Cornhuskers down Gophers in Robb’s return
Ex-Husky Peyton Robb prepares to slam University of Minnesota’s Michael Blockhus with a vicious mat return. Robb made his return to Minnesota last weekend and was greeted with many cheers from the Gophers’ crowd despite being a member of the opposition. Staff photo by Johnie Phillips
The University of Minnesota hosted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last Friday for a home dual that saw former Owatonna wrestler Peyton Robb return to his home state.
Robb and the No. 6-ranked Cornhuskers found themselves in a dogfight against the No. 9 Gophers and pulled out a close 19-14 win that came down to the heavyweight match.
Minnesota started off the dual with a 5-0 lead after No. 18 Patrick McKee won via an 18-2 technical fall over No. 7 Caleb Smith.
The Gophers added three more points via a sudden-victory decision win at 133 pounds before Nebraska began to close the distance with a decision win by No. 8 Borck Hardy at 141 pounds.
No. 1-ranked 149-pounder Ridge Lovett secured an 11-0 major decision win to make the score 8-7 in favor of Minnesota with the consensus match of the night up next.
Trailing by one point, No. 3-ranked Robb trotted out onto the mat and was given a moment in front of the Minnesota crowd to take in a well-deserved round of applause from wrestling fans statewide who have followed his journey over the past year.
In a classy move by the Gophers, the team elected to leave the arena lights on longer than usual to allow Robb his time at the center mat before his opponent, Michael Blockhus, was to join him for their match.
Once both athletes shook hands, fireworks were soon to follow.
An initial takedown by Robb secured him a three-point advantage, but Blockhus managed to escape to cut Robb’s lead to 3-1.
Robb found early success in the first period and showed every bit of his talent with some vicious mat return and slick scrambles, however, Blockhus proved game down the stretch.
After escaping to start the second period, Robb found himself in trouble when Blockhus secured a double-leg takedown and transitioned into a four-point near-fall, swinging the match to 8-5 in favor of Minnesota’s No. 10-ranked wrestler after two periods.
Down three points, Robb elected to allow Blockhus to escape from the bottom to start the third period but could not recover the points necessary to pull out the win after another takedown by Blockhus allowed the Gopher to ride out Robb for nearly the remainder of the match and win 12-6.
With an 11-7 lead, Minnesota held all the momentum due to multiple upset wins.
However, Nebraska managed to regain the lead thanks to two decisions by Antrell Taylor and Bubba Wilson at 165 and 174 pounds to lead 13-11.
Both teams traded decision wins at 184 and 197 pounds to give Nebraska a slight 16-14 lead going into the final match at 285 pounds.
Robb’s Cornhuskers managed to hold their lead through the pivotal heavyweight matchup thanks to a convincing 11-7 decision from Harley Andrews.
Despite the team dual win, Robb now finds himself in new territory after another loss over the weekend: a four-match skid.
However, if there’s one thing Robb has proven in this past year, it’s that he is more than capable of overcoming adversity.
Look for the Steele County product to bounce back in his upcoming dual against Northwestern University on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.