Strong start boosts Northern Iowa past Iowa State

UNI’s Dylan Peters turned in a dominating performance in his win at 125 pounds on Saturday. Grant W. Schultz photo.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – It’s as good a 1-2-3 punch that you will see in the first three weight classes of any lineup in college wrestling. 

And they proved exactly why before a boisterous sellout crowd of 2,200 fans on Saturday at Northern Iowa’s West Gym.

UNI sparkplugs Dylan Peters, Joe Colon and Joey Lazor delivered dominating, energized performances to boost the fifth-ranked Panthers to a 24-13 win over No. 17 Iowa State. 

The Panthers finally broke through after losing the previous 10 matchups with the Cyclones. It was Northern Iowa’s first win over Iowa State since 2004. It was UNI's biggest winning margin over ISU since a 22-6 win in 1951.

“Our seniors wanted to go out with a win over them,” UNI coach Doug Schwab said. “We wanted to continue building and make a statement.”

UNI (10-0) remains on course to post its first undefeated dual season since 1956. ISU dropped to 8-4 in duals. 

The sixth-ranked Peters continued his impressive freshman season by earning an 11-2 major decision over past U.S. Junior World Team member Earl Hall at 125.

The powerful Colon, ranked No. 1 in the country, used his superb upper-body attack to earn a 16-1 technical fall over ISU’s Shayden Terukina at 133. 

Lazor locked Cyclone Gabe Moreno in a spladle to record a first-period fall at 141. That gave UNI a commanding 18-4 lead in the team race at intermission.

“That was awesome,” Lazor said. "The train is on its track and we’re rolling. The fans were great – it felt like they were on top of the mat. They fueled the train."

Peters, Colon and Lazor are a combined 29-0 in dual meets this season. 

ISU’s Kyven Gadson, from nearby Waterloo, opened the dual with a major decision win at 197 before UNI rattled off wins in the next five bouts to seize control.

Northern Iowa gained its first win of the dual after Blaize Cabell scored on a pair of takedowns to defeat Iowa State’s Quean Smith 5-2 at heavyweight. 

The three wins at 125, 133 and 141 followed. That gave the Panthers 3, 4, 5 and 6 team points in successive matches.

"You can’t give up bonus points in a dual like this,” ISU coach Kevin Jackson said. "We need to learn from this and make some improvements."

UNI’s lead then grew to 21-4 when Tyler Patten topped Luke Goettl 8-6 at 149. Patten rallied from a five-point deficit to earn the win.

The Panthers were bolstered by a tremendous home crowd that was loud and supportive from start to finish.

“The energy, the atmosphere, that’s as good as it gets,” Schwab said. “Our guys feed off the crowd. They love it.” 

Cyclone All-American Michael Moreno rallied for a 9-6 win over Cooper Moore at 165. Moreno shot in on a single-leg attack and took Moore to his back to prevail. Moreno is ranked 10th and Moore 11th.

ISU’s Tanner Weatherman, ranked 10th, followed with a 9-5 win over No. 17 Cody Caldwell at 174.

Fifth-ranked Ryan Loder of UNI, a returning All-American, defeated Iowa State’s Lelund Weatherspoon 5-0 in the final bout at 184. He accumulated nearly five minutes of riding time in the win. 

NORTHERN IOWA VS. IOWA STATE

West Gym, Feb. 8, 2014

Northern Iowa 24, Iowa State 13

197 – Kyven Gadson (ISU) dec. Basil Minto (UNI), 11-3

285 – Blaize Cabell (UNI) dec. Quean Smith (ISU), 5-2

125 – Dylan Peters (UNI) dec. Earl Hall (ISU), 11-2

133 – Joe Colon (UNI) won by tech. fall over Shayden Terukina (ISU), 16-1

141 – Joey Lazor (UNI) pinned Gabe Moreno (ISU), 1:59

149 – Tyler Patten (UNI) dec. Luke Goettl (ISU), 8-6

157 – John Nicholson (ISU) dec. Jarrett Jensen (UNI), 6-3

165 – Michael Moreno (ISU) dec. Cooper Moore (UNI), 9-6

174 – Tanner Weatherman (ISU) dec. Cody Caldwell (UNI), 9-5

184 – Ryan Loder (UNI) dec. Lelund Weatherspoon (ISU), 5-0