Ohio State suffered its second dual loss of the season and its first in the Big Ten to the powerhouse No. 1 Penn State by a score of 28-9.
Nic Bouzakis had an upset win over No. 5 Aaron Nagao at a33 pounds and Ryder Rogototzke pinned No. 5 Bernie Truax at 174 pounds for all of the team points the Buckeyes were able to get on Friday.
Despite only winning two individual bouts, the dual was a lot closer than the story the final score tells.
Here’s how it went at each weight class:
125 pounds: Vinny Kilkeary got the chance to pull off an upset to start the night against No. 3 Braeden Davis. With seconds left in the third period and down by one, it looked as if Kilkeary had a takedown to win the match, but no points were awarded. After a review it was ruled to not be a takedown and Kilkeary lost 4-3.
133 pounds: No. 12 Bouzakis started early with three takedowns in the first period Bouzakis has a reversal in the second and escaped in the third period to hold on to beat Nagao 12-10 and tie the dual early on.
141 pounds: In a bout that will have a big impact on seeding at the Big Ten Tournament and NCAAs, No. 3 Jesse Mendez matched up against No. 2 Beau Bartlett. It was a scoreless match in the first period, and Mendez escaped to start the second. At the end of the period, Mendez was close to a takedown but time ran out before he could finish it. Bartlett tied the match up with an escape in the third, sending the match to a sudden victory period where Bartlett had a takedown and won it 4-1.
149 pounds: No. 9 Dylan D’Emilio went into the second period against No. 12 Tyler Kasak scoreless, and Kasak earned a two-point nearfall early. After D’Emilio escaped, the match was 2-1 going into the third period. Kasak escaped to start it off and had a takedown and a point for riding time to beat D’Emilio 7-2.
157 pounds: Isaac Wilcox matched up against the top wrestler in the country at 157 pounds, Levi Haines. He was able to hang with Haines into the third period, entering down just 3-2 but an escape. Two takedowns and a point for riding time got Haines a bonus point in an 11-3 win to make it 13-3 for Penn State.
165 pounds: No. 20 Bryce Hepner suffered an early takedown from No. 7 Mitchell Mesenbrink before he escaped and was awarded another point for locked hands, but Mesenbrink had another takedown in the first period to take a 6-2 lead. Mesenbrink started the second with a reversal, and there was one more reversal by both wrestlers to give Hepner a 10-4 loss.
174 pounds: No. 11 Rocco Welsh proved yet again that even as a true freshman he can hang with the best, though he wasn’t able to come out on top again. No. 1 Carter Starocci had an early takedown and Welsh escaped. In the second period Welsh had another escape and Starocci escaped to start the third period for the 4-2 final score which made it 19-3.
184 pounds: Rogotzke kept the Buckeyes longshot hopes alive his fall, sticking Truax 3:59 into the bout. Truax had a takedown one minute in and Rogotzke escaped, but Truax had another takedown which Rogotzke escaped from in the first before starting the second period with another escape. Another Truax takedown and Rogotzke escape made it 9-4 before Rogotzke struck with his pin, making the score 19-9.
197 pounds: No. 22 Luke Geog faced No. 1 Aaron Brooks and went down 12-4 after two periods. Brooks had a dominant third period to finish the bout 22-6 for two bonus points for the Nittany Lions, officially ending the Buckeyes chances at winning the dual.
Heavyweight: No. 12 Nick Feldman still went out to wrestle against No. 1 Greg Kerkviet, but he wasn’t able to score, losing 12-0 for the final team score of 28-9.
