Wrestling Preview: No. 2 Ohio State Hosts Kent State and Cleveland State in the Thanksgiving Throwdown

By Andy Vance on November 21, 2017 at 6:00 am
Myles Martin is a bad man
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Following a dominant victory over a ranked Arizona State team in the first dual meet of the season, the Ohio State University wrestling team will host the annual tri-dual Thanksgiving Throwdown Tuesday night in St. John Arena. The Kent State Golden Flashes and the Cleveland State Vikings make their way down I-71 to face a Buckeye roster loaded with talent and sitting comfortably near the top of the national rankings.

The unique tri-dual event format utilizes two mats with simultaneous matches occurring on each. With three rounds and two mats, the bout schedule looks like this:

The Thanksgiving Throwdown

Ohio State owns an advantage in the all-time series with both in-state opponents. The Buckeyes are 23-13-2 over Cleveland State, including victories in 19 of the last 20 meetings dating back to 1987 and a 52-0 blanking in last season's Thanksgiving Throwdown. Ohio State's current win streak sits at eight straight versus Kent State, holding a 17-6 edge overall. The Buckeyes finished 36-13 last year in the same event.

Cleveland State
CLEVELAND STATE VIKINGS
0-0, 0-0 EWL
ROSTER / SCHEDULE

7:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, NOV. 21
ST. JOHN ARENA
COLUMBUS, OHIO

BIG TEN NETWORK
BTN Plus

The Cleveland State Vikings

Head Coach: Ben Stehura

Stehura, in his 10th season as head coach at Cleveland State, brings a fairly young team to St. John Arena for their first dual of the season. CSU kicked off its season at the Clarion Open Nov. 5, with No. 18 Nick Corba earning a third-place finish at 184 pounds Junior John Vaughn also won four matches at the Clarion Open at 165 pounds.

"Overall I thought it was a good opening weekend for us," Stehura said. "There are some things we need to work on and fine tune, but it was a good start to the season. Guys got a lot of matches. It was a pretty good tournament with a lot of quality matches, and that's what we were after. It's something to build on for the season."

Last week at the EMU Open, eight Vikings placed among the top six in their weight class. Freshman John Kelbly won the 197-pound Freshman/Sophomore title and collected three bonus-point wins at the event. Redshirt sophomore Caleb Stockmaster (174) and redshirt freshman Ryan Ford (Freshman/Sophomore 149) both posted runner-up finishes at the event for CSU.

Corba owns a 9-2 record on the season and remains among the top 20 by the majority of ranking outlets. He owns six bonus-point wins on the season, including three pins.

Notable Viking Wrestlers: No. 18 Nick Corba

Corba is the lone ranked Viking coming to Columbus Tuesday. The redshirt senior went 25-10 last season, good enough to earn his first trip to the NCAA tournament and a runner-up finish in the Eastern Wrestling League. The Beavercreek native was a state champion at the OHSAA tournament prior to enrolling at CSU.

He'll face his biggest test to date, squaring off against No. 2 Myles Martin, the first Buckeye to earn the new Pin Chain during the team's home opener.

Match Outlook

Ohio State flat-out whipped the Vikings at last season's Throwdown, racking up 52 points in a 10-match sweep. Martin earned a tech fall over Corba, 24-9, and six Buckeyes pinned their opponents.

In all, eight of 10 matches earned bonus points. A savvy handicapper would likely expect more of the same in the 2017 meeting of the two teams.

Kent State
KENT STATE GOLDEN FLASHES
5-0, 0-0 MAC
ROSTER / SCHEDULE

7:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, NOV. 21
ST. JOHN ARENA
COLUMBUS, OHIO

BIG TEN NETWORK
BTN Plus

The Kent State Golden Flashes

Head Coach: Jim Andrassy

Andrassy, a former Golden Flash wrestler himself, has been a part of the Kent State program for 26 seasons, including the past 13 as head coach. In each of the past nine seasons, the Golden Flashes have sent five or more qualifiers to the NCAA Championships. In eight of those nine seasons, Kent State finished in the top two spots of the Mid-American Conference standings and compiled a 109-37-1 dual meet record during an eight-year run. 

