The crowd in Cliff Keen Arena sat in angst, waiting for something to cheer for. And for the second time in two weeks, it was freshman Eric Grajales who ignited them.

In the end, Northwestern was no longer undefeated.

Michigan’s wrestlers had already dropped their first two matches, and despite a win from junior Kellen Russell — albeit in boring fashion — the Wildcats seemed to have control of both the crowd and the match.

Northwestern’s 11th-ranked Andrew Nadhir stepped to the mats to face Grajales with the chance to give the Wildcats a commanding lead. But by the time the clock struck zero, the young Wolverine had captured the upset — and the momentum — propelling No. 11 Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 7-2 overall) to an eventual victory Friday night, 22-12.

“We knew we were going to have some struggles,” Michigan coach Joe McFarland said after the match. “But I’m pleased with our effort, because I knew, coming into this match, those guys were undefeated, they’re 14-0, they were feeling good about their wrestling and they had a lot of confidence. So I knew it was going to take a great effort to get a big victory here tonight.”

McFarland also took note of the difference between this year’s match with the 19th-ranked Wildcats (2-1, 14-1), and last year’s match in Evanston, when Michigan let an early deficit take them mentally out of it.

“No question about it, these guys are a little scrappier,” McFarland said. “It’s a whole different team, whole different chemistry from last year. And I think we’re getting better week-to-week and the guys are working hard, excited. We’ve got some challenges ahead of us, so we’ve got to keep building off this.”

Russell — ranked No. 1 in the 141-pound weight class — got the Wolverines on the board after they’d fallen behind early, 7-0. With the win, he improved to 23-0 on the year to extend his win streak to 24.

Next came Grajales. The youngster fell behind early in the match to his highly ranked foe, but went on the offensive to spark a furious rally — angering Northwestern coach Drew Pariano to the point of kicking over his chair.

“That kid can just wrestle,” McFarland said. “He’s coming along. His mat sense is a lot better and he’s feeling a lot better when he’s out there. Everything’s coming together for him and we’re starting to see what kind of wrestler this kid really is.”

And Grajales — now with back-to-back impressive weekends — can feel the momentum on his side.

“My confidence is huge,” Grajales said. “I think in the beginning I was hoping I’d just scramble my way out of any position, so I was letting people in my legs too much.

“Now, when I put people on their heels and when I’m going after people, attacking, it’s putting people in positions I want to be in, rather than what they want to be in. I’ve just got to keep things going, keep the ball rolling.”

The Wildcats took the next match to extend their lead to 12-6, but that would be their last victory.

Sophomore Dan Yates controlled the final half of his match to earn a victory, and then junior Justin Zeerip returned in style from a knee injury, which had held him out the previous two weeks.

Zeerip’s 10-1 win was the Wolverines’ biggest of the night and also gave them one bonus point, pushing Michigan into a lead it hung onto for the remainder of the match.

“It was killing me the last two weeks not being able to wrestle,” Zeerip said. “It makes you feel left out not being able to practice. It definitely felt great getting out there and wrestling tonight. And I was happy with the way my knee felt out there today, too.”

Senior captain Anthony Biondo and sophomores Hunter Collins and Ben Apland closed the dual out for the Wolverines. The five-match win streak to close the meet sent the Cliff Keen Arena crowd home happy.

But next week the atmosphere won’t be as supportive, as Michigan heads south for two conference matchups. The Wolverines first head to Columbus for an eagerly awaited dual with rival Ohio State on Friday, before heading to Bloomington for a Sunday dual with Indiana.