Ohio's 21-12 victory over Eastern Michigan may prove costly for Justin Powell.
The redshirt freshman suffered a concussion in his match with David Wade. Powell lost, 5-2, but the consequences of the concussion could prove to be much worse.
Powell already had five concussions going into Friday's match with the Eagles. The first concussion came when he was a sophomore at Boardman High School in Youngstown, and the next came the summer before his freshman year in college.
Concussions three, four and five occurred while wrestling at Ohio, limiting his time on the mat and allowing him to compete in only 15 matches during his career at Ohio.
After his match with Wade, Powell appeared woozy and left the dual to be taken to the hospital. He took an ImPact, or Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing, system test to measure the severity of
the concussion.
Powell said he didn't do very well on the test, but he plans on taking it again in the future to determine if he can ever wrestle again.
An area of concern for coach Joel Greenlee following the match was the way Powell suffered his sixth concussion.
He got head-butted
Greenlee said. It's unfortunate. I really think that was a head butt without a doubt that was a head butt but let's just hope for the best and hope it doesn't end his career.
Powell had earned the starting spot after defeating Andy Hartshorn in a wrestle-off in practice earlier in the season. Hartshorn started on Sunday against Central Michigan and was defeated by Jarod Trice, 13-7.
Wrestling without the full lineup
The Bobcats have been forced to wrestle this season without their full lineup in nearly every match. Considering Tim Silvers didn't begin the season as the starter at 125 pounds, they haven't had the true varsity squad together even once.
Jacob Ison (174 pounds), Germane Lindsey (141 pounds), Tommy Weinkam (165 pounds) and Erik Schuth (184 pounds) have all missed lengthy spans of time.
Against Central Michigan on Sunday, Weinkam sat out because of back pain, while Ison rested because of quad injury and Schuth was ill. The Bobcats forfeited Schuth's match.
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Sports
Joe Ragazzo
