Ohio State redshirt sophomore Carson Kharchla stares down freshman Cale Hoskinson during the Ohio State-Notre Dame College match Nov. 23. Ohio State won 51-0. Credit: Casey Smith | Assistant LTV Sports Producer
The Ohio State wrestling team continued its undefeated season after a dominant performance over Pittsburgh Sunday.
The No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) rallied to a 30-7 victory over the No. 22 Pittsburgh Panthers (3-2).
The dual started at the 125-pound division, where Ohio State senior No. 14 Malik Heinselman earned a 5-2 decision victory over Pittsburgh’s No. 25 redshirt-senior Gage Curry.
Going into the third period tied two apiece, Heinselman was awarded an escape before a late takedown to come away with the victory.
After dropping a match, the Buckeyes got back on track, picking up four straight wins from redshirt sophomores 141-pounder Dylan D’Emilio and 165-pounder Carson Kharchla, and redshirt juniors 149-pounder Sammy Sasso and 157-pounder Jashon Hubbard. The wins created a significant 17-4 lead for Ohio State.
Among those victories was No. 2 Sasso, who was dominant in his performance with a 21-6 technical fall against Pittsburgh’s redshirt junior Luke Kemerer.
Sasso had his first loss of the season a weekend ago at the Cliff Keen Invitational. He fell in the finals to Cornell’s No. 1 junior Yianni Diakomihalis.
Ohio State’s associate head coach J Jaggers said the loss would only help Sasso going forward.
“We wanted that match to happen to get Sammy the best competition he could,” Jaggers said. “Sammy will take what he needs from the loss and flip the script the next time around.”
The Buckeyes wouldn’t let up from there as No. 6 redshirt senior Ethan Smith kept the action going after the break, picking up a 26-8 technical fall over redshirt junior Hunter Kernan at the 174-pound division.
Redshirt senior No. 10 Kaleb Romero followed up with a 10-2 decision over redshirt senior No. 31 Gregg Harvey.
This was the third time that the two met, with Romero winning the previous matchups.
Before the match, Romero noted that Harvey would give it his all to pick up the win.
“He’s a tough competitor and wrestles hard. You can’t take anyone lightly in Division I wrestling,” Romero said. “Having two wins over him, I know he was going to come out and give it his all.”
This was Romero’s first dual match of the year, coming off of an injury. Last weekend he won the Cliff Keen Invitational at the 184-pound division. Jaggers noted that Romero is in for a great season coming off the injury.
“He’s performed well, and we knew he was capable of these performances,” Jaggers said. “He’s been banged up, but now he finally has those opportunities to compete against great competition.”
The Buckeyes did what they set out to accomplish, entering the holiday break undefeated.
Jaggers said he wants the Buckeyes to have a “quiet confidence” in their performances.
“We wanted our guys to head into Christmas break 4-0 with confidence that they can achieve more,” Jaggers said. “We want a quiet confidence and can’t let any ego slow us down.”
Ohio State and Pittsburgh have now met 23 times, with Ohio State leading the all-time series 14-9. On Nov. 15, 2019, the teams last met at Pitt, where the Buckeyes picked up a 23-12 win. The Buckeyes have won seven of the last eight meetings.
Ohio State will next compete Jan. 3 against American University in Washington, D.C., before opening up conference play against Michigan State Jan. 8.
