Wrestling: No. 2 Ohio State Neutralizes NC State, 29-6 In Final Dual of the Year

Kyle Snyder, Nathan Tomasello and Bo Jordan will never again wrestle a dual meet as Buckeyes, and Sunday they proved why they're the backbone of Tom Ryan's lineup, scoring a tech fall, a decision over a top-five opponent, and a pin in a rout of No. 6 North Carolina State in Reynolds Coliseum.

Snyder, the defending Olympic, World and NCAA champion, put his patented takedown clinic versus No. 19 Michael Boykin, earning 10 takedowns in the 23-8 tech fall. After taking only a 2-0 lead into the second period, Snyder went to work, playing catch and release in his typical style, and easily handling Boykin and putting Ohio State up 8-3 just three matches into the meet.

Tomasello followed, facing a more daunting task in No. 5 Sean Fausz, a highly-regarded wrestler who showed early that he wasn't awed in the face of a former NCAA champion. Tomasello showed why he's lost so few regular season matches in his career, responding to Fausz' opening takedown with a takedown and 2-point nearfall of his own.

Although the 12-6 victory was only a decision, in terms of the team score, it was an excellent showing from the seasoned veteran, who is rounding into form at the most important time of the year.

Jordan, facing an unranked opponent in the final match of the night, decided that he'd end his senior dual season in high style, pinning Daniel Bullard just :97 seconds in the match, and sealing the Buckeye victory, 29-6.

End of an Era. Last dual for these 3 special seniors. They have left @wrestlingbucks better than they found it. Big 10s & NCAAs next. @Snyder_man45 @_NA_T0 @Bobo_Jordan #PositiiveInfinity pic.twitter.com/pS6HgJK2cW

— Thomas Ryan (@Buckeye158) February 19, 2018

Buckeye Breakdown

Almost everything went right Sunday for Tom Ryan and company. After coming out admittedly flat in road trips to State College and Ann Arbor over the previous two weekends, Ohio State looked anything but versus the Wolfpack Sunday.

Action opened at 184, where Myles Martin was eager to show why he's the No. 2 man in the country. Squaring up against No. 3 Pete Renda, things looked fairly evenly matched through three minutes, but the Buckeye refused to end the period scoreless, picking up the first points of the match with a takedown in the waning seconds.

There was plenty of action but no scoring through the second period, but the final frame more than made up for it. Martin held only a 2-1 advantage with just 75 second remaining in the match, when he managed his second takedown and a 4-point nearfall to pick up the 8-1 decision.

After Snyder and Tomasello put the Buckeyes out to an 11-3 lead, Luke Pletcher, at 133, washed off the sting of last week's loss in Ann Arbor, his first of the season, by earning a 7-3 decision over No. 13 Tariq Wilson.

Joey McKenna had what may well have been the match of the night at 141 pounds. Facing Kevin Jack, the No. 2 wrestler in the country, McKenna went to work pretty much at the opening whistle, picking up a pair of takedowns in the opening frame and riding Jack to the 4-1 edge heading into the second period.

Jack narrowed the gap with his escape in the second, but couldn't manage to mount much offense of his own. McKenna continued to be disciplined and methodical in his approach, and frustrated Jack at every turn, so much so that Jack cost himself a penalty point in the third period that put the match more or less out of reach; with the riding time point, McKenna won 6-2 and should find himself in the Top 5 of next week's rankings.

Ke-Shawn Hayes had an excellent outing versus No. 13 Beau Donahue, scoring two takedowns, a 4-point nearfall and a pair of escapes in his 11-5 victory. Showing that he continues to progress in his development, Hayes responded to a third-period takedown with a quick escape and takedown of his own to put the match out of reach for Donahue.

At 165 pounds, Te'Shan Campbell got the win he's been searching for the past six weeks. In a rematch of last year's ACC Championship bout, Campbell faced Brian Hamann, the man he defeated to win the conference title last season when he wrestled for Pitt.

Things didn't start in the most promising fashion, however. An early scramble led to Campbell flying across the mat and waving for the referee to stop the action; just nine seconds into the match, and Campbell was in the locker room with the trainer.

After being checked out briefly by the training staff, Campbell jogged back out to the mat and action continued. Doing something he hadn't done in several outings against Top 10 foes over the past month, Campbell picked up the first takedown of the match, and went right to work for a tilt.

Campbell has to improve on his feet and on bottom, but when he gets a man to the mat, he has an incredible top game. He rode Hamann out for the first, and after only an escape in the second, took a 3-0 lead into the final frame.

Getting another takedown and a stalling point, plus the riding time bonus, Campbell banked the 7-0 decision, picking up some positive momentum heading into the postseason. While Buckeye fans have been understandably frustrated with Cambell over his six-match skid (he faced No. 15, No. 9, No. 8, No. 1 and No. 9 in that stretch, by the way), he came into the week ranked No. 2 in the country by RPI because of the grueling schedule he's wrestled.

With the win, he closes his dual season 15-8, and will need to progress in the Big Ten tournament not only to give the Buckeyes the team points they need to upend Penn State, but to improve his seeding for the NCAA tournament as much as possible.

Moore Questions Than Answers...

Almost everything went well for the Buckeyes Sunday. Almost. No. 1 Kollin Moore, in the second match of the night, dropped his second decision of the season.

After landing a last-second takedown in the first period, Moore took a 3-1 lead into the final frame of the match versus No. 7 Michael Macchiavelo. Macchiavelo's escape to start the period narrowed things to a point, and Moore picked up a stalling penalty to tie the match.

From there, Macchiavello seemed to take command, scoring a pair of takedowns in the final minute to earn a huge 7-5 upset decision. It was just his second loss of the season, but his second in a three-meet span, and like his previous loss at Penn State, the sophomore simply looked flat at times, and his opponent seized on the opportunity and fed off a raucous home crowd to pick up the win.

A half-dozen matches later, No. 7 Micah Jordan aimed to earn an upset of his own over No. 3 Hayden Hidlay, one of only 14 undefeated wrestlers left in Division I. Things looked promising early, as Jordan picked up the first takedown late in the first period; he failed to ride Hidlay out, however, so held only a 2-1 advantage at the break.

Hidlay started the second on top, and tilted Jordan into a pair of back points before the Buckeye managed the escape to tie things up 3-3 heading into the final frame.

From there, Hidlay simply seemed to want the win more. He earned a quick escape to open the period, and picked up the decisive takedown with 40 seconds left in the match... enough time, in other words, for Jordan to escape and get a takedown of his own. Hidlay rode strong, manhandling Jordan with a series of mat returns and leaving no doubt that he would win the match, handing Jordan his fourth loss of the season.

Campbell and the elder Jordan closed the meet in fine form, with BoJo picking up his fifth pin of the year, but Tom Ryan had to be frustrated with the way Moore and Micah lost their matches, more so than that they lost at all. As he noted earlier in the week, however, people tend to learn more from a loss than from a close win, so expect the matches to be teachable moments for the Buckeyes as they prepare for the ultimate goal of winning the Big Ten and NCAA championships.

Ohio State's dual meet season is over. The Buckeyes now turn their full attention to the postseason, with the Big Ten tournament kicking off March 3-4 in East Lansing, Mich.