EDINBORO, Pa. -- Iowa won five of the final six bouts to rally past No.15 Edinboro 22-19 on Thursday night inside McComb Fieldhouse.
"It was nice to battle back and get the dual win," Iowa head coach Tom Brands said, "but we have a lot of work to do. We need to deal with tough situations better. They put together some wins, and it created some tightness and frustration. We need to go beyond that, stay aggressive, and score points."
Iowa trailed 13-4 before stringing together five consecutive wins beginning at 157 pounds, where Derek St. John scored a pair of takedowns in the final period to defeat Johnny Greisheime 13-5. The major decision pulled Iowa within five points at 13-8 heading into the intermission.
The Hawkeye rally continued at 165, where Nick Moore cut the lead to 13-11 with an 11-4 decision. Mike Evans then closed the gap completely and gave Iowa the lead for good at 15-13 with a 13-5 major decision at 174.
Ethen Lofthouse extended Iowa's lead to 18-13 with a 3-2 win at 184, and Sammy Brooks clinched the victory with an 11-0 win at 197.
Brooks and Vince Pickett wrestled through a scoreless first period before Brooks turned Pickett three times in the second for eight nearfall points. He added a takedown in the third and added 3:50 riding time for the final 11-0 win.
"I would like to have get a couple scores in the first period, but it felt good," Brooks said. "He was giving me his wrist and I was wrestling aggressive on top. If he was going to keep giving it to me, I was going to take it over and over again."
Thomas Gilman spotted Iowa a 4-0 lead with a major decision at 125 pounds. Gilman, who was making his collegiate dual debut, used five takedowns and 3:33 of riding time to top 17th-ranked Kory Mines, 12-3.
"It was nice to go out and get the early takedown," said Gilman, who compiled 1:58 of riding time in the first period. "When there are points on the board you wrestle a lot less stiff, so I was able to get loose and gain some confidence. It was nice to get out there, wrestle hard, and score points."
Edinboro won three consecutive bouts at 133, 141 and 149. Eighth-ranked A.J. Schopp used a third-period escape to defeat top-ranked Tony Ramos 3-2 at 133. Second-ranked Mitchell Port pinned No. 13 Josh Dziewa at 141, and 10th-ranked Dave Habat defeated Brody Grothus 13-5 at 149.
"We made it hard on ourselves," Brands said, "but we also had guys that wrestled hard. Battling back for the dual win is a testament to their toughness."
