Ohio State Wrestling (2015/2017/2018 B1G Champs, 2015 National Champs, 2019 National Runners-up)

[RB07OSU]

Speaking of Sammy...he showed up at a practice last week to wish the guys well and someone asked him
if he'd be back next season . Don't have the exact quote but in typical Sammy bravado he said something like
"I'll be back next year even if I have to wrestle on my knees".
Yeah I goofed on the Bouzakis match, he did win 7-6 over Gonzales. Last second TD if I recall correctly. I'm pretty sure
both him and Mendez held back a bit to get their work in.

I saw that Ryan quoted him saying that when Sammy was in the hospital and I believe him...I just feel for him so much, can't believe such a stupid random act of violence happened to him like that. But he is hard at work recovering and I'm not going to dwell on it any more than that. Glad he is alive and has a positive attitude.

Thanks for the clarification, I just read the final score and was making sure. Our lineup gets so much better if Gonzales can make 125 and have Nick at 133...was pretty surprised to see Gonzales at 133, thought he held his weight and looked comfortable at 125 last year.

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[Akron Rick]

Last weekend at the Clarion Open the season got underway. Lots of Buckeyes were entered in the tournament and even Sammy Sasso
was there to support the guys as an (unofficial) coach. There were some real encouraging signs and a few not as much. #125 looks like it will be a weak spot as the two expected (Kilkeary and Gonzalez} were 1st round eliminations. Also Bouzakis was upset and did not look god at all. I think he was taken down like 3 or maybe 4 times. Also bad news for Kharchla as he was injured and had to default. On the positive side Mendez
and Gallagher took titles as well as D'Emilio and Feldman. And a couple newcomers that really looked good were Ryder Rogotzke, Brandon
Cannon, and Rocco Welsh who is an animal and also won his weight class. Rogotzke is going to be FUN to watch. He has a plethora of moves and is always looking for the fall. I think they said he was the all-time leader in pins in Minnesota prep wrestling. The Bucks may be about a year away from being a really special team if they can get Marcus Blaze committed and Ben Davino should be the #125 next year.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Last weekend at the Clarion Open the season got underway. Lots of Buckeyes were entered in the tournament and even Sammy Sasso
was there to support the guys as an (unofficial) coach. There were some real encouraging signs and a few not as much. #125 looks like it will be a weak spot as the two expected (Kilkeary and Gonzalez} were 1st round eliminations. Also Bouzakis was upset and did not look god at all. I think he was taken down like 3 or maybe 4 times. Also bad news for Kharchla as he was injured and had to default. On the positive side Mendez
and Gallagher took titles as well as D'Emilio and Feldman. And a couple newcomers that really looked good were Ryder Rogotzke, Brandon
Cannon, and Rocco Welsh who is an animal and also won his weight class. Rogotzke is going to be FUN to watch. He has a plethora of moves and is always looking for the fall. I think they said he was the all-time leader in pins in Minnesota prep wrestling. The Bucks may be about a year away from being a really special team if they can get Marcus Blaze committed and Ben Davino should be the #125 next year.

 

[RB07OSU]

Last weekend at the Clarion Open the season got underway. Lots of Buckeyes were entered in the tournament and even Sammy Sasso
was there to support the guys as an (unofficial) coach. There were some real encouraging signs and a few not as much. #125 looks like it will be a weak spot as the two expected (Kilkeary and Gonzalez} were 1st round eliminations. Also Bouzakis was upset and did not look god at all. I think he was taken down like 3 or maybe 4 times. Also bad news for Kharchla as he was injured and had to default. On the positive side Mendez
and Gallagher took titles as well as D'Emilio and Feldman. And a couple newcomers that really looked good were Ryder Rogotzke, Brandon
Cannon, and Rocco Welsh who is an animal and also won his weight class. Rogotzke is going to be FUN to watch. He has a plethora of moves and is always looking for the fall. I think they said he was the all-time leader in pins in Minnesota prep wrestling. The Bucks may be about a year away from being a really special team if they can get Marcus Blaze committed and Ben Davino should be the #125 next year.

