"There was great energy from most of the guys closing out the season tonight," head wrestling coach Tony Ersland said. "We put a lot of points on the board; we separated ourselves from the other team. We can end on a very high note and one that we can definitely build on going into the B1G Tournament. We are always moving forward and up. I think that you see that we are peaking at the right time. I saw some of our best wrestling tonight at a lot of weights. We are in a good spot."
Seniors Patrick Kissel and Braden Atwood registered back-to-back decisions after Chad Welch set the tone in the opening bout at 174 pounds. A takedown 34 seconds into sudden victory lifted the redshirt junior past No. 15 Nate Jackson, 6-4, for his fifth upset of the season. C. Welch moved to 19-13 with the win.
"I was ready to go out, get the team going, and get the excitement going in here," C. Welch said. "I felt that I needed higher energy to do that. I needed to go out there and attack and wrestle my match. It has been a while since I came out first, it is more exciting. I loved going first against a ranked guy. I was ready to go. Even in overtime, I knew I was going to win. This is huge, a huge confidence builder heading into Big Tens."
Following at 184, Kissel took Matt Irick down three times, escaped twice and rode the Hoosier for 3:26 en route to a 9-7 decision. The Sheboygan, Wis., native, notched his 15th win of the season while wrestling in his 95th-career match.
Atwood eliminated a 3-1 deficit with only seconds remaining in regulation and rallied to a 6-4 sudden victory decision over Luke Sheridan. The 15th-ranked 197-pounder earned the winning takedown in dramatic fashion as just six seconds were on the clock in the 60-second winner-take-all session. His final dual victory was the 50th of his career while moving to 12-6 on the season.
"I did not wrestle my style in the first period, but I knew I could score, I knew I could come back," Atwood said. "I was willing to put it all out there; I was willing to risk everything. I had the crowd behind me. I couldn't lose."
Out of the break, No. 11 Danny Sabatello put on a clinic in a 19-4 technical fall of Alonzo Shepherd in 6:25. Sabatello tallied six takedowns and six back points for the second technical fall of his redshirt junior campaign. He pushed his season mark to 24-5 at 133 pounds and wrapped up the B1G slate with a 7-2 record.
Seniors Nick Lawrence and Brandon Nelsen then took to the mat for a final time at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively. Lawrence controlled Indiana's Sean Brown in a 16-5 major decision. Hailing from Westlake, Ohio, Lawrence had a trio of takedowns in each of the first two periods, escaped in the third, received two stalling penalty points and added 2:02 riding time. The fifth major decision of his senior season lifted him to 19-13.
"It is definitely good to go out in a dominant win like that," Lawrence said. "It is what I wanted to do my last time wrestling here [in Holloway]. I did not care about winning or losing, I just wanted to wrestle hard. I was focusing on the process and wrestling hard; I knew that the results would come."
Nelsen disposed of Trevor Moody using a 7-3 decision that saw him score three takedowns and clock 1:04 of riding time. For the third time in his career, Nelsen (20-10) has racked up 20-or more wins in a season.
Purdue's Luke Welch received a forfeit at 125 pounds and No. 9 Doug Welch (25-8) provided a 6-3 decision at 157. It was the fourth sweep for the brothers in nine duals together this season.
The postseason awaits the Boilermakers. It will be two weeks before the B1G Championships open on March 7. The two-day event will be hosted by Ohio State at St. John Arena.
Results:
174 // Chad Welch (Purdue) dec. No. 15 Nate Jackson (Indiana), 6-4 (SV1)
184 // Patrick Kissel (Purdue) dec. Matt Irick (Indiana), 9-7
197 // No. 15 Braden Atwood (Purdue) dec. Luke Sheridan (Indiana), 6-4 (SV1)
285 // Garrett Goldman (Indiana) dec. Gelen Robinson (Purdue), 4-3 (TB2)
125 // Luke Welch (Purdue) won by forfeit
133 // No. 11 Danny Sabatello (Purdue) tech. fall Alonzo Shepherd (Indiana), 19-4 (6:25)
141 // Nick Lawrence (Purdue) maj. dec. Sean Brown (Indiana), 16-5
149 // Brandon Nelsen (Purdue) dec. Trevor Moody (Indiana), 7-3
157 // No. 9 Doug Welch (Purdue) dec. Luke Blanton (Indiana), 6-3
165 // No. 6 Taylor Walsh (Indiana) pinned Pat Robinson (Purdue), 2:16
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