Cleveland State Topples Buckeyes: Grim day for Ohio State.

        Nineteen to Eighteen.   
        That was the Cleveland State Vikings’ lead as the match went to the final bout of the night.  Cleveland State’s bid to upset Ohio State fell on the shoulders of homegrown-talent Jarryl Hunt.  The freshman 125 was matched against a senior, Nate Costello (a former state place-winner from Maple Heights making his homecoming).  The seemingly stronger Costello quickly got behind Hunt and took him to the mat- as reality seemed to be setting in for the Vikings and their fans. 
        And then, the completely unexpected happened.
After giving up the takedown, the opportunistic Hunt immediately reversed Costello to his back in an unorthodox scramble.  With Hunt having a deep half and about a minute and a half to go, the home crowd could smell an upset.  Hunt buried the half and scored the first period fall, giving the Vikings a 25-18 win, their first win over OSU in over a decade.  Hunt would later describe his winning move as the “whip-over”, after pausing to think of name for the move.  This writer isn’t sure if that is exactly the name for the move Hunt used to pin Costello, or if the move even has a name, but the best word for why he was able to pin Costello was “hunger.”  Hunt appeared hungrier for the win than Costello.  The entire Viking squad seemed a lot hungier on this night than the Buckeyes. 
       Key to the CSU win were two other falls- one from Marcus Effner over Steve Sommer at 165, and the other from Joey Dennis over Corey Morrison at 197.  The Effner pin was sudden and dramatic.  Effner has been hampered by a severe knee injury.  Sommer immediately shot in on Effner’s bad leg and got the takedown.  Effner was in obvious pain.  The Cleveland State trainers used the full injury time making some sort of modification to the bulky contraption Effner wears on his knee.  This writer thought that Effner would quickly default when the wrestling resumed again.  Indeed, Sommer immediately threw in the legs and Effner seemed helpless.  Unable to turn the gritty Effner, Sommer “cut” Effner to go back to their feet.  Effner quickly attempted a lateral drop.  It appeared that Sommer had stopped the move and the ailing Effner would finally be put out of his misery. 
       However, Effner had no intention of laying down! With a gutsy second effort, he arched through and put Sommer to his back, quickly scoring the fall.  The intestinal fortitude that Effner showed in battling back seemed to galvanize the Vikings- and was the turning point in the meet.  It was a twelve point swing:  what looked like a default or pin for OSU became a pin for Cleveland State instead.  It also gave Cleveland State their first lead of the night.
Joey Dennis added scored another key fall over Corey Morrison at 197.  Trailing 7-4 in the second, Morrison attempted an ill-advised lateral drop.  Dennis simply dropped his hips, trapping Morrison on his back and scored an almost immediate fall in 4:25, giving the Vikings a 19-15 lead, and setting the stage for Hunt’s heroics.

Jeff Jaggers vs. Ryan Hurley
       
     Fans were anticipating this match more than any other.  Jaggers, of course, is a four-time state champion and an Ohio wrestling legend.  Hurley was 2nd at state as a freshman and state champ as a sophomore, before slumping to 3rd and 5th his final two years due in part to injuries.  Hurley was also an NCAA Qualifier last year as a freshman.  Similar to his match with Dustin Schlatter at the Southern Scuffle, both Jaggers and Hurley were reluctant to open up, and the match was 1-1 with about a minute to go in the third period.  Then, Jaggers shot a single, came up with it, and dumped Hurley to the mat with relative ease for a 3-1 lead.  To his credit, Hurley didn’t concede anything, escaping and shooting in on Jaggers immediately.  It looked, for a moment, like Hurley might have the match-winning takedown.  However, Jaggers quickly scrambled and applied his lethal head-in-the-side cradle, for a takedown and three backpoints in the closing seconds.  For those who have not seen Jaggers do this move, he does it better than anyone.  Trying to break his grip when he locks it up is like trying to snap a steel cable!  The cradle made it 8-2, all in the last minute, and left this writer wondering why Jaggers didn’t open up sooner.  Jaggers also defeated Ohio Division I state champion and three-time state finalist Jason Bake of Kent State (and North Canton Hoover High School) 6-2 in the Ohio State/Kent State dual.

