Rolling off of their 25-14 win Thursday against Eastern Michigan, the Ohio wrestling team found itself on the losing end of its battle with rival Northern Illinois.
In Saturday's match against the No. 24-ranked Huskies, only three Bobcat wrestlers managed to win their matches. Ohio coach Joel Greenlee did not think that Northern Illinois was extraordinarily better than the Bobcats, but rather that the close matches ended in their favor.
There were seven matches against NIU that were close that we could win
Greenlee said. We won three they won four it comes down to hustling and believing in yourself.
157-pound wrestler Jake Percival won his match, a 9-3 decision against Joe Henning, increasing his career record to 127-9. 174-pound wrestler Ed Willis and 184-pound wrestler Brian Cesear also won their matches with 8-3 and 5-4 decisions respectively.
The Bobcats also suffered another injury as 141-pound wrestler Jon Spires tweaked his knee and was forced to forfeit the match in the third period.
Ohio was already competing without the services of Joel Weimer at the 197-pound weight class and was forced to start 174-pounder Ryan Knapp once again in that slot. Knapp gave up an 8-0 major decision to Derek Hunsinger, and at heavyweight Marcus Adelman allowed a reversal with only four seconds to go, falling 7-5 to Joe Sapp.
As they traveled to Eastern Illinois for Sunday's competition, the Ohio wrestling team tried to focus more on having the confidence to win.
These close matches
and all matches
come down to confidence and believing in yourself
Greenlee said. We had a little talk last night about how we have to go out there every time and fight hard. We're looking for effort right now -effort is what everything stems from.
In their second day of competition this weekend, the Bobcats won decisive victories against Eastern Illinois, 30-6, and McKendree, 39-10.
The Bobcats return to Athens this week with their sights set on Mid-American Conference rival Buffalo, who will invade The Convo at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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Katie Carrera
