The No. 6-ranked Buckeyes dominated again on Sunday, winning two duals against Columbia and Hofstra, and winning every individual match in both. They won the first 49-0 at 11 a.m., then made the drive to beat Hofstra 51-0 at 4 p.m. They haven’t lost an individual match since Nov. 10 when they upset Virginia Tech 24-12.
Brendan McCrone, the No. 32-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds, started the Buckeyes off with a 13-8 win by decision at Columbia, followed by two straight technical fall wins by No. 16 Nic Bouzakis, winning 20-3 at 133 pounds and Brandon Cannon 20-4 at 141 pounds to give the Buckeyes an early 13-0 lead over Columbia.
No. 5 Dylan D’Emilio won at 149 pounds in just 2:22 by fall, and at 184 pounds No. 10 Gavin Hoffman was on the mat for the first time, but didn’t miss a beat, picking up the Buckeyes second win by all in just 1:26 at 184 pounds.
Ohio State had four more tech falls with No. 17 Paddy Gallagher picking up a 20-4 win, at 157 pounds, No. 6 Carson Kharchla winning 19-4 at 174 pounds, the No. 14 wrestler at 184 pounds, Luke Geog picking up a 17-2 victory, and in heavyweight, No. 17 Nick Feldman winning 19-4.
Isaac Wilcox picked up a victory by major decision 15-4, earning the Buckeyes four of the 49 points they would end up with in the dual win over Columbia.
No. 18 Bryce Hepner opened the dual against Hofstra at 165 pounds, getting his first action on the mat of the season after returning from an injury. He defeated Matt Rogers by tech fall 18-3, giving the Buckeyes five point early.
That was one of seven technical falls Ohio State managed out of 10 weights at Hofstra. Joining Hepner were Hoffman (19-4), Geog (18-1), Feldman(20-4), Cannon (17-2), D’Emilio (19-2) and Gallagher (22-5), combining for 35 points in the win. The rule change to a three-point takedown is proving to work in the Buckeyes favor to this point.
Kharchla was one away from a tech fall of his own, still scoring a bonus point at 174 pounds with a 17-3 win.
McCrone and Bouzakis both picked up victories by pin in 4:21 and 1:03, respectively.
Ohio State is now 4-0 in duals on the season and will be off until Dec. 1 when it heads to Las Vegas for the Cliff Keen Invitational, a two-day tournament. The Buckeyes next dual will be Dec. 10 against Pittsburgh at the Covelli Center in Columbus.