I looked at the brackets and it looked like Blaze actually wrestled at 125 in the open (didn't know a HS kid could do that), and beat Ramos from Purdue to make it into the finals? If so, that is unreal to a HS kid to beat the #1 wrestler in college...Ramos is the one that upset Spencer Lee at NCAA's for everyone's reference and is preseason #1 in college. We have to land Blaze.

For those who got titles, all did so in dominant fashion and that is encouraging. Welsh winning is awesome, I am super high on him...bummer Kharchla just can't stay healthy though. Wilcox also got runner up and appears to have done well.

On the negatives, I would echo all that you said and that Shumate at 184 was not great to see...maybe Ryder gets the call instead? May be one where it starts with Shumate and if it looks like we might actually be able to make a run we may go with Ryder, though I agree that I think we are a year off (especially due to Sasso and if Kharchla is seriously injured).

 

[Akron Rick]

Going up against highly regarded Va.Tech tonight in the first dual of the season... here are the matchups per the OSU site
125 McCrone (OSU) vs.Venestra
133 Bouzakis(OSU) vs Latona
141 Mendez(OSU) vs.Mason
149 D'Emilio (OSU) vs. Henson
157 Gallagher (OSU) vs. Andonian (his hs teammate and one of his best friends)
165 Wilcox (OSU) vs. Brady
174 Welsh (OSU) vs. Lewis
184 Shumate or Rogotzke (OSU) vs.Fisher
197 Geog (OSU) vs. Smith
285 Feldman (OSU) vs. Catka

Interesting that not really too much of either lineup here is set in stone due to injuries and/or coaches decisions. The best matches may be
157 and 133 and I'm looking to see how Feldman and Geog do in the heavy matches. BTW the video feed is ESPN PLUS.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Impressive 21-12 win on the road!!

Of note:
McCrome took out #4 Ventresca 11-4
Wilcox took out #16 Brady
Rogotske pinned Fisher

 

[RB07OSU]

Incredible win! Great job Buckeyes. Lots of great performances but McCrone was unbelievable in his upset, Mendez is a monster, Wilcox came up huge in the clutch, Rogotske looked excellent out there, Geog was clutch, and then Feldman finished out a great night even though he didn't have to win. Lots to be excited about, especially our young guys.

 

[Akron Rick]

Several thoughts...1.whoever lit that fire under McCrone better report to Ryan Day tomorrow because the f.b. Bucks offensive line
could use some of that! 2. Bouzakis had a bad weekend last week but he turned it on tonight in the 3rd period and almost upset#4 Latona.
I think Nick will be alright. 3.Mendez had one of their unranked guys and he did what you're supposed to do to an inferior opponent.
4.D'Emilio had their 2nd highest ranked wrestler in Henson but he'll learn from it and be all right. 5.Paddy was aggressive and although his "buddy"beat him 7-4 I'm real encouraged by how much better he looks this year.In fact if Andonian didn't hit that great stepover counter on Paddy he might've won. 6. Huge upset #2..Wilcox defeats heavy favorite Brady with 3rd period rally. 7. Surprised that Kharchla was cleared to play and he gave #3 Lewis all he wanted. Lewis actually should have been called for stalling at the end as he was just running around the mat avoiding contact for at least the last . 8. 40 seconds. 8. My favorite match of the night. I thought Shumate was wrestling #21 ranked Fisher but Rogotzke showed up. Too bad for Fisher who was totally dominated by Ryder ln his first dual. Guy has a great double-leg take down and his motor is exceptional. 9. Luke Geog won a 11-7 dec.over #14 Smith to clinch the dual, and 10.our long wait to see Feldman finally happened
in a last sec. 3-2 take down win over Catka. Great win over higher ranked side. I think Coach Ryan will sleep good tonight.

