ATHENS, Ohio - The Cleveland State University wrestling team earned its first win of the season and evened its record at 1-1 in Mid-American Conference play on Sunday afternoon.
The Vikings (1-3, 1-1) dropped the first two bouts of the dual before taking seven of eight matches the rest of the way, including five straight, to clinch a 23-12 victory.
Ohio's Oscar Sanchez secured the lone takedown of the 125-pound bout to claim a 3-2 win over Jake Manley to open the proceedings.
The Bobcats extended their lead to 6-0 with another narrow decision at 133 pounds. Ohio's Mario Guillen logged four takedowns in his 9-6 win over Vikings sophomore Logan Heil, who drew within a point with a first-period reversal and trailed only 6-5 before Guillen pulled away in the third.
Redshirt freshman Joseph Caprella brought Cleveland State back from the early hole with his first collegiate pin late in the opening period of the 141-pound match. Caprella opened with an emphatic takedown near the edge of the circle before Kyran Hagan tied things up at 2-2. Caprella answered quickly with a reversal that led to the fall.
Marcus Robinson controlled the 149-pound bout throughout, grabbing his fifth win of the year via a 10-1 major decision. Robinson moved to a perfect 2-0 in Mid-American Conference while putting the Vikings up 10-6 overall.
Freshman Daniel Patten battled for three full periods in addition to overtime against Nick Vestal at 157 pounds in what turned out to be one of the most intense matches of the afternoon. With Vestal ahead 1-0 entering the third, Patten opted to begin the period on the mat and managed an escape after being pushed out of bounds to tie it at 1-1. Vestal was awarded a takedown with the clock ticking down in the third period, but a timely challenge by the Cleveland State coaching staff wiped out the points to maintain the deadlock and send the bout to sudden-death overtime.
Neither wrestler scored in the overtime period, which prompted a pair of 30-second tiebreakers, beginning with Patten on top. Patten rode Vestal for the entirety of the first period before another Cleveland State challenge resulted in a point for Patten due to a technical violation on a locked hands call. Patten ultimately took the bout 5-1 thanks to some late heroics paired with the additional point for riding time.
Redshirt sophomore Riley Smucker spent most of the 165-pound match on top of Ohio's Kamal Adewumi, recording five takedowns while notching the riding time point for another major decision at 11-1 to extend Cleveland State's advantage to double digits at 17-6 with only four bouts remaining.
In the 174-pound match, Anthony Rice was responsible for four of five takedowns in a 10-4 win, also snagging the extra point for riding time.
Wrestling with a national ranking to his name for the first time, DeAndre Nassar fell to 5-2 on the campaign with a razor thin overtime loss that went the distance against Carson Brewer at 184 pounds. Nassar trailed 1-0 before a third-period escape knotted the match. The sudden-death period was scoreless before both wrestlers escaped during the 30-second ride out periods.
Brewer began the second extra frame on the ground and nearly broke free before Nassar tossed him back to the mat. Brewer took the lead with an escape, but after an unsuccessful Ohio challenge in search of a locked hands technical violation, Nassar began the final ride out on the bottom and escaped. Unfortunately, Brewer's 25 seconds of riding time gave him a 4-3 decision.
Justin Jaekin wrestled conservatively at 197 pounds but achieved his goal of clinching the dual win for Cleveland State, falling 1-0 while keeping the Bobcats from securing extra points and maintaining a 20-12 Vikings edge with only one match remaining.
John Kelbly put the cherry on top of a successful afternoon with his win in the heavyweight bout. Kelbly forced overtime with an escape in the final seconds, making the score 4-4. The redshirt junior avoided some early trouble in the extra frame and earned a takedown for the 6-4 win.
With the conclusion of the regular season, the Viking will now have two weeks to prepare for the MAC Tournament on February 26-27.
Cleveland State 23, Ohio 12
125: Oscar Sanchez (OU) over Jake Manley (CSU) – 3-2 dec. | OU leads, 3-0
133: Mario Guillen (OU) over Logan Heil (CSU) – 9-6 dec. | OU leads, 6-0
141: Joseph Caprella (CSU) over Kyran Hagan (OU) – Fall 2:49 | Tied, 6-6
149: Marcus Robinson (CSU) over Alec Mosconi (OU) – 10-1 MD | CSU leads, 10-6
157: Daniel Patten (CSU) over Nick Vestal (OU) – 5-1 dec. TB-2 | CSU leads, 13-6
165: Riley Smucker (CSU) over John Mark Williams (OU) – 11-1 MD | CSU leads, 17-6
174: Anthony Rice (CSU) over John Mark Williams (OU) - 10-4 dec. | CSU leads, 20-6
184: Carson Brewer (OU) over DeAndre Nassar (CSU) – 4-3 dec. TB-2 | CSU leads, 20-9
197: Colin McNamara (OU)over Justin Jaeckin (CSU) – 1-0 dec. | CSU leads, 20-12
285: John Kelbly (CSU) over Jordan Earnest (OU) – 6-4 SV-1 | CSU leads, 23-12
