Wrestlers’ team effort saddles Bulls

by Joe Arnold
Staff Writer

In the last dual meet of the regular season, the Ohio wrestlers did to the Buffalo Bulls what they have done to 13 previous opponents – beat them.

The Bobcats (14-6 overall, 3-2 Mid-American Conference) easily defeated the Bulls 23-9 Saturday in Buffalo. Seven of Ohio’s 10 wrestlers posted wins in the effort.

After trading leads with the Bulls (10-6, 3-2) through the first four matches, Ohio scored three straight wins to put the Bobcats ahead for good. Ryan Smith (157 lbs.), John Wervey (165 lbs.) and Luke Moore (174 lbs.) posted the wins. Moore scored a major decision against Buffalo’s Ben Cooper, defeating him 13-2.

Also posting wins for Ohio were Dan Bednar, Brad Bauer, Mike Caruso and Shane Hartzler. The Bobcats used another string of three straight wins late in the match, to overwhelm the Bulls and end the afternoon.

Bauer defeated John Eschenfelder, who is ranked in the nation's top 10 among heavyweights, Ohio coach Joel Greenlee said.

"Brad had a really good win against a guy that’s ranked fifth or sixth in the country, and the major decisions by Bednar and Moore were really big for us," Greenlee said. "It was a great weekend for us, and there was some outstanding wrestling from our guys.

"I don’t think we expected to win as big as we did because Buffalo is a pretty good team, but our guys really wrestled well."

With the way the Bobcats have been wrestling recently, Saturday's outcome was not a big surprise, Bednar said.

"We were kind of surprised at the final score, but looking back at how we've been wrestling and the teams we've wrestled, nothing should surprise us now," he said.

With the MAC Championships just two weeks away, the Bobcats need to continue their momentum into the final part of the season, Greenlee said.

"Right now everything is coming together for us, and we’re peaking at the right time," Greenlee said. "I feel good about our team and where we’re at this far in the season. If you look at the standings, we have 10 guys with the potential to win the MAC Tournament,"

Ohio should fare well at the MAC Championships given their experience and the positive outlook of the team, Bednar said.

"Right now we're realizing our potential," he said. "(The MAC Championships) will give us a chance to turn some heads. There's no reason we can't go in there and win it all."

The Bobcats have the next two weeks off to prepare for the MAC Championships on March 3-4 at The Convo.