Ohio not only had one last dual meet before postseason play began, it was also the last meet at The Convo for the Bobcats' two seniors, KeVon Powell and Joel Shump.
To say it went off the rails would be putting it lightly, as Ohio fell to American 38-3 to finish the season under .500.
After senior day celebrations, Powell (141 pounds) took the mat to start off Senior Day. Despite Powell holding a 2-0 lead throughout most of the match, American’s Jack Mutchnik earned two points off of two escapes and the match went into a sudden victory overtime.
About halfway through the one minute overtime, Mutchnik took down the Bobcats’ senior to win the match 4-2. It was all downhill from there.
Arsen Ashughyan (174) got the Bobcats lone win against Joe Salvi. Down 2-0 early in the match, with two escapes, a takedown and a near fall Ashughyan brought momentum to the Ohio bench with a win as it went into halftime.
Along with the two overtime matches, a majority of the Bobcats’ matches were close at some point, but then American would pull away.
Perhaps the most highly anticipated match of the dual turned out to be the most gut-wrenching for Ohio. No. 16 Shakur Laney (125) squared off against No. 10 Josh Terao in the second-to-last match of the day. Laney and Terao faced off earlier this season at the Midlands Tournament held in Illinois. Terao won the first match, 2-0 and did just the same in defeating Laney by major decision.
Trying to salvage something, No. 13 Cameron Kelly (133) looked to get a second win for Ohio to end the day and held a one point lead at the start of the third period. American’s Esteban Gomez-Rivera came back to stun nationally ranked Kelly and The Convo with a late near fall pin.
Ohio (7-8, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) finished below .500 for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when it went 4-6.
The season isn’t over for some, however. The annual MAC tournament, hosted in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this year, will host a handful of Bobcats.
“(Looking at this match) it’s a lot of going back to the drawing board and figuring where the hell we’re at," Greenlee said. "For some reason, we’re struggling.”
