Wrestling Recap: No. 4 Buckeyes Fall Short in Upset Bid, Drop 21-13 Match to No. 3 Iowa

Ohio State wrestling's 88-year drought on the road against Iowa will live on for at least another two years.

The No. 4 Buckeyes, who have not beaten the Hawkeyes in Iowa City since winning the first ever match between the two teams, 17-13 in 1929, saw their undefeated season come to an end at the hands of No. 3 Iowa, as the Hawkeyes prevailed 21-13 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Friday night.

Ohio State managed to win four of the 10 weight classes, but Iowa won both of the matches between top 10 wrestlers. The Hawkeyes managed to minimize the Buckeye bonus points on their way to a win to snap a two-match losing streak.

Both teams were without key starters as Ohio State's national champion and Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder missed the match due to his participation in a tournament in Russia, while Iowa’s heavyweight Sam Stoll is out for the season due to injury. Iowa was also without All-American Cory Clark at 133, so his anticipated match with Nathan Tomasello will have to wait for the postseason.

Thomas Gilman got Iowa on the board early with his seventh technical fall of the season, taking out freshman Jose Rodriguez 23-8. Gilman was relentless on the attack, only yielding escapes to Rodriguez. The Iowa senior gave the Hawkeyes a quick 5-0 lead to start things off.

Tomasello got the Buckeyes on the board, but it wasn’t quite like it was drawn up. Rather than facing Clark, the Ohio State grappler met Iowa’s Phillip Laux at 133. Laux wrestled with the idea of slowing Tomasello down and was successful in doing so as Tomasello only won by decision. Tomasello’s victory, while not what he wanted, put the Buckeyes on the board and they trailed Iowa 5-3 after two matches.

Two days after firing off the tweet of the year, Luke Pletcher backed it up with a win by the slimmest of margins against Topher Carton at 141. Pletcher was able to score a takedown in the second period but was quickly reversed by Carton. Pletcher took the lead late with a throw that put Carton on his back for the blink of an eye, but Carton nearly reversed him again on the edge of the mat before going out of bounds. Pletcher was able to ward off a takedown from Carton as time expired to hang on to a 5-4 decision and momentarily give the Buckeyes a 6-5 lead.

In the night’s first match between top 10 opponents, Iowa’s Brandon Sorensen negated all of Micah Jordan’s offense and was able to ride Jordan out for the duration of the third period to earn a 2-0 decision. Sorensen regained the lead for Iowa 8-6.

Jake Ryan failed to get anything going, but was at least able to prevent a tech fall or pin from No. 2 Michael Kemerer at 157. Kemerer brutalized Ryan, but only earned a major decision 14-3. Ohio State trailed 12-6 at the midway point in the match.

Cody Burcher was unable to get anything going at 165, losing to Joey Gunther 3-0. In looking for positives in the bout, Burcher was able to defend a deep takedown for much of the last minute of the first period. Gunther gave Iowa a 15-6 lead.

Top-ranked Bo Jordan picked up another win for the Buckeyes, but it was less impressive than he had hoped. Jordan looked reluctant against #13 Alex Meyer, but Meyer made Bo earn  his 3-2 decision. Meyer defended Bo’s few takedown attempts very aggressively, but Jordan was able to break through late to earn the decision and stay undefeated.

Myles Martin became the second Buckeye to drop a close match between top 10 wrestlers as he fell 5-3 to No. 5 Sammy Brooks at 184. Martin was able to take Brooks down, but was unable to get any riding time. Brooks was able to get a takedown and rack up the riding time to defeat No. 10 Martin 5-3 and give the Hawkeyes a nine point advantage.

Kollin Moore did his best to keep the Buckeyes alive with a major decision at 197 over Cash Wilcke. Moore rattled off takedown after takedown and pulled the Buckeyes to within striking distance with just the heavyweights left to tangle.

With Snyder in Russia, Josh Fox stepped in to face Steven Holloway, who was replacing the injured Sam Stoll. The Buckeyes trailed Iowa by five points, so Fox needed a pin if the Buckeyes were going to win for the first time at Iowa in nearly 90 years. The pin wasn’t in the cards and Holloway outwrestled Fox to a 6-1 decision.

Iowa won six of the 10 matches and the Hawkeyes were led by a tech fall from top-ranked Thomas Gilman and a major decision by No. 2 Michael Kemerer at 157.

The loss was Ohio State’s first of the season and they fall to 4-1 in the Big Ten and 8-1 overall. The Buckeyes will need to lick their wounds and bounce back quickly as they will welcome No. 2 Penn State to the Schottenstein Center next Friday night.