Michigan State wrestling returned home to Jenison Field House, taking down Northwestern to get their first Big Ten win of the season. They snapped a 5-game losing streak, 4 of which came from conference play, in front of their home crowd in dramatic fashion with a 22-20 win.
The Spartans got their 29th win in the all-time series match-up against Northwestern, their first since 2019, breaking a 3-match losing drought to the Wildcats. MSU held off a late charge back in the last three matches to narrowly escape with a win and improve to 4-6 on the season.
No. 23 Keal Wisler kicked the day off, putting a dominant 10-3 victory by decision on display and giving MSU an early 3-0 lead. Josh Terrill followed it up with another monster performance, defeating his opponent by fall in just over 2 minutes. Terrill makes it 4-straight wins for MSU since he entered the starting lineup at heavyweight.
The Spartans dropped the next dual, which was the 125-pound match, before heating up again with #32 Caleb Weiand taking his 133-pound match by decision to boost MSU’s lead. Northwestern wouldn’t go down easily as a ranked wrestler of their own, #33 Billy Dekraker, got a huge win in the fall to cut the deficit to 3 as the Spartans took a 12-9 lead into the half.
Clayton Jones opened up after the half, getting a victory through a fall of his own with an impressive takedown in the second period to increase the lead back to 9 points. Darius Marines followed Jones up, keeping MSU’s momentum rolling for a second consecutive dual win coming from a 10-2 control victory by major decision to give the Spartans a 22-9 lead going into the final three matches.
Northwestern's Jacob Bostelman would break the Spartans' hot streak and win by decision with a last-second takedown at the buzzer of the final period to come back from down 1-0 and keep the Wildcat’s chances alive. Eddie Enright would get a major decision and, just like that, the Spartans' 13-point advantage fell to 6, leaving everything to play for in the final match.
The stage was set for the final match. Northwestern needed a 6-point pin to tie the match. MSU didn’t need to win the match, they just needed to survive without getting pinned. The crowd was the loudest it got all night behind Ryan Boucher in the 184-pound fight that would make or break getting their first Big Ten win of the season.
Boucher fought hard and was put on the defensive for all three periods as both sides knew what was needed. The clock seemed to move in slow motion, fans on the edge of their seats cheering for the Spartans until the buzzer finally sounded. As Boucher held on. Despite losing the match, it wouldn’t be enough points to get the win and MSU walked away victorious.
The Spartans return to action at Jenison Fieldhouse on Sunday, February 8th at 1 p.m. as they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes looking to continue the momentum from their first conference win of the season.
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