For the Michigan wrestling squad, this weekend was full of streaks, surprises and even the chance to play spoiler.

On Friday, the 11th-ranked Wolverines rattled off 28 consecutive points in their home win over No. 21 Purdue. Then, on Sunday, Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 6-2 overall) snapped a three-game losing streak to Central Michigan, beating the 20th-ranked Chippewas in its first match at a new home arena.

And two freshmen — Brandon Zeerip and Eric Grajales — stole the show in their Big Ten debuts.

“Those two guys are going to be a big part of our season, not only this year, but obviously in the future,” Michigan coach Joe McFarland said Monday. “Eric went out there and scored a lot of points. His conditioning is coming around. Brandon keeps getting better week to week. He broke that kid Sunday, wore him out.”

The Wolverines kicked off conference play with a commanding 28-13 win over the Boilermakers.

After Purdue (0-2, 3-4-1) won its first two matches to take a 9-0 lead, Michigan won the next seven to put it ahead for good. It wasn’t until the meet’s last match that sophomore Mark Boyer lost, ending the 28-point run.

Tenth-ranked sophomore Ben Apland got things rolling for the Wolverines with a 21-4 win, which ended with a pin. Sophomore Sean Boyle and junior Zac Stevens used fast starts to keep the momentum on Michigan’s side. And Junior Kellen Russell — the top-ranked wrestler in the 141-pound class — won easily, 20-4.

Then came the freshmen, who didn’t disappoint.

First up was Grajales, who saw a familiar opponent in the Boilermaker’s Sam Patacsil. Grajales already knocked off Patacsil a month ago in Las Vegas, and this match was no different. The Wolverines won handily, 6-1.

“It definitely gave me a lot of confidence, because I knew I’d be able to beat him,” Grajales said. “I just went out there, wrestled solid and scored when I needed to.”

Zeerip was faced with the task of beating a ranked opponent in his first career dual-meet match.

But the freshman seemed to feed off the pressure, shining on the big stage. After controlling much of the match, he was able to pin his opponent — 19th-ranked Colton Salazar — to capture the victory.

“I was pretty pumped,” Zeerip said. “I could kind of sense that he was starting to get tired, so I kept on him the whole time. My mom was really excited. It was my first team match, and I was happy because it was at home. My family came to watch, as well as other people from (Hesperia, Michigan), where I’m from.”

Michigan carried its momentum up to Mount Pleasant, where Central Michigan (3-7) opened the doors to its brand new wrestling facility — McGuirk Arena. But the Chippewa fans left disappointed by the Wolverines, who used a quick start to walk away with a 21-12 win.

“We came up here and had to wrestle in a pretty hostile environment,” McFarland said. “The fans up here are passionate about their wrestling, and we had a nice crowd out there. Our guys wrestled hard and wrestled well, but we lost a couple close matches that I’m still chewing on.”

But thanks to more dominating performances by the middleweights — Russell, Zeerip and Grajales — Michigan built what would become an insurmountable lead.

With the score tied 3-3, Russell notched a win — his 22nd of the year and 24th in a row— to put the Wolverines ahead, 6-3.

“He had a great weekend,” McFarland said. “He’s focused when he steps on the mat. Kellen’s just able to wrestle a solid, smart match. He’s just a guy I can always count on for great success.”

With the lead, Michigan would never look back — thanks in large part to the freshmen stealing the show.

Grajales followed Russell with a convincing win. He punished the Chippewa’s Donnie Corby with several big moves en route to a 20-4 win.

“I’ve always liked bigger moves,” Grajales said. “The crowd Sunday really helped me out. They were dressed up, yelling things at our team. I fed off of all of the negativity towards our team. I loved hearing people saying stuff like that and people dressed up like idiots because I fed off their energy and went at it.”

Zeerip stepped to the mat with a tough act to follow, but didn’t let his teammate overshadow his strong performance.

The freshman controlled the match start to finish, using nine takedowns, to earn an impressive 19-7 victory.

“After I got that win on Friday, my confidence definitely carried over,” Zeerip said.