Named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in 2009, Andrassy has helped produce seven All-American performances from five different wrestlers including a 2011 national champion (Dustin Kilgore) and three NCAA top 25 team finishes.

All that said, the Golden Flashes are rebounding from a season they'd rather forget, finishing the 2016-17 campaign just 2-15 in dual meets, including a horrid 0-8 mark in conference. Andrassy and company have figured something out in the offseason, as they've opened the year 5-0 heading into Tuesday's matchup with the Buckeyes and Vikings.

Four Kent State wrestlers earned top five finishes at the 40th annual Navy Classic Saturday in Annapolis. The Golden Flashes finished ninth of 17 teams led by fourth place showings from junior 197-pounder Kyle Conel and junior 157-pounder Casey Sparkman. Junior 133-pounder Anthony Tutolo and redshirt freshman 141-pounder Nick Monico each went 5-1 on the day to claim fifth place.

Notable Wrestlers for the Golden Flashes

Sophomore Tim Rooney was named Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week Nov. 15 after helping the Golden Flashes improve to 5-0 on the season. Rooney went 5-0 at the Journeymen Duals and the Journeymen Classic in upstate New York.

Kent State defeated Virginia 20-18 and Hofstra 26-12 Saturday with the help of victories from Rooney in each dual. The next day, Rooney placed first in his pool at the Journeymen Classic, going 3-0 with a tech fall.  

On the season, Rooney is 12-1 with two pins, two tech falls and two major decisions.  He is 4-0 in dual meets.

Match Outlook

The Golden Flashes were game opponents for the Buckeyes a year ago, earnings wins at 133, 157 and 174 pounds, though in the cases of 133 and 174, the Buckeye starter was on the sidelines as Nathan Tomasello and Bo Jordan were held out as a precaution.

In a similar vein, the Flashes will have opportunities to steal matches at the lighter end of the Buckeye roster as key athletes will be inactive:

  • True freshman Brakan Mead will continue his valiant effort to stand in for Tomasello at 125, this time facing a redshirt senior in Will Bardezbain;
  • Either Brendan Fitzgerald or Clay Ragon - both .500 on the season thus far - will stand in for Joey McKenna at 141. McKenna is in Poland, preparing to compete for Team USA at the U23 Freestyle World Championships Saturday.

Luke Pletcher has won all five of his matches thus far, though head coach Tom Ryan said last week that he wanted to see more offense from the sophomore. He'll face Anthony Tutolo, a redshirt junior who was ranked at times last season, and who is 11-3 thus far this season.

Kent State will field competitors with winning records at 149, 157, 174, 197 and 285, though in each case they'll face Buckeyes ranked in the Top 10 nationally. The Ohio State upperweights will all be gunning for bonus points - Martin and Snyder will no doubt have an eye toward wearing the Pin Chain once again.

Probable Matchups
Wt No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes Cleveland State Vikings Kent State Golden Flashes
125 Brakan Mead (4-3) Cameron Lathem (0-4) Will Bardezbain (7-4)
133 No. 10 Luke Pletcher (5-0) Evan Cheek (3-2) Anthony Tutolo (11-3)
141 Brendan Fitzgerald (2-2)
OR Clay Ragon (4-4)
Sam Matzek (0-2)
OR Drew Fairbanks (1-4)
Tim Rooney (13-3)
OR Chance Driscoll (5-6)
149 No. 10 Ke-Shawn Hayes (6-0) Ryan Ford (3-3) Nick Monico (12-3)
157 No. 6 Micah Jordan (4-1) Georgio Poullas (6-3) Casey Sparkman (13-4)
165 No. 7 Te'Shan Campbell (5-0) John Vaughn (6-4) Isaac Bast (6-6)
174 No. 3 Bo Jordan (5-1) Gabe Stark (7-3) Dylan Barreiro (14-5)
184 No. 2 Myles Martin (6-0) No. 18 Nick Corba (9-2)
OR Chris Morrow (2-3)
Colin McCracken (6-5)
197 No. 1 Kollin Moore (1-0) John Kelbly (4-2) Shane Mast (4-8)
OR Kyle Conel (7-2)
HWT No. 1 Kyle Snyder (1-0) Collin Kelly (0-4) Devin Nye (12-7)
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