IOWA CITY - Iowa's Patrick Kennedy made his season debut. Freshman Angelo Ferrari stepped in the Hawkeyes' lineup for the first time.
Both provided a boost for the Hawkeyes, ignited to the home crowd and highlighted a key four-match stretch that extended their success against Iowa State.
Kennedy posted a technical fall over former teammate Aiden Riggins at 174 pounds and Ferrari defeated No. 17 Evan Bockman by decision, lifting No. 2 Iowa to a 21-15 victory over No. 12 Iowa State Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes extended their dual win streak over Iowa State to 20 in a row, including a 19-0 mark under Iowa Coach Tom Brands.
"It meant everything," Ferrari said after his first Cy-Hawk Series experience. "We don't talk. We just follow it up with action and that's what we did."
Both teams exchanged wins through the first half of the dual with Iowa State up, 12-6, at the midway point after Paniro Johnson won by injury default over No. 1 Jacori Teemer at 157.
The upper weights seemed to get a message at intermission.
"It was too quiet upstairs," Brands said. "Terry was up there breathing fire. We had a bad thing happen at the break. Hey, you've got to get rady to go."
Michael Caliendo topped Connor Euton, 12-7, at 165 to pull Iowa within 12-9.
Kennedy took the mat instead of No. 9 Nelson Brands. He dominated Riggins, who transferred to Iowa State in the offseason. Kennedy tallied six takedowns for a 19-4 victory. he scored the final takedown with one second left for the match termination, extra team point and 14-12 advantage.
Ferrari, who won a title at the Grand View Open on Saturday, emerged from the tunnel to a loud pop from the crowd instead of No. 5 Gabe Arnold.
Ferrari beat Bockman to make it 17-12, giving Iowa's Stephen Buchanan a chance to seal the dual win.
"I don't think I wrestled my best match," Ferrari said. "I think there are a lot of finishes I could have gotten. The way I think of it is on my worst night I still have to be the best in the country.
"That wasn't my best performance. I'd say it was pretty mediocre but if I make those adjustments and keep getting better. I can kill these guys."
Iowa has a logjam of talent at 174 and 184. Brands and Arnold have wrestled in the first three duals but the Hawkeyes were just as impressive with Kennedy and Ferrari.
Brands said he was just shaking things up.
"We decided those things and it's not like there is a certain time of the day and you have to make a decision," Brands said. "You're talking about it the whole time. You're talking about it when they sign their letter of intent. How you're able to use them."
Drake Ayala and Kyle Parco posted top-10 victories at 133 and 149, respectively. No. 7 Ayala scored a takedown in the first and stormed back from a one-point deficit with two third-period takedown in an 11-7 decision over No. 5 Evan Frost.
No. 4 Parco benefitted from two penalty points in a bizarre final period that included two consecutive reviews for illegal moves and a three-point swing for a 4-3 win against No. 6 Anthony Echemendia.
"He was in a tough scrap and persevered," Brands said about Ayala. "I like that he wasn't forcing things that he likes to force and it came more natural. It's progress. Love it. Love him. He's a leader and he was gutsy in that match.
"We had some gutsy performances tonight."
Buchanan dominated Christian Carroll, 10-0, at 197 to make it 21-12 with only heavyweight left.
Brands declined to speculate on the severity of Teemer's inujry, saying, "We're with Teemer."
Iowa State received decisions from Adrian Meza (125), Zach Redding at 141 and Johnson. Yonger Bastida made his season debut and first match since the NCAA Championships in March. He used two takedowns for a 7-2 decision over Ben Kueter to close the dual.
"I think there was a lot of good stuff there," Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said. "Obviously, we have to figure out how to win this. We've been knocking on the door for a long time and we haven't broke the door down, yet.
"I told the team I was really proud of the effort we had at a lot of weights."