The evening could not have started out much worse for the Huskies as the Bobcats took the first two matches of the night, including a major decision in the opening match. In the second match the Bobcats scored another decision to place the Huskies in a deep hole (0-7) that they were forced to fight their way out of.
Mike Grimes, ranked as high as 7th nationally, came out with the intent of putting NIU back in the meet, and that's just what he did. Grimes came out of the shoot firing with a quick 2-point take down, but Tucker fired right back 2-point reversal to tie the match. After that, Grimes never looked back as he came up with another solid performance in a convincing 12-7 decision to push his overall record to 19-5 and narrow the gap to 7-3 OU.
Trailing 7-3 NIU's Kalen Knull took the mat knowing that he had to win in order for the Huskies to have a chance. Knull delivered in a match the Huskies desperately needed. He was able to pull out a 3-2 victory in an extremely tight match that went into overtime. His hard fought win closed the gap to 7-6 just before intermission.
NIU's Johnny Galloway, ranked as high as 10th nationally, needed big win to put the Huskies in the lead. In the match of the night Galloway took on 22-7 Jacob Isen. After a scoreless first period Ison claimed the lead in the second period with 1-point escape. Down 0-1 going into the third and final period Galloway went on the offensive with an escape followed by a quick takedown to take a 3-1 lead. Ison countered with another escape to close the gap to 3-2, when Galloway had another take down at the buzzer giving him a 5-2 win over Ison. The win gave the Huskies a slim 9-7 lead and gave Galloway an impressive 11-1 record this season.
With victory still very much in doubt, Danny and Duke Burk came up with huge performances for NIU. Danny Burk took on 16-4 Antoine Love and proceeded to dominate the match from start to finish, earning an 8-3 decision. Then, his brother Duke Birk, ranked as highly as 16th nationally, dominated his opponent as well, en route to an 11-4 victory.
Coach Dave Grant gave high praise to the Burk brothers after the meet, "The Burk's really got after it. We need all our wrestlers to take it to their opponents like the Duke's did tonight."
With the score 15-7, NIU gained firm control of the meet and needed just one more win to secure an overall victory. But, OU was not done just yet. With their backs firmly against the wall, the Bobcats battled back with consecutive wins to make the score 15-13 going into the final match of the night.
Luckily for the Huskies the final match of the night was in the hands of Pat Castillo, ranked as high as 20th nationally. Although the match ended with an 8-6 decision for Castillo, the outcome was never in doubt as Castillo controlled the match from start to finish to secure the Huskies 18-13 victory over the Bobcats.
Coach Grant summed up the night best when he said, "Our opponents in the MAC aren't going to just rollover for us, every match is do or die." The Bobcats certainly didn't rollover for the Huskies and NIU, now 2-0 in the MAC, will certainly live to fight another day.
NIU's next meet will be on the road against Kent State on Friday, January 26th at 7:05 EST.
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