The heart break of the criteria loss to Wisconsin had to be put behind them quickly. Another road contest in the B1G, this time at No. 25 Northwestern, was right around the corner.
And fogetting the loss they did. No. 21 Rutgers won its second Big Ten match, topping the Wildcats, 22-19.
Two early forfeit wins by Anthony Perrotti and Phil Bukackus helped RU take an early lead. Anthony Pafumi won 6-2 at 184, leading to Rutgers holding a 15-9 lead at intermission. Two losses opened the second half of the match before Scott DelVecchio stopped the slide with a 10-1 major decision at 133. The match was sealed by 141-pounder Anthony Ashnault when he won 4-2.
On the Banks will have a full Wrestling Wrecap on Wednesday.
No. 21 Rutgers 22, No. 25 Northwestern 19
157: No. 16/16/14/18 Anthony Perrotti (RU) wins by forfeit
165: No. 8/8/7/7 Pierce Harger (NU) dec. over Nick Visicaro (RU), 4-0
174: No. NR/16/NR/NR Phil Bakuckas (RU) wins by forfeit
184: Anthony Pafumi (RU) dec. over Mitch Sliga (NU), 6-2
197: No. 16/12/11/18 Alex Polizzi (NU) wins by fall over Hayden Hrymack (RU), 5:33
285: No. 4/3/3/3 Mike McMullan (NU) dec. over No. 14/18/20/11 Billy Smith (RU), 8-2
125: Garrison White (NU) dec. over Sean McCabe (RU), 7-5
133: No. 18/16/NR/17 Scott DelVecchio (RU) major dec. over Dominick Malone (NU), 10-1
141: No. 9/7/12/9 Anthony Ashnault (RU) dec. over Jameson Oster (NU), 4-2
149: No. 3/3/4/2 Jason Tsirtsis (NU) major dec. over No. 17/16/17/20 Ken Theobold (RU), 12-2
Rankings (-/-/-): InterMat / The Open Mat / WIN Magazine/ Flo Wrestling (Feb. 3)