Coming into Sunday’s wrestling dual meet between No. 18 Ohio State (5-6 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) and No. 6 Penn State, top heavyweights for each team were undefeated.
OSU featured No. 1-ranked Tommy Rowlands, while Penn State boasted No. 2 Pat Cummins. One man would leave St. John Arena unbeaten.
Unfortunately for OSU, it was Cummins.
Cummins defeated Rowlands 3-2 in the marquee matchup, while Penn State notched a close 20-14 team victory over the Buckeyes.
“That dual was so winnable for us,” OSU coach Russ Hellickson said. “We should have won seven matches. I thought we could win five, but we had three guys win that I wasn’t expecting to win.”
Cummins took a two-point lead with a takedown early in the first period and neutralized Rowlands’ attack the remainder of the match. Rowlands said he was surprised by Cummins’ aggressiveness.
“In the past, he’s waited for me to get tired before he got offensive,” the senior said. “I was taken a little off guard by his offense in the first period.”
Cummins said it was part of his plan.
“That’s something I’ve been working on all year, just trying to come out and be more aggressive right off the bat,” Cummins said.
Rowlands hoped to achieve OSU’s first undefeated season since Rex Holman’s 29-0 campaign in 1993.
“It’s definitely a bump in the road, but that’s not my ultimate goal,” he said.
OSU took an early 8-4 lead on the strength of decisive wins by senior John Clark (165) and sophomore Anthony Magistrelli (174). Senior Blake Kaplan (184), who came into the match with a 27-3 record, suffered a difficult loss. He led Penn State sophomore Eric Bradley 4-2 with 30 seconds left in the match when Bradley scored a takedown and 2-point near fall to pull out the victory.
The Buckeyes received wins from unexpected sources. Freshman J.D. Bergman (197) continued his winning streak with a 13-9 defeat of Penn State sophomore Joel Edwards, who had been ranked No. 17 in the country.
“It felt real good to come back and get the win,” Bergman said. “I think I’m coming around.”
OSU trailed 17-11 when the most exciting match of the day occurred in the 141-pound weight class. OSU freshman Theo Dotson notched the biggest win of his career when he defeated No. 19 DeWitt Driscoll 12-11. With the crowd chanting his name during the third period of his pivotal match, Dotson broke a 10-all tie by taking down Driscoll with only 15 seconds left on the clock.
“I was ready to win,” Dotson said. “My teammates, they were all behind me. I looked over and I just couldn’t let anyone down.”
By the final match, the Buckeyes were within striking distance at 17-14. Senior Jeff Ratliff, however, was dominated by Penn State freshman Matt Storniolo.
Rowlands was quick to accept responsibility for the loss.
“We’ve got three fifth-year seniors losing matches they were in positions to win,” Rowlands said. “You’ve got to put the blame on those guys, and that’s myself included.”
Hellickson agreed.
“For the seniors, it was a pretty disappointing day,” he said. “The seniors lost four out of five matches – not good. If we’d have won this dual, I would have still been upset because I had some guys that didn’t wrestle the way they are capable of wrestling.”
