Sports
Ohio Wrestling Beats Buffalo in Dual Meet
< < Back toComing off two tough losses on the road, the Bobcats returned home to familiar territory Saturday night as they took on the Buffalo in the Convo. With big wins from Jeremy Johnson, Spartak Chino and Cody Walters, Ohio returned to its winning ways with a 26-13 victory over the Bulls.
Redshirt freshman Joe Munos got the dual meet started in the right direction for the Green and White as he took the 133-pound match by a 6-1 decision. With the win the Bobcats took an early 3-0 lead.
“He came out and did what he had to do,” Ohio head coach Joel Greenlee said. “He’s been great all year long, I’m just not sure he thought it, but I think he is starting to come into his own…I’m excited for Joe.”
With wins from 141-pounder Eric Galloway and 149-pounder Blake Ruolo, the Bulls took the next two matches, and the ‘Cats fell behind 7-3.
Spartak Chino brought the score back in favor of Ohio, 9-7, with a big pin over Wally Maziarz in the 157-pound match. The win ignited the crowd, and seemed to spark the other Bobcat wrestlers.
A tough-fought match between 165-pounders followed Chino’s victory. In a 4-0 decision, No. 17 ranked Mark Lewandowski beat out sophomore Harrison Hightower to put Buffalo up 10-9.
The Bulls sent out another ranked wrestler in No. 16 John-Martin Cannon to take on No. 17 Walters. The 174-pound match started off on a questionable takedown call in favor of Cannon. Ohio fans and coaches showed their frustration, but upon a video review, the call stood. Walters, however, did not let the adversity get to him and he pulled out a big 8-4 decision that gave Ohio the lead for good at 12-10.
After the meet, Walters spoke on his victory and said that he managed to keep the match in a wrestling style of his liking.
“I’m easy to get on, sometimes, but I’m harder to finish on. I know that if I keep my match going I’m hard to beat,” he said.
The win Saturday raised Walters’ record to a spectacular 26-2.
The Bobcats kept rolling and stretched their lead to 20-10 over the Bulls with major decisions from Ryan Garringer and Phil Wellington.
Heavyweight Jeremy Johnson picked up his 25th win and put a victory out of reach from the hands of Buffalo as he got another pin for the Bobcats.
Coach Greenlee broke the win down after the meet.
“Looking at (the meet) on paper, you go, ‘It’s going to be a lot closer than (the final score).’ A fall by Chino is huge, a fall by Johnson is huge, Cody Walters finding a way to win is huge, Garringer and Phil getting majors,” Greenlee said. “Bonus point is what we talked about in the locker room before hand, that they were going to be important to win this dual, and really they were.”
With the win, the Bobcats bring their record to an even 5-5, and improve their record in conference play to 3-2. The weekend fun does not stop here for Ohio. It takes on the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Athens.