With Eastern wrestling honoring former coach Ron Clinton, a victory would have been a great gift for him to watch.

No. 15 Indiana had other plans for the Panthers in Sunday’s home opener, winning all but one match in Eastern’s 41-4 loss. This loss drops the Panthers dual meet record to 0-5.

“We have some talent,” Hoosier head coach Duane Goldman said. “We’re pretty good at each weight. We do have a lot of young guys so we’re a little bit untested in some areas.”

The only wrestler to secure a victory for the Panthers was senior Kenny Robertson, who earned a major decision against Trevor Perry 12-0.

“It was a little bit of everything (that won the match),” Robertson said. “I just wrestled tough and won. I pretty much controlled the match.”

Freshman A.J. Ciccarelli started off the afternoon wrestling No. 12-ranked Angel Escobedo. Ciccarelli held him close in the first period, being down only 2-0.

“Indiana, they have a good squad top to bottom,” Eastern head coach Ralph McCausland said. “We had some matches we were wrestling well then we made some errors. Ciccarelli made an error; Tommy Reamer made an error which cost him the match.”

That error cost Ciccarelli the match, as Escobedo capitalized and pinned him 4:40 into the match.

Senior Casey Carrino looked to be able to give the Panthers a win early in the 141-pound weight class, being up 2-0 at the beginning of the third period. But Indiana’s Nick Walpole was able to escape bottom position and then takedown Carrino with only a few seconds remaining to win 3-2.

“Casey had some opportunities; he just didn’t capitalize on it, unfortunately,” McCausland said. “That’s the name of the game, whoever scores the most points wins.”

Indiana’s No. 5 ranked wrestler, 157-pound junior Brandon Becker, did not compete against Kyle O’Toole because of an injured shoulder, Goldman said.

Instead, Ryan Pribble, who had a hurt wrist, wrestled O’Toole. O’Toole was not able to hang onto an early 2-0 lead, and lost a 7-5 decision.

Greg Perz also wrestled a nationally ranked wrestler, facing the twelfth-ranked 184-pound wrestler Marc Bennett. Bennett was able to easily handle Perz, winning a major decision against him 11-2.

“(Perz) just wasn’t in the right position,” McCausland said. “He had the right idea; just the leverage was way too high. When you’re working out of your power zone and you’re reaching for things you extend yourself. When you’re in extension you don’t have power.”

The Hoosiers currently have five nationally ranked wrestlers on their team, which McCausland said was a benefit for his wrestlers to face.

He also said he thought they would have competed a bit better if not for making small mistakes during the match.

“We’re just hanging on to things too long,” McCausland said. “Cicarelli, not thinking he’s in trouble, gets in trouble and can’t get out of trouble. And that comes with experience. Look at Kenny. I can remember him doing the same thing when he was a freshman, but as you gain experience you eliminate that. As you eliminate that you gain more points, or you get in a position where they don’t score as many points.”