Ohio State picked up another Big Ten win on Sunday when Indiana came to visit for the Buckeyes final home dual of the season. They won 32-6 and honored Gavin Hoffman, Sammy Sasso and Nick Boykin for the Senior Day celebration held before the start of the dual.
Ohio State won eight of the 10 individual bouts of the day, taking the first six with Luke Geog leading off at 197 pounds before Isaac Wilcox lost at 157 pounds in a close decision.
Here’s how it happened at each weight class:
197 pounds: No. 22 Geog went down early when Gabe Sollars had a takedown, but he had a quick escape and a takedown of his own. Two Sollars escapes and a Geog takedown in the second period made it 7-6 before Geog had a penalty point awarded and an escape for a 9-6 win.
Heavyweight: No. 7 Nick Feldman had been rising up the rankings lately after some big wins, and he continued to show out against Nick Willham in a 12-3 major decision with three takedowns, and points from stalling, an escape and riding time for the bonus point to give the Buckeyes an early 7-0 lead.
125 pounds: No. 23 Brendan McCrone started the match with a takedown and a four-point nearfall, adding a reversal to start the second period. Blaine Frazier escaped and scored his own takedown before McCrone escaped and had a third period takedown for the bonus point in a 14-4 win.
133 pounds: No. 11 Nic Bouzakis was dominating against Isaac Thornton into the second period, leading 11-2 after a reversal. He ended it in 4:03 with a pin for six team points and a 17-0 team lead.
141 pounds: No. 3 Jesse Mendez opened with a quick takedown on No. 23 Dan Fongaro. Mendez had another takedown and Fongaro had two escapes in the first period to make it 6-2. Mendez had three more takedowns in the bout, finishing it with a 19-6 win for another team bonus point and a 21-0 score.
149 pounds: No. 11 Dylan D’Emilio matched up against No. 14 Graham Rooks in a tight match. He had a takedown in the first period and a second period escape, leading 4-0 after five minutes. Rooks escaped in the third and was awarded a stalling point, making the final score 4-2 in favor of D’Emilio.
157 pounds: It was a scoreless first period for Wilcox and No. 19 Brayton Lee. Wilcox escaped in the second period, but Lee had a takedown and Wilcox escaped again. Lee escaped in the third period for the 4-2 win by decision to make the score 24-3.
165 pounds: No. 19 Bryce Hepner suffered a takedown early but escaped and had a takedown of his own to lead 4-3 after the first period. Hepner had a reversal which Robert Major escaped from in the second period and Hepner had a takedown to end the second period. After three periods Hepner finished with a 14-6 major decision win.
174 pounds: No. 11 Rocco Welsh’s takedown in the first period and another in the second period gave him a 6-2 lead before he had two more takedowns in the third period with an escape to win the match 14-5.
184 pounds: Gavin Bell had an early takedown over Roman Rogotzke, who scored with the first reversal of a back-and-forth than ended in a 5-4 first period score. The match was tied when Rogotzke escaped but Bell had a takedown and a two-point nearfall. Bell escaped in the third period and Rogotzke had a takedown and a two-point nearfall to tie it at 11 after seven minutes. In the sudden victory period, Rogotzke had another takedown and a four-point nearfall, winning the bout 18-11 for the final score of 32-6.
