Wrestling: Buckeyes Strong Late In Win at Northwestern

By Curt Heinrichs on December 18, 2015 at 11:41 pm
Bo Jordan records a pin at 165 against Northwestern.
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It wasn’t how they drew it up, but the Buckeye wrestling team got back to its winning ways on Friday night with a 27-16 win over the host Northwestern Wildcats. The Buckeyes put a tough loss last weekend to Missouri behind them, but the match with Northwestern was far closer than it could have been.

Mike Manuche took the mat at 125 with some huge shoes to fill. NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello skipped the match with Northwestern in order to try and qualify for the US Olympic Trials next April by winning the US Senior Nationals in Las Vegas.

Manuche struggled in his first start of the season and found himself down 10-2 after the first period against Garrison White. White earned a second period technical fall by the score of 17-2 and the Wildcats took an early 5-0 lead.

Johnni DiJulius bounced back from a loss last weekend by dominating Dominick Malone by major decision. JDJ started with four points right out of the gate and didn’t yield any points to Malone, who has twice qualified for the NCAA tournament. DiJulius scored an 8-0 major decision and pulled the Buckeyes to within a point of the Wildcats after two matches.

Mike Hozan filled in for Micah Jordan for the second time in the last month (previously against Cleveland State) and fell to Jameson Oster by tech fall. Oster, like Malone, has NCAA tournament experience and overwhelmed a relatively green Hozan with 12 points in the opening stanza. With the second Northwestern tech fall in three matches, the Wildcats led 10-4 after three matches.

NCAA champion and two-time All-American Jason Tsirtsis returned for Northwestern and took out Ohio State’s Cody Burcher 5-3. Burcher used a trio of escapes to keep the score close, but Tsirtsis still looks to be getting himself back into wrestling shape. Even at full strength, Tsirtsis is not known to score big points, so Burcher may get his shot at revenge down in the road, but he can probably expect a low-scoring affair.

To end the first half of the dual, Northwestern forfeited at 157, keeping Jake Ryan’s undefeated season alive. With the six point forfeit, the Buckeyes drew to within three points at the midway point in the dual.

Following the break, Bo Jordan wrestled like he was double parked and took out Luke Norland in the first period. Bo used a takedown and a deep half nelson to pin Norland at the 2:16 mark in the first period. Along with Jake Ryan and Nathan Tomasello, Bo Jordan remains undefeated on the season. The pin gave Ohio State their first lead of the night with a score of 16-13.

The rumors Myles Martin will burn his redshirt and wrestle in the starting lineup for the Buckeyes will persist until at least early January as the true freshman stayed on the bench when the 174 lb class came up. Wrestling instead was Dominic Prezzia, who fell 4-0 to highly-touted Mitch Sliga. The match was scoreless until the 3rd period, where Sliga scored an escape and quick takedown in addition to a riding point. The Wildcats knotted the match at 16-16 with three matches remaining.

The Buckeyes broke the tie and pulled away from the host Wildcats with three consecutive victories in the upper weights. Kenny Courts utterly dominated Regis Durbin and picked up a technical fall early in the second period.

Courts took full advantage of the new rule that awards four near-fall points instead of three and scored three different sets of four near-fall points in the first period. With a 14-0 lead after the first period, the tech fall was almost a foregone conclusion for Courts, who put a bow on the blowout with a takedown in the first 30 seconds of the 2nd period, giving the Buckeyes a 21-16 lead.

Mark Martin took an early lead and held off a late rally by Jacob Berkowitz to earn an 8-6 decision. Martin’s victory sealed the dual for the Buckeyes, giving them an eight point advantage with just one match remaining.

At heavyweight, a pair of Ohioans butted heads with Buckeye Nick Tavanello downing Conan Jennings 6-2 to put a cap on the scoring. The Ohio State big man moved to 13-2 on the season thanks to an early takedown, an escape, and a riding point.

The dual looked closer than it may have been, especially if Nathan Tomasello had been in the lineup. It’s safe to assume that Tomasello would have likely scored bonus points, giving at least a nine point swing after the first match. With that said, the typical Buckeye starters took care of business with exception to Cody Burcher, who had his hands full with a former NCAA champion in Jason Tsirtsis.

The 27-16 victory gave the Buckeyes a 1-0 record in the Big Ten and 4-1 overall. The team will take a well-earned break before resuming action in 2016 when the Big Ten season really kicks into high gear. The Buckeyes will travel to Illinois to take on the Illini on January 3rd, in what could be the return of Hunter Stieber to the Buckeye lineup.

Results

  • 125: Garrison White (NW) technical fall over Mike Manuche (OSU) 17-2. NW leads 5-0
  • 133: Johnni DiJulius (OSU) major decisions Dominick Malone (NW) 8-0. NW leads 5-4.
  • 141: Jameson Oster (NW) technical fall over Mike Hozan (OSU) 17-2. NW leads 10-4.
  • 149: Jason Tsirtsis (NW) decisions Cody Burcher (OSU) 5-3. NW leads 13-4.
  • 157: Ohio State accepts a forfeit. NW leads 13-10.
  • 165: Bo Jordan (OSU) pins Luke Norland (NW), 2:16. OSU leads 16-13.
  • 174: Mitch Sliga (NW) decisions Dominic Prezzia (OSU) 4-0. Match tied 16-16.
  • 184: Kenny Courts (OSU) technical fall over Regis Durbin (NW) 16-0. OSU leads 21-16.
  • 197: Mark Martin (OSU) decisions Jacob Berkowitz (NW) 8-6. OSU leads 24-16.
  • HWT: Nick Tavanello (OSU) decisions Conan Jennings (NW) 6-2. OSU wins 27-16.
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