Buckeyes Take Two on the Chin:
But is there a Silver Lining in Loss to Nation’s #1 and #3 Teams?

            Call me naïve.   
            Some might seem only the storm clouds of failure following two lopsided OSU losses over the weekend.  However, having actually seen the matches, I believe there is a “silver lining.”
            The young, struggling Ohio State Buckeyes faced the college wrestling equivalent of “Mission Impossible” this weekend as they were pitted against #1 ranked Minnesota on Friday, and #3 ranked Illinois on Sunday.  There was even some talk that the Minnesota match could be a shut-out.
            The Illinois match opened bleakly as TJ Enright lost his second “swing” match of the weekend (he lost in overtime on Friday to Manny Riveria), this time to All-American Casio Pero.  Trailing 5-2, Enright seemed like he was going to get back into the bout as he had Pero’s leg in the air.  However, the slick Pero tripped him to the mat for the takedown.  Pero added a riding time bout for a disappointing 8-2 score.
            Next was the bout all had been waiting for:  Jeff Jaggers versus Troy Tirapelle.  For those who don’t know their history, these two first met in an all-star match following their senior years.  Tirapelle was a 3x California State Champion, while Jaggers was of course a 4x Ohio State Champ.  Tirapelle won on his home turf at the All-Star match, but Jaggers won the rematch with him at Senior Nationals by literally taking down Tirapelle to his back three times then pinning him, all in under a minute. 
           This bout did not disappoint.  Jaggers drew first blood, striking with a lightning-fast knee pick late in the first for a 2-0 lead.  Choosing down, Jaggers then tried a bold counter to a Tirapelle crab ride- it looked certain that someone was going to their back, and changed every second as to which wrestler!  Somehow, when the scramble ended, it was merely a Jaggers escape.  Jaggers clearly had his momentum going now and struck with another knee pick for a 5-0 lead.  He then immediately went to a 2-on-1 tilt for three backpoints and an 8-0 lead.  It looked like another runaway as the second period closed. 
            And then, it became a completely different match.  Jaggers seemed to relax for a moment at the end of the second, and Tirapelle hit a somersault from bottom and scored a reversal at the buzzer.  This seemed to completely shift the momentum, as Tirapelle scored two driving double legs in the third to close the final score to 9-7, Jaggers. 
            The next bout featured Steve Sommers of Ohio State against Alex Tirapelle (Troy’s older brother). Tirapelle is a former NCAA Runner-up with several wins over Ryan Bertin and C.P. Schlatter among others.  Tirapelle is not the most physically talented athlete, but he is truly a master of his craft- he knows how to score on the edge, is smart enough to know to attack in the “transitions”.  The bout was scoreless through the first, but late in the second the wheels came off for Sommers, as Tirapelle started to get in on his legs at will.  The final was a 13-5 score with Tirapelle notching six takedowns.  
            At 165, Senior Nathaniel Augustine took on redshirt freshman Michael Poeta of Illinois.  For those who don’t know Poeta, he won every national tournament he entered in high school (Cadet Nationals twice, Junior Nationals, Senior Nationals) except his junior year, when he was defeated 5-4 in the Junior National Freestyle finals by C.P. Schlatter.  Poeta may have been the most impressive wrestler I saw all weekend.  He is wrestling up a weight to make room for Alex Tirapelle.  I will predict that very few will be able to hang with this guy next year at 157.  Poeta is very explosive, and his shots are as pinpointed as a laser.  This bout was almost a carbon-copy of the one before, with Poeta scoring six takedowns on his way to a 14-5 final score.   The team score at this point was 11-3 as Buckeye fans had little to cheer about.
