Ohio (6-9, 1-4 in the Mid-American Conference) traveled to Kent, Ohio, to face the Kent State Golden Flashes (7-7, 2-5 MAC) in the rivalry known as the “Grudge Match.”
Ohio came into this match looking to break its three-match losing streak after falling last week to Central Michigan 23-10 in Mount Pleasant. The Bobcats came into this match riding a four-dual win streak over the Golden Flashes, defeating them 29-11 in The Convo last season.
The duel began with Kent State taking a 9-0 lead with Nick Callelo beating 125 freshman Brayden Tenuissen in a 6-4 decision. Followed by Nick Molchak pinning junior Ryan Meek at the 2:44 mark.
Sophomore Kolten Barker cut the Golden Flashes' lead to 9-3 with a 3-2 decision over Mason Tieffel. With both wrestlers locked at zero in the final period, Barker came out firing on all cylinders, sliding into a cradled three-point near fall to give him the win.
Kent State would answer back with a tight 4-1 decision over redshirt senior Paul Woo, extending their deficit to 12-3. Ohio wouldn’t go away without a fight, winning four of their next five matches, starting with redshirt junior Derek Raike grabbing momentum for the Bobcats.
Raike opened the match with two takedowns in the first period for an explosive 7-1 lead. Finishing the match with one escape in the second and a point for riding time to win by a major decision of 9-2. He’d cut the Flashes' lead to 12-6 headed with five matches to go.
After redshirt junior Jack Lledo was shut out in a 9-0 major decision by Chris Earnest, pushing the Kent lead to 16-6. Ohio turned up the heat, starting with back-to-back technical falls from redshirt seniors Garrett Thompson (16-0) and Zayne Lehman (23-8).
Thompson jumped out to a huge lead in the first period with a takedown and two near falls (4 points). He’d quickly end the match in the second period with a swift reversal and his third near fall. He’d add an additional bonus point with 2:42 of riding time to cut the Flashes' lead to 16-11.
Perrine followed by picking up his 14th win of the season and his fourth win in conference duels, dominating Ronald Dimmerling with seven takedowns and 2:05 of riding time, tying the match at 16-16.
Redshirt senior Zayne Lehman picked up the Bobcats’ final win of the night. He’d give Ohio its first lead of the night at 19-16. After both wrestlers were locked at 1-1 in the final period, Lehman pulled off the match-winning takedown with a minute to go in the match. With this win, he stays undefeated in duel meets at a perfect 12-0 and 4-0 in the MAC.
With a three-point lead, all eyes were on sophomore Evan Wingrove as he took on Brentan Simmerman in the 285 bout. Wingrove couldn’t hold on as Simmerman took home the win by a 10-3 decision, giving the tiebreaker win to the Golden Flashes on a second criteria credited by Molchak’s pin on Meek.
The Bobcats will finish their four dual road trip against Clarion next Sunday at 2 p.m.
