After holding a five-point lead with two matches to go, the Ohio wrestling team dropped a close meet on the road to Tennessee Chattanooga, 18-17.
The Bobcats (1-3, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) led the entire evening, other than one match during the middle of the dual meet, but were not able to capture what would have been their second victory in three days.
“I’m pretty disappointed,” coach Joel Greenlee said. “I thought coming into the meet we would win, but we dropped a close battle and if we want to be successful we are going to have to win these.”
Ohio dropped six of the ten matches in the dual meet against Chattanooga, but still managed to have an 11-3 lead through the first four matches. The Mocs, however, were able to come back and take five of the final six matches to hand Ohio its third consecutive road loss.
Leading the way once again for Ohio was the No. 5 nationally ranked heavyweight Jeremy Johnson, who won his match 3-2 in the evening’s opener.
Also wrestling a dominant match for Ohio was No. 13 Nick Purdue in the 174-pound bout, which ended in a pin only 2:17 into the first period. Other winners for the Bobcats were Gabe Ramos (125-pound) and Darrin Boing (141-pound).
The Bobcats will not have much time to prepare for their next meet, as they will leave Athens on Friday morning to fly to Reno, Nev. Ohio will next compete in the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday morning.
“It’s going to be a very short turnaround after we get back to campus early Tuesday morning,” Greenlee said. “But Nevada is a very big meet and it’s something we need to do well in.”
Quick Stats:
• Junior Jeremy Johnson’s undefeated match streak is now at nine
• Ohio will only have three days of practice before traveling to Nevada
• Ohio has dropped all three of its road dual-matches this season
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