Maryland wrestling throttled by No. 13 Purdue, 37-4

After being shut out against Michigan State, Maryland wrestling had a much bigger challenge ahead in No. 13 Purdue.

The Terps were looking for any team points in Friday’s matchup, though it looked unlikely for much of the dual meet until the 165-pound match.

With Maryland down 18-0 following intermission, Kyle Cochran came out calm and collected against his opponent Tanner Webster — one of the few unranked wrestlers the Terps faced Friday night.

“After Jahi wrestles I am itching to get on the mat,” Cochran said. “I’ve had to learn to wait that 10 minutes out [during intermission] and figure out how I gotta warm up. I do have some nerves in me knowing that if we didn’t do as well in the first half that I have to be the guy to start it off to get my team motivated.”

Cochran began his match with a takedown in the first period — Maryland’s only individual lead of the match. Cochran kept his momentum going into the second period as he tilted Webster to his back for four points. He stayed dominant on offense to hero opponent scoreless throughout the match and won by a 11-0 major decision. But it was the only match Maryland would win, suffering a 37-4 loss to Purdue.

“Kyle Cochran wrestled really well,” head coach Alex Clemsen said. “I’ve been saying for a while he is a kid that is really talented and he’s done a good job buying in to our process and buying in to what we are doing. He’s held himself really accountable.”

The Boilermakers started their night off with a quick five team points thanks to a technical fall from No. 8 Devin Schroder in the 125-pound bout. Schroder made light work of Maryland’s Brandon Cray as he tilted him three times to secure a 18-0 technical fall in just 3:40 of action.

The 133-pound match brought more points for Purdue as Travis Ford-Melton won by minor decision over Maryland’s King Sandoval. Ford-Melton started the match with two takedowns in the first period to put him up 4-1. An illegal hold by Sandoval along with an escape by Ford-Melton gave the Boilermaker his largest lead of the match at 6-1 to end the second period. Sandoval’s third period scramble that gave him an escape and takedown was not enough to overcome his deficit as Ford-Melton won by a 7-4 minor decision with riding time.

Purdue received its second set of bonus points when 141-pounder Parker Filius won by a 11-0 major decision with riding time over Terp Hunter Baxter. Filius came out strong in the first period with a takedown to Baxter’s back for six points. Filius maintained his momentum throughout the remaining two periods to keep baxter scoreless and win the match.

“Giving up six points right off the bat is a little blow to the mind,” Baxter said. “Knowing you have to come back six points, especially knowing every opponent is really good, starting down is usually not favorable and kind of sucks. I think we have the capability at a couple points, but once we go down, I think mentally we need to work on that.”

A stale 149-pound bout still went in favor of the Boilermakers as Maryland’s Michael Doetsch was unable to score a point in his loss to No. 18 Griffin Parriott. A first period takedown, a second period escape and a point for riding time was all it took for Parriott to come away with a 4-0 victory.

After a two-match suspension for an altercation following his match against Ryder, Maryland’s Jahi Jones returned to a tough matchup against No. 8 Kendall Coleman. Jones kept the match close only trailing Coleman 3-2 in the third period. However, Coleman showed off his stamina as he gathered three takedowns on Jones in the final period to win by a 10-4 minor decision.

Maryland’s Philip Spadafora, recently ranked No. 23 before his individual loss against Michigan State, had a tough matchup against Purdue’s No. 4 Dylan Lydy in the 174-pound bout. Spadafora was unable to muster up any points other than four escapes in his match. Lydy’s quickness on his feet allowed him to takedown Spadafora multiple times and ultimately come away with a 12-4 major decision with riding time.

The 184-pound bout brought more success for Purdue as Max Lyon beat Kyle Jasenski in a 7-2 minor decision. Jasenski was close to taking the lead in the second period when he tied up the score 2-2 in the second period after receiving his second escape. Lyon did not allow the scoreboard to distract his mentality as he scored five unanswered points, two takedowns and one escape, to win 7-2 over Jasenski.

In the 197-pound match, Maryland’s Niko Cappello started in his third dual match of the year. The redshirt junior matched up against Purdue’s No. 7 Christian Brunner in a short-lived bout. Brunner threw Cappello to his back in the first period to secure six team points for the Boilermakers.

The night ended with the heavyweights in a similar fashion as the 197-pound bout. Purdue’s Thomas Penola pinned Parker Robinson within the first period of their match, sealing the Boilermakers’ victory in College Park.

Three Things to Know

1. The Terps have been outscored 135-18 in the Big Ten Conference so far this season. The Terps have struggled to win many individual matches against their conference opponents, ultimately making it impossible to win duals. Being outscored by well over 100 points in its four conference matches is a downfall in its own, but Maryland can improve this deficit if it are able to win close matches in future duals.

2. Terps 0-2 at home and 0-5 away. The Terps have proved to be unsuccessful in winning any matches that have a home crowd for either team. Their only two dual wins come from competing in a neutral setting (2-3). Maryland will look to break that curse, and its six-match losing streak, in its next dual match.

3. Double-header weekend for the Terps. Maryland will have to make a quick mentality adjustment after tonight’s loss as it prepares to take on the Indiana Hoosiers Sunday at 3 p.m.

The match will be held in College Park, allowing the Terps to rest up and not deal with the stress of traveling over the weekend. The Hoosiers have not won a match this season and will surely be Maryland's best chance to earn a conference win this season. The two teams currently rank last the Big Ten.

“I expect to win every match that I wrestle. I don’t coach to lose, I don’t care who we are wrestling. If I had that mentality, if I said ‘ah this is our chance to win’ then then bah-hum-bug,” Clemsen scoffed. “Nope, I don’t look at it like that. We have a chance every night.”