked Ryan Lange improved to 24-6 with a 10-3 win. A Jon Bush loss at 197 cut Purdue's lead to 15-14 and set up Vercelli's heroics.

The weekend began just as it ended for the Boilers — well. The Boilers beat the Badgers 19-15.

In the first match, at 174, Lange held on for the final 10 seconds without allowing an escape in the third period to clinch a 13-5 major decision win and make the meet score .

At 133, Purdue's Evan Robinson improved to 17-4 in a close match against Wisconsin's Kevin Black. With a cut over his left eye from last weekend hindering him, Robinson came from behind for an 8-5 victory.

"It only bothered me a bit," Robinson said. "The guy kept smacking it with his hand."

There were several intense matches, including Vercelli's 3-1 win in overtime and Crane's 5-3 win at 157 which made the meet score 19-11 and clinched the meet for Purdue.

Although may matches were close, Purdue won 12 of 20, which is what mattered most to Reyes.

"I mean we wrestled, that’s the bottom line," Reyes said. "We came out here and wrestled as a team, and that’s the best effort I’ve seen so far."

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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