Wrestling: Bonus Points Give No. 2 Michigan the 18-16 Victory Over No. 8 Ohio State, the First Buckeye Loss in Ann Arbor Since 2007

The No. 2 Wolverines split five of 10 matches with the No. 8 Buckeyes Friday night in the Crisler Center, with Mason Parris' tech fall over heavyweight Tate Orndorff the deciding factor.

Parris' bonus-point victory came just before intermission, but the meet came down to the very last minute of the meet, when 157-pounder WIll Lewan was awarded the victory — and the dual — by dint of having more riding time after all six sudden victory and tiebreaker periods. Lewan held off Elijah Cleary, who set the pace early but wasn't able to finish on a pair of first-period takedown attempts, to give his team the 18-16 victory.

The win snapped a four-meet road win streak for Ohio State in the series, dating back to Feb. 13, 2009, when Ohio State won 26-17. The Buckeyes are now 7-6 against That Team Up North since Tom Ryan's arrival in Columbus, with four of his seven wins coming on the road.

Ohio State and Michigan did not wrestle last year, a decision by Big Ten schedulers that Ryan did not support.

"Coach Bormet and I have discussed a home-and-away every year, which is what it should be in wrestling," Ryan said Thursday before the meet. "We wrestle at their place, we wrestle at our place, and it’s a big-crowd event.”

There was no crowd to speak of this season, but the home team held serve despite not wrestling top-ranked Stevan Micic at 133. It turned out not to matter, as Micic's replacement Jack Medley got the job done against Jordan Decatur in one of a couple of matches that could have shifted the momentum firmly in Ohio State's favor.

How It Played Out

No. 7 Ethan Smith opened the night on a high note for the Buckeyes, winning a 4-3 decision over No. 30 Cameron Amine in a match that showcased what a battle the night would be for both teams. The younger wrestler, Amine pushed Smith hard, but the veteran continued to push the pace, and a late-match takedown and rideout sealed the victory.

No. 7 Ethan Smith takes care of business to open a Top-10 scrap between the Buckeyes and Wolverines and he is FIRED UP#GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/Nges9hZNsB

— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) February 13, 2021

No. 3 Kaleb Romero did not wrestle at 174 due to an ankle injury he suffered in practice the week prior to the Iowa and Purdue tri-meet. He choose to face No. 1 Michael Kemerer in a close bout Sunday, but Ryan said Thursday that after not being able to practice for two weeks, Romero would bow out of Friday's contest versus Michigan's No. 2-ranked Logan Massa. Massa upended Fritz Schierl 14-2 for a major decision.

At 184, No. 17 Rocky Jordan wrestled one of his most-impressive matches to date, suffocating Jelani Embree on top for nearly the entire match. Jordan put six points on the board in the first period with the first of two 4-point near-falls, got the second set of 4 in the second period, and then riding time and a pair of stalling penalties gave him the 13-0 major.

No. 24 Gavin Hoffman wrestled one of the better matches in a Buckeye loss on the night, going the distance versus Olympian Myles Amine at 197 pounds. This was Amine's season debut, and a not-entirely-unexpected move up from his previous 184 pounds. The match ended an 8-5 decision in Amine's favor, but the difference was a first-period scramble that gave Amine two points for the takedown and a pair of back points. From there, Hoffman stayed with him, but wasn't able to get a takedown late to make things really interesting.

Hoffman has been trading time with Chase Singletary so far this season, but I think this match is likely one that leaves Hoffman as the starter for the duration. Singletary has had a rough go of it after coming back from a season-ending injury in late 2019 and then dropping down to 197. He hasn't looked the same at the lighter weight, and Ryan acknowledged this week that he's had a particularly tough time coming back from quarantine and getting his groove back on the mat.

After going tit-for-tat through the first four matches, the Wolverines opened it up at heavyweight in the bout that ultimately decided the match. Tate Orndorff is better than a lot of heavyweights, which is why Ohio State was excited to add him to the roster as a transfer this season. But the two-time NCAA qualifier is not on the same level as No. 2 Mason Parris, a monstrously athletic heavyweight who went off in the second period, scoring three takedowns and a 4-point nearfall in the second period to build a 14-2 lead with more than 3 minutes of riding time. He would complete the tech fall in the third period, giving Michigan a 12-7 advantage at intermission.

Ohio State would go on to win three of the final five matches, with No. 11 Malik Heinselman holding off a scrappy Kurt McHenry at 125, Dylan D'Emilio looking really strong against a very talented Drew Mattin at 141, and No. 1 Sammy Sasso giving Ohio State a 1-point lead with a win over No. 7 Kanen Storr at 149.

141 | HUGE win for Dylan D'Emilio on the B1G stage. He earns a 6-5 over Drew Mattin in enemy territory. #GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/ZiNzYdycKr

— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) February 13, 2021

Missed Opportunities

Jordan Decatur came up short at 133 in another match that could have changed the outcome of the dual for the Buckeyes. Tied up at 3-3 midway through the final period, Michigan's Jack Medley scored a takedown and Decatur wasn't able to secure a reversal or break away quickly enough to get the takedown, and Medley won 6-4 with riding time.

But after D'Emilio came up big against Mattin and Sasso nearly put a major on Storr, the meet was within Ohio State's grasp heading into the final bout of the night. Cleary started off strong, shooting early and driving the pace of the match. He had two nice shot attempts that he was unable to finish on the edge of the mat, and those early missed opportunities came back to haunt him later.

He traded escapes with No. 8 Will Lewan in regulation, and did so again through two full sets of Sudden Victory and Tiebreaker periods. With the final score 3-3 after the second set of rideout periods, Lewan was awarded the victory because he had more riding time on the clock.

All in all, Ohio State acquitted itself fairly well against the No. 2 team in the country, considering that the difference was a bonus-point victory and the Buckeyes were down a man currently ranked No. 3 in the country. When facing That Team Up North, however, there are no moral victories.

"Listen, I’m extremely serious about beating them in the dual meet, and the Big Tens and the nationals, and we've done that almost every year as long as I can remember, at least beating them at the Big Tens and the NCAAs,” Ryan said Thursday.

With the postseason firmly in sight now, the Buckeyes will look to get on the right side of the ledger again when it matters most.

Ohio State returns to Columbus for its final dual meet of the season, facing Penn State next Friday, Feb. 19, live on the Big Ten Network.