Hawkeyes Sweep Chattanooga On A Day Of Comebacks And Debuts

Kemerer scores technical fall in first match back.

Michael Kemerer didn't look like he had been gone for a while.

The Iowa senior hadn’t wrestled in more than a year as he recovered from a torn ACL.

All the 174-pounder did in the second-ranked Hawkeyes’ season opener was score a technical fall over Chattanooga’s Hunter Fortner, a dominating show in Iowa’s 39-0 sweep on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Kemerer won 20-0, a score that stunned Iowa 184-pounder Nelson Brands, who wrestled next.

“Now you want to strive to be someone like Kemerer, who just beat his opponent 20 to zero,” said Brands, wrestling his first match as a Hawkeye. “Which is mind-boggling.”

Even Kemerer was shocked at the score.

“I came off the mat, it was the first thing (Iowa coach Tom Brands) said to me,” Kemerer said. “I have to double-check that. It was pretty cool, though.”

Kemerer hadn’t wrestled since March 17, 2018. He was at a new weight class — he was 60-6 as a 157-pounder.

“Doesn’t matter the weight class,” Kemerer said. “It’s just going to be about wrestling your position hard.”

Kemerer built an 8-0 lead in the first period, then pushed the lead to 14-0 after two. He scored a takedown with 1:42 to go, then was credited with a four-point near-fall to end the match.

“Quick score, in and out,” Tom Brands said. “He’s a phantom in there sometimes. I thought he was in his element. Probably a good first time out, I would evaluate it as. Lot of points, (20-0) technical fall. That doesn’t happen very often.”

Kemerer admitted it was an emotional day, especially when he heard the cheers as he entered the arena.

“I try to keep myself pretty even-keeled, pretty calm on the mat,” he said. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel it, didn’t hear it. It’s one match, it’s November. But it meant a lot.”

It was a day for debuts as well.

Nelson Brands, the son of Iowa associate head coach Terry Brands, scored an 8-4 win over Matthew Waddell.

Brands led 4-3 after two periods, then scored an escape and takedown to take control.

“You have no idea what it’s like until you’re out on that mat,” said Brands, a redshirt freshman. “It was something crazy.”

The only pin of the day came in the final match, when heavyweight Tony Cassioppi, a redshirt freshman who competed unattached last season, got the fall over Grayson Walthall in 1:45.

“Good debut. Good debut,” Tom Brands said. “Heavy hands, light feet. Do what you do best, then you get that explosion, then you get on and off the mat.”

“Obviously my strategy every match is get on my offense,” Cassioppi said. “Move my feet, make that guy react to me.”

Among the day’s other matches:

• Two-time national champion Spencer Lee won at 125, a 16-5 major decision over Fabian Gutierrez.

• Paul Glynn decisioned Wade Cummings at 133, 11-7.

• Austin DeSanto, ranked No. 2 nationally at 133, won at 141 by technical fall over Aiden Murphy.

• Pat Lugo, ranked fifth at 149, had a 9-4 win over Tanner Smith.

• Kaleb Young, No. 2 nationally at 157, had a 16-6 major decision over George Carpenter.

• Alex Marinelli, ranked No. 2 at 165, scored an 8-4 win over Drew Nicholson.

• Jacob Warner, ranked No. 4 at 197, decisioned Rodney Jones, 5-4.

Iowa wrestles next Sunday at Iowa State.

“We’ve got to get better, we know that,” Tom Brands said. “We have to get better no matter what happens.”