In a showcase dual meet with Dennis Hastert in the building, the NIU wrestling team trailed from the start and could not recover as the Huskies fell 28-10 to No. 12 Northwestern Thursday night.

With Speaker of the House Hastert and NIU President John Peters in attendance, the normally potent NIU lightweights could not get on track and two Northwestern pins put the match out of reach.

“A lot of matches could have gone either way,” said NIU coach Dave Grant. “I was pleased by our team’s effort. I think giving up two pins really racked the points up for them. [The breaks] seemed to go their way more than ours.”

NIU sophomore Pat Castillo found himself railing 5-2 in the final period in the opening match against No. 6-ranked John Velez at 125 pounds. But a furious rally by Castillo at the end was capped with a reversal as the buzzer sounded to tie the match at 7. But a takedown by Velez in the overtime period staked Northwestern to a 3-0 lead.

Junior Andy Hiatt tied the match with a 5-3 win at 133 pounds, but Northwestern struck back with a second period pin of senior 141-pounder Josh Wooton.

At 149 pounds, NIU junior Mike Grimes lived up to his No. 6 ranking with a dominating 11-2 major decision over Northwestern freshman Brandon Lozdoski. Grimes kept Lozdoski’s face in the mat for most of the match and scored seven points in the third period to get the major.

“I’m kind of disappointed because I wanted to get the bonus points with a pin,” Grimes said. “We didn’t capitalize. We didn’t take it to them in the third period as much as we could have. They were just as tired as us.”

The third period was not kind to Aaron Owen at 157 pounds. The NIU sophomore watched a 6-3 lead in the second period evaporate as sophomore opponent Greg Hagel scored two takedowns and two escapes to take the match 9-6.

Over the next four matches, Northwestern ran away with a28-7 team victory with a pin and a major decision. The hardest fought match of the night was at 197 pounds as NIU sophomore Derek Hunsinger took on No. 7 ranked senior Matt Delguyd. Neither man could counteract the other’s defense as the match went into quadruple overtime. But fatigue and a strained groin finally proved too much for Hunsinger as Delguyd scored a takedown to win 5-3.