Rock-Bottom for the Buckeyes
       
    It was a dark day for the Buckeyes to say the least.  Coming off an impressive showing at the Southern Scuffle, and a dominating 30-3 win over the University of Pittsburgh, OSU seemed to be turning the corner heading into Satuday’s matches with Kent and Cleveland State.  Both of these teams are Division I teams like Ohio State- but there is an expectation among wrestling fans that Ohio State, a Big Ten school, will be the premier collegiate program in the state.  And yet, since graduating four NCAA All-Americans from their 2004 squad which finished 4th at the NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes have struggled.  Last year they finished 11th in the Big Ten.  For the first time in Hellickson’s tenure, the Buckeyes did not have a single All-American.  And now, twin losses to fellow Ohio programs the same day (Kent State bested OSU 25-13 earlier in the day).  On paper, Ohio State does not look to improve much upon last year’s 11th place Big Ten finish.

Silver Lining?

     Before scheduling an autopsy on Ohio State’s program, bear in mind that only one of their key starters is a senior, and their most accomplished wrestler, former NCAA 3rd place finisher JD Bergman, is redshirting.  They have two outstanding freshman starters in Jaggers and 133 lb. Reece Humphrey.  Humphrey, son of assistant coach Jim Humphrey, scored his second major decision of the day against the Vikings (he also majored Drew Opfer, a senior and former 3x Ohio State Champion, 11-2 in the dual against Kent State).  T.J. Enright, a sophomore, is a legitimate All-American contender sandwiched between them.  Jason Johnstone is redshirting- should he put on enough size, he should be a big improvement at 157 (though Sommers has performed admirably in his first year of starting).  And of course, the Buckeyes will be adding Lance Palmer of Lakewood St. Edward’s next season (though he will likely redshirt with Enright and Jaggers manning 141/149).  Nail is a quality heavyweight and Maurer should do fine at 174 when he gets healthy.  So, in summary: “wait ‘til next year.”

The Vikings Best Wrestler Is……….

     Ron Howard.  This writer remembers when Howard came into the Vikings program- a skinny, somewhat sloppy freshman starter who routinely took lopsided beatings.  Now, Howard is strong, physical, intense, and solid in his technique at all times.  He dismantled a quality wrestler in Alex Picazo by a score of 10-3, with four solid takedowns in their 184 lb. match.  Howard has not caught the attention of those compiling the national rankings (he’s currently #18) as much as he perhaps should have, but he is a bona fide All-American contender. Another wrestler to watch at this weight is Alex Camargo of Kent State (and Berea High School), currently ranked #15 in the rankings at.  In this writer’s view, both Camargo and Howard are underrated and do not be surprised to see one, or both, make All-American this year.  Camargo recently defeated Howard 7-4 in their dual meet.

Vikings Future Bright

     For all the talk of how young the Ohio State squad is, Cleveland State fielded a lineup consisting of nine wrestlers who were freshman or sophomores.  Only Howard will be graduating.  Besides Hunt, true freshman Victor Crenshaw looked tough, winning a wild 17-9 major decision over Jordin Humphrey of Ohio State.  Crenshaw has a record of 14-8, outstanding for a freshman.  Sophomore David Armstrong has quietly put together a 12-6 record.  With a little more polish, powerful freshman heavyweight Rashard Goff can improve dramatically on his 12-14 record.  Look for NCAA Qualifier Joe Dennis to greatly improve on his 5-4 record as he gets used to cutting weight again (he has dropped from heavyweight to 197). 

Below are complete results of match:  

Cleveland State 25, Ohio State 18
133 Reece Humphrey (OSU) MD David Armstrong (CSU), 13-4
141 T.J. Enright (OSU) DEC Mike Hurley (CSU), 5-4
149 J Jaggers (OSU) DEC Ryan Hurley (CSU), 8-2
157 Victer Crenshaw (CSU) MD Jordin Humphrey (OSU), 17-9
165 Marcus Effner (CSU) FALL Steve Sommer (OSU), 2:16
174 Nathaniel Augustson (OSU) FALL JT Miller (CSU), 4:55
184 Ron Howard (CSU) DEC Alex Picazo (OSU), 10-3
197 Joe Dennis (CSU) FALL Corey Morrison (OSU), 4:25
285 Kirk Nail (OSU) DEC Rashard Goff (CSU), 7-4
125 Jayrl Hunt (CSU) FALL Nate Costello (OSU), 3:20

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