 

[RB07OSU]

Several thoughts...1.whoever lit that fire under McCrone better report to Ryan Day tomorrow because the f.b. Bucks offensive line
could use some of that! 2. Bouzakis had a bad weekend last week but he turned it on tonight in the 3rd period and almost upset#4 Latona.
I think Nick will be alright. 3.Mendez had one of their unranked guys and he did what you're supposed to do to an inferior opponent.
4.D'Emilio had their 2nd highest ranked wrestler in Henson but he'll learn from it and be all right. 5.Paddy was aggressive and although his "buddy"beat him 7-4 I'm real encouraged by how much better he looks this year.In fact if Andonian didn't hit that great stepover counter on Paddy he might've won. 6. Huge upset #2..Wilcox defeats heavy favorite Brady with 3rd period rally. 7. Surprised that Kharchla was cleared to play and he gave #3 Lewis all he wanted. Lewis actually should have been called for stalling at the end as he was just running around the mat avoiding contact for at least the last . 8. 40 seconds. 8. My favorite match of the night. I thought Shumate was wrestling #21 ranked Fisher but Rogotzke showed up. Too bad for Fisher who was totally dominated by Ryder ln his first dual. Guy has a great double-leg take down and his motor is exceptional. 9. Luke Geog won a 11-7 dec.over #14 Smith to clinch the dual, and 10.our long wait to see Feldman finally happened
in a last sec. 3-2 take down win over Catka. Great win over higher ranked side. I think Coach Ryan will sleep good tonight.

There were a ton of great performances to single just one out, but I'm with you that Ryder's match was the most thrilling. Really explosive on his feet and his only speed is go. Reminds me a TON of Kollin Moore...here's to hoping he has a similar career. I was also super impressed by Geog, I'll admit I hadn't followed or watched him much, so that was a breath of fresh air...looks like he'll be a good one. Then Feldman really polished off the night with incredible effort to win at the last second...that Catka did is enormous and not an ounce of fat it seemed, plus he is very talented, so great win for Feldman. Unfortunately I missed the McCrone match, hopefully I can find it somewhere, totally would have expected VTech to get bonus there.

 

[Akron Rick]

Unfortunately I missed the McCrone match, hopefully I can find it somewhere, totally would have expected VTech to get bonus there.

Yeah I was thinking mismatch for sure at 125, I was right in a way...it WAS a mismatch! McCrone wrestles like that all year it's problem solved.

 

[RB07OSU]

Yeah I was thinking mismatch for sure at 125, I was right in a way...it WAS a mismatch! McCrone wrestles like that all year it's problem solved.

Here's to hoping, but I can't help but think it was an uncharacteristically good match. No knock on him and it was a great win, but he's lost a lot of matches to unranked opponents. He didn't place at Clarion last week. I thought Gonzales would be at 125, must be a weight issue because no way he's beating out Bouzakis there. Hopefully McCrone is just finding his game though, having a legit 125 would be a great surprise.

 

[Akron Rick]

Here's to hoping, but I can't help but think it was an uncharacteristically good match. No knock on him and it was a great win, but he's lost a lot of matches to unranked opponents. He didn't place at Clarion last week. I thought Gonzales would be at 125, must be a weight issue because no way he's beating out Bouzakis there. Hopefully McCrone is just finding his game though, having a legit 125 would be a great surprise.

I agreed with your thoughts on McCrone until his 2nd straight win today as he pinned his opponent from Edinboro St. in 1:05 of 1st period. Of course everyone else in the lineup either pinned or teched in the biggest blowout I've ever witnessed. Well, almost everyone... score was 53-0.

 

[RB07OSU]

I agreed with your thoughts on McCrone until his 2nd straight win today as he pinned his opponent from Edinboro St. in 1:05 of 1st period. Of course everyone else in the lineup either pinned or teched in the biggest blowout I've ever witnessed. Well, almost everyone... score was 53-0.

Yeah Edinboro is in for a rough year haha. I want to see McCrone against a couple more ranked guys before I get too excited, but nice start to the year for sure.

 

[Akron Rick]

Yeah Edinboro is in for a rough year haha. I want to see McCrone against a couple more ranked guys before I get too excited, but nice start to the year for sure.

Forgot that some of the freshmen + sophs wrestled Saturday at the Mich.St.Open. (freshman/sophomore division). Brock Herman took the title at 149# and Andre Gonzales took 2nd in the 133# division losing a tiebreaker to Michigan's Ragusin 7-6. Vinny Kilkeary took 3rd at 125# and
Gavin Brown finished fourth at 149# while Hogan Swenski was 5th at Heavy. Next varsity match will be Sunday at noon vs. Columbia
and then finish off the double-dip with Hofstra at 4pm. Columbia match on ESPN Plus and Hofstra match on You Tube.