Set to begin their final homestand of the season, the Bobcats will look to carry their momentum from last weekend’s win against Buffalo into The Convo against Clarion Saturday night.
“This week was a good week of practice,” Ohio coach Joel Greenlee said. “The guys are finally figuring out the right work ethic and how to compete at the next level, compared to high school.”
Ohio (3-5, 2-3 Mid-American Conference) returned to the win column last weekend, prevailing in four of the first five matches en route to a 22-18 victory against Buffalo.
Despite a poor dual-meet record, Clarion (1-6) is ranked 24th in the nation, tied with a Kent State squad that blew out Ohio two weekends ago. The Golden Eagles have not competed since Jan. 22 at West Virginia, when they lost 23-20.
Before heading to Athens Saturday, Clarion will stop at Bloomsburg Friday for a dual meet against the Huskies. Bloomsburg defeated the Bobcats two weekends ago, 25-6.
Clarion has two wrestlers ranked in the top five of their individual weight classes. At 157 pounds, James Fleming has won 10 of his last 11 matches and is 17-2 on the season, while Bekzod Abdurakhmanov has 21 wins this season in the 165-pound class for the Golden Eagles.
Greenlee said he recognizes that the two highly-ranked Clarion wrestlers will be a challenge for Ohio, but he has prepared his team during practice all week.
“Teams from Pennsylvania are normally very good from the top position, so we’ve worked hard all week on getting out from the bottom,” Greenlee said.
Ohio expects strong performances from Jeremy Johnson and Gabe Ramos in the heavyweight and 125-pound weight classes, respectively. Both Ramos and Johnson were victorious in their bouts at Buffalo last Sunday.
“Our main goal is to just keep feeding off each other and getting better as a team,” Johnson said. “Around this time of the season, I just like to polish everything in my game up to be close to perfect for the MAC Tournament and Nationals.”
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