LITTLE ROCK – Two young Trojans claimed their first-ever ranked wins over top-25 opponents and forced the tight Pac-12 dual to come down to the very last bout, but Stanford pulled off the tight 19-14 team win in Little Rock's final home match.
"It felt a lot better," said head coach
Neil Erisman of the guy's fight in today's bout, giving credit to the crowd for bringing the energy today. "We had a great crowd, and people were excited."
Matty Bianchi defeated #18 Charlie Darracott from Stanford in an exciting match that featured five penalty points and an electric, loud crowd that pushed the younger Bianchi to a final-period takedown that put him on top.
The opposing wrestler was hit with a caution for a false start six times throughout the match, leading to four points going Bianchi's way. The pair were tied 3-3 after two periods, and Matty's takedown put him ahead 5-4 for a lead he wouldn't relinquish. The redshirt freshman moves to 9-9 on the season as he picks up his first Pac-12 dual win.
"He went out and found a way to get that done. He needed to do that for himself and have that moment," said Coach Erisman.
Another big moment came when the Trojans sent out true freshman
Stephen Little, who hadn't appeared in the Little Rock lineup since the Jacksonville Duals in the first week of November, despite finishing fifth overall at the Southern Scuffle tournament earlier this month.
Little came out of the gates hot against #23 Nick Stemmet, knowing that his win would set the Trojans up for a chance to win the dual. He tallied a takedown and a reversal in the first period, tied up with his Stanford opponent going into the second period.
The Sturgis, Kentucky native was the only one to score in the second period, an escape, and Little put it away with a huge takedown in the third period to earn the 7-5 decision in his first dual match in front of a home crowd.
"I expected that out of Stephen," said Coach Erisman. "He's a true freshman, but I don't care and he doesn't care. I think he could have won by a couple more takedowns."
He added, "He's going to be pretty exciting to watch in the future. He's going to be tough to beat and has the ability to win at a high level."
Earlier in the match,
Joseph Bianchi impressed with an 11-6 decision to move to 2-0 in Pac-12 duals. He was the third Trojan in a row throughout the day to earn the first takedown, and then went out and scored three more in a strong performance, moving to 8-8 on the year.
"Joey's a good example of what we need to do in all our matches. He and his brother gave us the opportunity to win that dual, and Joey did more than he had to. Joey could have gotten away with just holding on to positions to win, but what is did is what we want."
As always, Coach Erisman knows that the Trojans have even more potential than they showed, as several Trojans were right in the thick of their matches, dropping the result in the final period.
"Our guys responded today, but there were matches where we were just holding on to win," he admitted. There's such a small margin of error in this sport, and it becomes a lot smaller when you wrestle to not lose. When you wrestle to win, good things happen."
While the Trojans have concluded their homestand, Little Rock has some crucial road matches ahead of them. Next weekend, the team will travel to three different Pac-12 schools to wrap up their conference schedule. View the remainder of the schedule
here.
On Friday, February 3, the Trojans will face Arizona State before going head-to-head with both Cal Poly and CSU-Bakersfield on Sunday, February 5. Stay tuned as the season begins to wind down, as every match counts.
RESULTS vs. Stanford (RV)
125:
Jeremiah Reno wins by forfeit
133: Jackson Disario (Stanford) DEC
Josh Sarpy, 8-2
141: Jason Miranda (Stanford) DEC
Brennan Van Hoecke, 15-10
149:
Joseph Bianchi DEC Luciano Arroyo (Stanford), 11-6
157:
Matty Bianchi DEC #18 Charlie Darracott (Stanford), 8-5
165: #4 Shane Griffith (Stanford) DEC
Tyler Brennan, 4-0
174: #18 Tyler Eischens (Stanford) DEC #21
Triston Wills, 9-4
184: Brook Byers (Stanford) MD
Mason Diel, 19-6
197:
Stephen Little DEC #23 Nick Stemmet (Stanford), 7-5
285: Peter Ming (Stanford) DEC #32
Josiah Hill, 5-1
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