Sports
Ohio Wrestling rides big match wins to down Central Michigan late, 18-16
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — When Derek Raike had his hand raised, he let the pure emotions of the crowd full of applauding fans. He was able to get another win in the latest string of wins for him. Raike’s dominance, in recent weeks, has been the catalyst for Ohio (6-3, 4-1 MAC) as it has navigated the struggles at the lightweights. Against Central Michigan (4-9, 2-1 MAC), he was able to overpower Kellan Aure, 22-4, for the tech fall right as the buzzer in the third period sounded.
Raike has been especially good at controlling the first and last couple of minutes of his matches. He has been putting a special amount of emphasis on bookending his matches with positive results and ending on a strong note.
“Towards the end of every period, both guys are tired,” Raike said. “It all comes down to staying in the right positions, doing the right things to get those takedowns, and not just flailing around out there and being consistent.”
Moreover, Raike has drawn the appreciation of his coach. Ohio head coach Joel Greenlee has been adamant that starting strong is the key to more wins. Despite that not happening today, the results were not too bad to overcome. Ryan Meek opened the day of the 125-pound class with a tight 3-1 decision loss to Grant Stahl, putting Ohio down a mere 3-0. Kolten Barker followed that up by dropping a major decision to nationally-ranked Sean Spidle. After Kaden Jett was unable to land anything offensively, the score was 10-0, Central Michigan.
Then, it was Raike’s turn to give a jolt to the sleepy Ohio faithful with his rousing tech fall.
“(Raike) got us started,” Greenlee said. “We were four matches in before we got our first win. We talk all the time about how bonus points are critical. We can’t give up bonus points and we have to get them. He went and got them. Obviously, that’s five points instead of three, so he really got us going today.”
Once again without the services of All-American Peyten Kellar, the Bobcats turned to Logan Cravatas. Going against Johnny Lovett proved to be a tough task for Cravatas. Lovett is 0-3 against Kellar but came into the match 1-0 against Cravatas. That mark went to 2-0 as Lovett managed an 8-2 decision where the final score was only as gaudy because of a late takedown by Lovett.
Regardless, heading into the 165-pound class, Jack Lledo was looking for his third-consecutive victory at The Convo. While the results might not be pretty on paper, Lledo has been able to simply defeat the opponents in front of him over the past trio of duals. That continued against Chandler Amaker. With the score tied at one apiece late in the third, Lledo got Amaker into an awkward position along the boundary and wrapped him up with control for the takedown. Lledo did technically let Amaker escape with one second left, but that was only due to a bit of a premature celebration.
Garrett Thompson headlined the match of the day between a pair of wrestlers ranked in the top ten. The order and exact ranking vary depending on the outlet, but the consensus is that Thompson and Alex Cramer are two of the best in the conference in the 174-pound class. Cramer has beaten Thompson three times this season heading into this match. This time, however, that would not be the case. Thompson came out of the opening whistle fast and got a quick takedown and near-fall points to give him a commanding 7-0 lead before Cramer could even get settled. From there, Thompson, like clockwork, put on a clinic and defeated Cramer, 13-1 for a major decision victory.
“I think the last two times they wrestled, it was too much of a wait-and-see, feel-the-guy-out match,” Greenlee said. “Maybe, that is to Kramer’s advantage when that happens. I just told (Thompson) to go out and score quickly. He did that and he scored a lot of points. I don’t care who you are, it’s hard to come back from that.”
That win by Thompson made the score 13-12, Central Michigan, as Ohio was on the comeback trail. Jeremy Olszko would follow by facing Adrien Cramer, Alex’s younger brother. Unfortunately, there was no luck in the Cramer name against Ohio as Olszko defeated him 5-1. Interestingly enough, Olszko got a rare win without securing a single takedown. Four of the points scored by Olszko were awarded due to stalling by his opponent, combined with one escape.
The Bobcats had their first lead of the dual when Austin Starr made his way to the mat. Starr did not wrestle last weekend against Northern Illinois and showed some rust offensively. He was defeated via decision, 4-2. The low-scoring matches do not favor Starr as he is predicated on getting his offense going as his best defense.
Ohio was down by a point with one match to go. Luckily, Jordan Greer was the final man to wrestle. Greer has been a model of consistency this season, going a perfect 9-0 in duals. He made it a perfect 10 with his victory over Bryan Caves to hand Ohio the victory.
The entire dual for Ohio was telling of its strengths and weaknesses as a team. However, the thing that is the best news for the team is getting one back from Central Michigan. In Cedar Falls, Iowa, Ohio got blasted by Central Michigan. Although the loss did not count, the taste of defeat lingered and the desire to avenge that was strong.
“I think we’re a little bit healthier than we were a month ago in Cedar Falls,” Greenlee said. “I think our guys have put in a lot of hard work and we talk a lot about believing that we’re going to be great and believing that we’re going to be great and that we’re going to be contending for a MAC title and I think we’re starting to believe it a little bit.”