            Next up was 174, where OSU freshman Blake Maurer took on #14 ranked Donny Reynolds (according to the rankings at www.revwrestling.com).  Maurer had upset #9 ranked Gabe Dretsch of Minnesota on Friday.  Reynolds was in on a first period shot and seemed to be about to get the takedown.  However, Maurer hit some sort of modified “elevator”-type counter and put Reynolds to his back.  Reynolds fought hard but Maurer had him very tight, and secured the fall at 2:14.  Maurer, from Evansville (IN) Mater Dei High School, was unable to compete for more than a year with a neck injury- but clearly he has gotten the rust out!  This win avenged an earlier 10-6 loss to Reynolds.  Look for big things from this freshman. 
            At 184, Alex Picazo was seemingly overmatched, at least on paper, by his Illinois opponent, #2 ranked Pete Friedl.  Picazo is unranked with a record a little above .500.  Evidently someone forgot to tell Picazo he was outmatched!  Trailing 3-2 in the first, Picazo hit a lightning-fast snatch single, which he eventually finished for a 4-3 lead.  The wrestlers traded escapes and it was 5-5 with about a minute to go in the third.  Picazo got in on another nice single as OSU fans smelled an upset!  However, Friedl showed why he is #2 in the nation with a beautiful counter for a takedown.  Picazo simply would not quit, and eventually got the reveral at the buzzer to tie the bout at 7-7.  However, Friedl had a point for riding time and won 8-7.  Regardless, Picazo showed a lot of heart, and in some ways, this bout was the highlight of the day.
            At 197, the #9 ranked Tyrone Byrd won a controlled bout over Corey Morrison, scoring a single-leg takedown and a three-point tilt on his way to a 6-1 win. 
            Kirk Nail scored the third win of the night for the Bucks with a nice snap-down from a front headlock in overtime to prevail 4-2 in overtime.
            Next up was Illinois Kyle Ott, one of the finest lightweights to ever compete in Ohio, making his homecoming against the Buckeyes.  Ohio State countered with Anner Aroyo, a state qualifier in high school who was just recruited off the club team to replace the injured Nathan Costello.  Against the two-time NCAA Runner-Up Ott, Aroyo was little more than a sacrificial lamb.  Ott first scored a snap down about 20 seconds into the match.  At this point, I turned to the fan beside me to ask if they knew who this new Buckeye wrestler was, and when I looked back the official was slapping the mat.  I heard someone remark that the Bucks new 125 lb. “Knight in Shining Armor” had just gotten pinned in a tilt- though from my vantage point in appeared to be more of a “stack” type maneuver.  Ohio State has struggled at this weight for years, and Costello is graduating this year.  While I would not dream of telling Coach Hellickson how to do his job- I will say that a certain 119 lb. wrestler from St. Paris Graham would look good in Scarlet and Gray!
            Gabe Flores of Illinois closed out the match by manhandling the Buckeyes Reece Humphrey 11-2.  Humphrey had a tough weekend, also losing to #5 ranked Mack Reiter of Minnesota, but the true freshman has had an outstanding season regardless. Other notes from the weekend: 

