Four No. 1 seeds upset in Midlands semifinals

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Updated: December 30, 2013

EVANSTON, Ill. — There were plenty of upsets in the semifinal round of the 51st annual Midlands as four No. 1 seeds lost matches in the Welsh-Ryan Arena Monday afternoon.

Scoring the upset wins were Iowa’s Thomas Gillman, a 3-1 winner over Illinois’s Jesse Delgado at 125; Northern Iowa’s Joe Colon, a 3-0 victory over Edinboro’s A.J. Schopp at 133; Michigan’s Eric Grajales, a 6-3 winner over Northwestern’s Jason Tsirtsis at 149 and Purdue’s Bradon Atwood, who will advance to the finals with a injury default victory over Illinois’ Mario Gonzales.

Meanwhile, two unseeded wrestlers won semifinal matches: Steven Rodriques of Illinois, who defeated Josh Dziewa of Iowa, 4-3, at 141 pounds; and Shane Hughes of Columbia) who rallied to beat Brock Gutches (Southern Oregon) 5-3 at 174 pounds.

These winners will advance to Monday night’s Midlands finals, which begin at 8 p.m. CST and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

In the team race, Iowa maintains a dominating 80-point lead (172.5-92.5) margin over second-place Edinboro. The Hawkeyes will send seven wrestlers to the championship.

2013 Midlands Team Scores & Brackets (before finals)

The following a semifinal highlights

125 pounds

#4 Thomas Gillman (Iowa) dec. #1 Jesse Delgado (Illinois) 3-1

After Delgado entered a scoreless third period with a 1:07 riding time advantage, the Hawkeye came back to not only erase that advantage by the 2013 NCAA champion but put Delgado on his back for a two-point nearfall with 18 seconds left before Delgado finally escaped.

#2 Jarrod Garnett (Bison WC) dec. #3 Cory Clark (Iowa), 10-8 sudden victory

The defending Midlands champ rallied from a 5-2 deficit early in the final period — after Clark scored one takedown in both the first and second period — and forced overtime by scoring three takedowns in the final 1:49. Only a 1:03 riding timeiadvantage by Clark forced overtime, where Garnett ended the match on a takedown with 12 seconds gone.

133 pounds

 #4 Joe Colon (Northern Iowa) dec. #1 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro) 3-0

The deciding points came in the second period when the Panther finally earned an escape – after being rode for 50 seconds – then scored a takedown with a bodylock near the edge of the mat.

# 2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) dec.  #6 Alan Waters (Missouri-unattached), 5-0

The Hawkeye enjoyed a 3:11 riding time advantage, much of it built after riding the former Missouri All-American the entire second period. Ramos bookended that riding time with takedowns in the first and third periods. l

141 pounds

#1 Mitchell Port (Edinboro) pinned #12 Pat Greco (Northwestern), 6:53

The defending national runner-up was only leading 3-0 when he scored his second takedown of the bout with 10 seconds left, which also put the Wildcat on his back and eventual pin three seconds later. Port’s first takedown in the first period gave him a 1:38 riding time advantage.

US Steven Rodriques (Illinois) dec. #7 Josh Dziewa (Iowa), 4-3

The unheralded Illini trailed 1-0 after two periods when he opened the third frame with a reversal, then took a 4-2 lead on a double-leg takedown with 31 seconds left.

149 pounds

#5 Eric Grajales (Michigan) dec. #1 Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern) 6-3

Trailing 3-1 in the second period, the Wolverine scored his first takedown with 1:33 left in the second and eventually used that advantage to score a two-point nearfall 43 seconds later. Grajales added a final point on an escape to open the third.

#6 Mitchell Minotti (Lehigh) dec. #10 Blake Roulo (George Mason-unattached), 2-0

The only points came in the second period when Minotti scored an escape and on a stalling point against Roulo as the second frame ended. Roulo chose neutral in the third period but could not score.

157 pounds

#1 Derek St. John (Iowa) vs. #4 Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin), 5-3, sudden victory.

The defending national champ actually trailed 3-1 before scoring his first takedown with 42 seconds left in the third period, to force overtime where he ended up on top of a wild scramble with the Badger and a takedown with 18 seconds left in sudden victory.

 #3 Taylor Welch (Indiana) pinned #2 Nick Brascetta (Virginia Tech-unattached) 1:58

The Hoosier added to his incredible pinning list – 22 falls in 25 matches, including 15 straight — when he rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the first period and caught the former Hokie in an inside cradle and eventually scored the fall.

 165 pounds

#1 Steven Monk (North Dakota State) dec. #5 Cooper Moore (Northern Iowa), 7-2

The Bison ended a relatively-close match when he scored his second takedown of the bout with 10 seconds left, that also led to an inside cradle for a two-point near fall. The Panther used a bodylock to score a first period takedown and led 20-.

#2 Nick Moore (Iowa) dec. #3 Taylor Massa (Michigan-unattached), 4-3

The Hawkeye rallied to score his only takedown with 18 seconds left in the match, moments after Massa was penalized for stalling. Massa, who is redshirting in his second year at Ann Arbor, scored his takedown with two seconds left in the first period.

 174 pounds

#1 Mike Evans (Iowa) major dec. #12 Zach Epperly (Virginia Tech-unattached), 10-1

Evans scored two of his four takedowns in the final period and added a 2:23 riding time advantage for the victory.

US Shane Hughes (Columbia) dec. #7 Brock Gutches (Southern Oregon) 5-3

The unseeded Lion was being dominated in riding time and trailed 2-1 halfway through the third period when he countered a deep takedown shot by the NAIA champ for a takedown of his own, then added a two-point nearfall with 33 seconds left to clinch the win. Gutches ended up with a 2:04 riding time advantage.

184 pounds

#1 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. #5 Ophir Bernstein (Brown), 8-1

The Hawkeye scored a takedown in each period and added a 1:51 riding time advantage.

#2 Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland) dec. #3 Nate Brown (Lehigh-unattached), 5-3 sudden victory

The deciding takedown by the Terp came with 15 seconds gone in overtime. Brown, who trailed 3-0 midway through the second period, forced OT when he scored a takedown late in the second and added an escape in the third.

197 pounds

#4 Braden Atwood (Purdue) won by injury default over #1 Mario Gonzales (Illinois)

The Boilermaker was trailing 4-3 when the Illini was forced to stop wrestling from an apparent rib injury while riding Atwood midway through the second period.  Gonzales earlier took an injury timeout in the first period after a scramble gave the Illini two nearfall points and a 4-2 lead.

#2 Christian Boley (Maryland) dec. #3 Nathan Burak (Iowa-unattached), 3-2

The deciding point came from a first-period takedown by the Terp before the wrestlers swapped escape points.

Heavyweight

#1 Bobby Telford (Iowa) dec. #4 J.T. Felix (Boise State) 4-2

The Hawkeye, who was down 2-1, rallied to beat the Bronco on a takedown with 30 seconds left in the match.

#3 Adam Coon (Michigan) dec. #2 Spencer Myers (Maryland) 4-1

The undefeated true freshman from Michigan scored the bout’s only takedown halfway through the second period, then added a third-period escape and 1:14 riding time.

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