Ohio (4-2, 1-1 in the Mid-American Conference) hosted Southern Indiana University Edgarsville (8-1, 1-0 in MAC) for Coach Harry Houska recognition night, where SIUE defeated the Bobcats 25-11.
Harry Houska was a three-time MAC champion wrestler and claimed runner-up in 1963 at 177 pounds. In 1964, he gained 14 pounds to wrestle at 191, where he took home the title for the Bobcats. He finished his career with a 76-3 record, with all three losses coming to NCAA National Champions.
He came back to Athens to become the third wrestling coach in team history after winning a gold medal in the 1967 Winnipeg Pan-American Games and placing fourth in the World Championships.
Over his 30-year tenure in Athens, he led Ohio to eleven MAC titles, seven consecutively from 1970 to 1976, along with three national top ten finishes in 1970, 1973 and 1997. He coached two national champions, 13 all-Americans, 69 individual MAC champions and was a five-time MAC Coach of the Year.
“He won 11 MAC championships and was a five-time MAC Coach of the Year,” Coach Joel Greenlee said. “It’s one of those things where you really have to honor your tradition and the people who were here before.”
Ohio fell behind quickly, going down 13-0 after an amazing performance from redshirt junior Paul Woo, where he fought till the final whistle in a close 1-0 decision.
The Bobcats responded back with their first win of the night from redshirt junior Derek Raike. SIUE’s Hayden Whidden took the lead early with an escape before Raike responded with an explosive takedown to end the period. He extended his lead in the second with a quick escape. He denied Whidden of a tying takedown with a flexible spinning dodge, cutting the Cougar deficit to 13-3.
Redshirt junior Jack Lledo lost in a true fall of 15-0 to Brock Woodcock. Redshirt senior Garrett Thompson picked up their second win of the night. Thompson made the first move, slashing down Lopez early.
He picked up another takedown and back point to give him a 7-0 lead going into the second period. Thompson escaped early before putting Lopez back on his back with 30 seconds to go in the period, giving him an 11-0 lead going into the final period. Lopez got on the board with a takedown late. Thompson grabbed the second win of the night for the Bobcats with a major decision of 13-3, cutting the Cougar lead down to 18-7.
Zayne Lehman wrestled Nick Nosler in the 197-pound weight class, where he won the Bobcats' third match of the night. Lehman grabbed the lead late in the first period with a big takedown to give him a 3-0 lead going into the second period.
He extended his lead with an early escape. Lehman capitalized with a sliding takedown, extending his lead to 7-0 headed into the final period. Lehman added his third takedown of the night with a sliding throwdown, granting the Bobcats their third win of the night by a 12-0 major decision, cutting the SIUE lead to 21-11.
The night ended with Wyatt Schmitt battling Bryson Buhk. Buhk grabbed an early lead with a speed takedown, giving him a 3-0 lead at the end of the first. Buhk picked up an escape as he finished the period with a 4-0 lead, headed into the final period.
Buhk added his second takedown of the match, sliding around Schmidt to secure the win for the Cougars by a decision of 7-0, giving SIUE the win by a score of 25-11.
“You’ve got to send 10 guys out there that are ready to wrestle,” Greenlee said. “I hope we are a little bent out of shape… I tell the guys I’m not big into winning and losing, but when you sit down after the match and say, ‘I wrestled as hard as I could,’ then what more can you do?"
