The 51 points amassed against the Cougars mark the first time since 1986 that Northwestern has topped the 50-point plateau in a dual match.
"I think we're continuing to get better with each match and with each week of practice," said NU head coach Drew Pariano of his unbeaten Wildcats. "Our goal today was to win all 20 matches and we accomplished that. We weren't pleased about our loss at NIU last year and I thought we came out fired up for that match. Brandon Precin is our sparkplug and he really took care of business today."
Against Northern Illinois, Precin recorded a first-period pin of Nick Smith for his 14th win of the season and followed that up with a pin in only 58 seconds against SIU-E's Kris Treat, his sixth fall of his senior campaign.
After a win by 16th-ranked Levi Mele at 133 pounds, freshman Kaleb Friedley notched a quality win against the Huskies' 2010 NCAA qualifier Tristen DeShazer, a 6-1 decision that gave NU a 12-0 advantage.
Seventh-ranked Andrew Nadhir remained perfect on the year at 149 with a major decision over Vince Castillo before fifth-ranked Welch stepped up at 157 against another national tournament qualifier, Bryan Deutsch. Welch needed only 37 seconds to record the fall -- his third of the season -- to break the spirit of the Huskies.
Northwestern was efficient in winning four of the next five matches by decision while junior John Schoen won with bonus points at 197, majoring junior Mike Lukowski, 9-1, to move to 9-3 this season.
Pariano and the Wildcats turned their attention to the host Cougars, with senior captain Robert Joyce following Precin's quick fall with a 2-0 decision win over John Petrov.
The 'Cats won by fall in three of the next four bouts, with Friedley working for his team-leading eighth pin of the year against Lawrence Blackful at 141. Sophomore Kevin Bialka also got in on the action at 165, pinning Gabe Hocum in the first period to improve to 6-5 on the year.
A dominating tech fall by Brian Roddy, Jr. preceded a 4-0 decision victory by 184-pounder Aaron Jones -- who is now 12-1 on the year -- and a final fall by Schoen over Robert Cooney.
Having run through its first 10 dual matches with a perfect record while outscoring the opposition by a remarkable count of 348-52, Northwestern now has 10 days to prepare for the 48th annual Midlands Championships to be contested Dec. 29-30 at NU's Welsh-Ryan Arena. A pretournament list of contenders will be released by Northwestern this week.
#9 Northwestern 38, Northern Illinois 0
125: #2 Brandon Precin (NU) FALL Nick Smith (NIU), 2:43 (NU 6, NIU 0)
133: #16 Levi Mele (NU) dec. Kevin Fanta (NIU), 9-5 (NU 9, NIU 0)
141: #20 Kaleb Friedley (NU) dec. Tristen DeShazer (NIU), 6-1 (NU 12, NIU 0)
149: #7 Andrew Nadhir (NU) maj. dec. Vince Castillo (NIU), 12-4 (NU 16, NIU 0)
157: #5 Jason Welch (NU) FALL Bryan Deutsch (NIU), 0:37 (NU 22, NIU 0)
165: Kevin Bialka (NU) dec. Matt Mougin (NIU), 4-2 (NU 25, NIU 0)
174: Brian Roddy (NU) dec. Zach Benzio (NIU), 6-0 (NU 28, NIU 0)
184: Aaron Jones (NU) dec. Brad Dieckhaus (NIU), 8-1 (NU 31, NIU 0)
197: John Schoen (NU) maj. dec Mike Lukowski (NIU), 9-1 (NU 35, NIU 0)
285: Ben Kuhar (NU) dec. Dakota Greenhaw (NIU), 7-2 (NU 38, NIU 0)
#9 Northwestern 51, SIU Edwardsville 0
125: #2 Brandon Precin (NU) FALL Kris Treat (SIUE), 0:58 (NU 6, SIUE 0)
133: Robert Joyce (NU) dec. John Petrov (SIUE), 2-0 (NU 9, SIUE 0)
141: #20 Kaleb Friedley (NU) FALL Lawrence Blackful (SIUE), 5:22 (NU 15, SIUE 0)
149: #7 Andrew Nadhir (NU) maj. dec. Derrick Pousson (SIUE), 15-2 (NU 19, SIUE 0)
157: #5 Jason Welch (NU) FALL Steven Ross (SIUE), 3:50 (NU 25, SIUE 0)
165: Kevin Bialka (NU) FALL Gabe Hocum (SIUE), 2:09 (NU 31, SIUE 0)
174: Brian Roddy (NU) Tech Fall DeShoun White (SIUE), 18-1 (4:57) (NU 36, SIUE 0)
184: Aaron Jones (NU) dec. Jordan Bakley (SIUE), 4-0 (NU 39, SIUE 0)
197: John Schoen (NU) FALL Robert Cooney (SIUE), 1:58 (NU 45, SIUE 0)
285: Ben Kuhar (NU) win by forfeit (NU 51, SIUE 0)
Northwestern Wrestling
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