PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers wrestling (8-6, 3-5) lost to RV Illinois (8-3, 4-2), 29-6, on Friday night in front of 4,307 fans at the RAC. No. 19 Jordan Pagano (197) and Nick Santos (149) both worked decisions against the Illini, as five of the Scarlet Knights' eight loses came by three points or less.
 
Illinois, who entered the dual receiving votes in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll and ranked as high as No. 15 by other publications, used a pin at 133 pounds by three-time NCAA qualifier and No. 7 Travis Piotrowski and a major decisions from No. 12 Dylan Duncan at 141 pounds and Luke Luffman (HWT) to put the match out of reach.
 
"Once we gave up the fall, I knew we were up against it quite a bit, so it was tough from there," said head coach Scott Goodale. "You turn to individual matchups and look for things you can work with, but it's still a match and there's a lot of toss up bouts. You just have to think of each individual match and go from there."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Rutgers dropped its first three bouts of the evening before Santos faced Mousa Jodeh at 149 pounds. After it looked like Mousa was going to score first, Santos snapped back and caught Jodeh on his back for four swipes and a quick 6-0 lead after the first period.  Santos kept control of the majority of the match, but Jodeh's late takedown in the third gave Santos an 8-2 decision for the first Big Ten Conference dual victory of his career.
• Back-to-back losses followed, including a tight 2-1 setback from Michael VanBrill (157) against two-time NCAA qualifier Eric Barone to make it a 16-3 deficit at intermission.
• Three consecutive tight losses followed for RU. Brett Donner (165) mounted a comeback with a third-period takedown but fell short against No. 14 Danny Braunagel, Willie Scott (174) dropped a 1-0 decision to No. 23 Joey Gunther and No. 12 Billy Janzer (184) pushed No. 15 Zac Braunagel to overtime before he lost in tie breaker two, 4-1. The three defeats put the dual out of each for RU.
• Pagano added fifth conference victory with his 5-0 decision over Matt Wroblewski, using a takedown in the first period while collecting more than 2:30 of riding time.
 
RV Illinois 29, No. 25 Rutgers 6
Attendance: 4,307
Match Start: 125 Pounds
 
125: NR/21/22 Justin Cardani (ILL) over 20/25/17 Nicolas Aguilar (RU) by decision, 3-2; ILL leads 3-0
133: 7/7/7 Travis Piotrowski (ILL) over 9/10/9 Sammy Alvarez (RU) by fall (2:43); ILL leads 9-0
141: 14/12/13 Dylan Duncan (ILL) over JoJo Aragona (RU) by major decision, 8-0; ILL leads 13-0
149: Nick Santos (RU) over Mousa Jodeh (ILL) by decision, 8-2; ILL leads 13-3
157: Eric Barone (ILL) over Michael VanBrill (RU) by decision, 2-1; ILL leads 16-3
165: 14/14/17 Danny Braunagel (ILL) over Brett Donner (RU) by decision, 4-3; ILL leads 19-3
174: 15/23/19 Joey Gunther (ILL) over Willie Scott (RU) by decision, 1-0; ILL leads 22-3
184: 15/15/26 Zac Braunagel (ILL) over 12/12/15 Billy Janzer (RU) by decision, 4-1 (TB2); ILL leads 25-3
197: 19/19/20 Jordan Pagano (RU) over Matt Wroblewski (ILL) by decision, 5-0; ILL leads 25-6
285: NR/NR/25 Luke Luffman (ILL) over Alex Esposito (RU) by major decision, 11-3; ILL wins 29-6
 
UP NEXT
Rutgers heads down Route 1 to face RV Rider on Sunday at 7 p.m. in Lawrenceville. The match streams live on ESPN+.
 
Post Match Quotes
Head Coach Scott Goodale
 
On the match after the loss at 133-pounds: "I actually thought we probably needed both (wins at 125 & 133 pounds). I thought we needed Sammy (Alvarez) and (Nicolas) Aguilar to win tonight for us to win. Once he gave up the fall, I knew we were up against it quite a bit, so it was tough from there. You turn to individual match ups and look for things you can work with. It's still a match and there's a lot of toss up bouts. You just have to think of each individual match and go from there."
 
On the one-point losses: "I probably have to look at the tape, but anytime you lose one point matches it's tough. At 125 pounds that's been the story here for a little bit, losing the close ones. The twins (Danny and Zac Braunagel) wrestle really hard, so we knew those would be tough matches. You like to be on the other end of them, so many times we've been on the other end of them, but you have to turn them around come March."
 
On Sammy Alvarez's match: "The kid sat him back and slapped a cradle on him. I would've liked to see that match play out a little bit, I think that's a pretty evenly contested match up, but that kid has been around for a long time. He's been winning in this conference for a long time."
 
On Billy Janzer: "I think that guy was dictating the ties, he was getting to his underhook which is crazy because Billy is looking to get to his. He really didn't get any shots off and I know he likes being in those 1-1 matches, but so does that guy. He loved it.  That was a typical Big Ten, slug fest type of match and you have to be able to get to offense and he knows that. Their kid didn't get to much either and then he just happened to ride him out."

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