Schlatter/Jaggers match fizzles:

        On Friday, a good number of fans left disappointed when #1 ranked Dustin Schlatter of St. Paris Graham and Massillon Perry High School did not wrestle against Jeff Jaggers at 149 lbs.  Schlatter was just recovering from the flu, and Minnesota Coach J.Robinson elected to go with Tyler Safratowich instead.  Safratowich is no ordinary backup, while he is a freshman (like Jaggers and Schlatter) he is a former Senior National Runner-up.  He gave Jaggers a surprisingly tough bout, falling 8-6.  After the match I asked Jaggers if he felt he had a bit of a letdown due to Schlatter not wrestling, to which he had this to say:  “Yeah, well, I’ve been pretty much thinking about tonite every since we stepped off the mat from our last match, the chance to come here and wrestle him in front of my homecrowd, so it was disappointing.  But, I have no excuses, I just wrestled bad tonite (Editor’s Note: wrestling “bad” to Jaggers and most other wrestlers are vastly different things)”.  Jaggers and Schlatter could meet next at the Big Ten Championships. 

#1 Minnesota Trips Up Ohio State 30-6

        Again, a blowout against the top team in the nation was hardly unexpected.  But, there were several bright spots.  Most notably, again, Blake Maurer, who knocked off#9 Gabe Dretsch in overtime.  Dretsch got the first takedown, but Maurer kept pressing the action, and in overtime, scored the winning takedown with an inside trip.  Maurer is not the most physically imposing wrestler, but is outstanding technically, and has a very bright future for the Bucks. 
        Also notable was the return of 4x Ohio State Champion C.P. Schlatter to the Buckeye state (he know wrestles for the University of Minnesota).  C.P. is generally considered to be among the top ten wrestlers of all-time from Ohio, but struggled somewhat last year (by his standards) due to a severe knee injury.  Against the Buckeyes, it was clear that he was the C.P. Schlatter of old, dominating Steve Sommer en route to a 11-3 major decision.  Two days later, he scored an 8-3 win over former high school national champion Nathan Galloway of Penn State University.  C.P. is currently ranked #4 at 157, arguably the nation’s toughest weight class.

Young Nucleus Forming

        While the Buckeyes have taken their lumps this season, Blake Maurer and Reece Humphrey have done unexpectedly well for freshman, and of course Jaggers has been tough as expected.  Throw in nationally ranked sophomores Kirk Nail and T.J. Enright, NCAA 3rd Place Finisher J.D. Bergman and the talented Jason Johnstone (who is redshirting but has three years of eligibility left) and of course super-recruit Lance Palmer, and the future looks bright.  Just having Bergman, who is practically an automatic “W” for the Buckeyes (and often good for bonus points), as opposed to the freshman Morrison, who at this point is almost an automatic “L” in the Big Ten, would have made the Buckeyes infinitely more competitive this year. Next year’s lineup should be:

125- ?
133- Humphrey
141- T.J. Enright/Lance Palmer (Palmer will likely redshirt)
149- Jeff Jaggers
157- Jason Johnstone
165- ?
174- Blake Maurer
184- Alex Picazo
197- JD Bergman
285- Kirk Nail

- The only weights where the Buckeyes do not have someone who can at least be competitive in the Big Ten are 125 and 165.

Finally, the Box Scores

Illinois 27  Ohio State 12
141 - Cassio Pero (IL) dec. T.J. Enright (OSU), 8-2
149 - J Jaggers (OSU) dec. Troy Tirapelle (IL), 9-7
157 - Alex Tirapelle (IL) mdec. Steve Sommer (OSU),13-5
165 - Mike Poeta (IL) mdec. Nathaniel Augustson (OSU), 14-5
174 - Blake Maurer (OSU) fall Donny Reynolds (IL), 2:14
184 - Pete Friedl (IL) dec. Alex Picazo (OSU), 8-7
197 - Tyrone Byrd (IL) dec. Corey Morrison (OSU), 6-1
HWT - Kirk Nail (OSU) dec. Matt Weight (IL), 4-2sv
125 - Kyle Ott (IL) fall Anner Arroyo (OSU), :36
133 - Gabe Flores (IL) mdec. Reece Humphrey (OSU), 11-2

Minnesota 30 Ohio State 6
125- Travis Lang (MN) forfeit          
133- Mack Reiter (MN) dec. Reece Humphrey (OSU) 6-1
141- Manuel Rivera (MN) dec. T.J. Enright (OSU) 4-2 OT
149- Jeff Jaggers (OSU) dec. Tyler Safratowich (MN) 8-6
157- C.P. Schlatter (MN) mdec. Steve Sommer (OSU) 11-3
165- Matt Nagel (MN) mdec. Nathaniel Auguston (OSU) 12-4
174- Blake Maurer (OSU) dec. Gabe Dretsch (MN) 6-4 OT
184- Roger Kish (MN) mdec. Alex Picazo 16-5
197- Mitch Kuhlman (MN) dec. James Aston 6-4 OT
285- Cole Konrad (MN) dec. Kirk Nail 3-1

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OhioWrestlingSite.com 2005