Feb. 15, 2008

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ATHENS, Ohio-The Ohio wrestling squad split a pair of matches Friday evening in the Convocation Center. The Bobcats defeated North Carolina 22-20, but lost to West Virginia 28-13.

North Carolina's Kyle Kiss began the evening with a 5-3 decision over Ohio sophomore Jacob Ison (Batavia, Ohio) at 174 pounds to make the score 3-0 Tar Heels.

Ohio freshman Erik Schuth (Spencerport, N.Y.) then evened the match with a 3-2 decision over UNC's Nick Tenpenny at 184 pounds after falling behind 2-0 in the early going. Schuth improved to 10-14 overall with the victory.

Dennis Drury put UNC up 7-3 by registering a major decision (13-1) over Ohio freshman Chris Iammarino (Lyndhurst, Ohio) at 197. Drury scored the first five points of the match on a takedown and a near fall and cruised to victory from there.

UNC went up 13-3 when Justin Dobies won by fall over Ohio sophomore heavyweight Jason Marshall (West Liberty, Ohio) with 37 seconds left in the first period.

The Bobcats made the score 13-9 when freshman Heath Allen (Bellefontaine, Ohio) scored a win by forfeit at 125 pounds to begin a string of three straight wins for the Bobcats. The match was Allen's second victory of the season.

Redshirt freshman Quentin Keyes (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) pulled Ohio back within one (13-12) when he scored a 4-2 decision over North Carolina's Jeremy Shaw at 133. Keyes opened up a 4-0 lead on a pair of takedowns and held off a late charge by Shaw to secure the victory.

Freshman Germane Lindsey (Cincinnati, Ohio) continued the seesaw affair by placing the Bobcats in the lead by a 16-13 margin after he scored a 12-3 major decision over Danny Lopes at 141 pounds.

North Carolina's Vincent Ramirez held off Ohio sophomore Kevin Christensen (Springfield, Ohio) 4-0 to even the match at 16 with a win at 149 pounds.

Sophomore Clay Tucker (Martins Ferry, Ohio) won by fall over UNC's Thomas Scotton at 1:13 of the third period to put Ohio up 22-16 for his seventh straight win at 157. The pin was a dramatic turn of events as Scotton had jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the match. Tucker improved to 8-7 overall.

11^th-ranked Keegan Mueller of North Carolina defeated Ohio sophomore Kent Smith (Bowling Green, Ohio) at 165 by major decision (10-0) in the final match, but it wasn't enough as the Bobcats pulled out a 22-20 win.

Ison started the match against the Mountaineers in strong fashion by scoring a win by fall at 174 over WVU's Eric Connolly with just 50 seconds remaining in the match to put the Bobcats ahead 6-0. The win improved Ison to 5-2 overall at the weight class.

WVU's Kurt Brenner defeated Schuth at 184 with a takedown with three seconds left in overtime to pull out a 10-8 win to trim the Bobcat advantage to three. Schuth forced overtime by scoring a takedown with just two seconds left in regulation.

14^th-ranked Jared Villers blitzed Iammarino at 197 with a technical fall (17-0) to put the Mountaineers ahead 8-6.

20^th-ranked Dustin Rogers defeated Ohio freshman Tim Samson (Toledo, Ohio) by a 12-5 decision in the heavyweight class to increase the WVU lead to 11-6.

The Moutaineers' Kyle Turnbull knocked off Allen by a 12-1 margin at 125 to push the lead to 15-6 WVU with a major decision.

Ohio's Keyes fired right back and scored a 12-1 major decision over Jared Garvin at 133 to pull the Bobcats within five of WVU at 15-10. Keyes improved to 10-11 with the victory.

Lindsey scored the most exciting win of the day with a 13-11 overtime victory over Stephen Waite at 141. Lindsey was ahead 8-2 in the match before Waite reeled eight straight points. Lindsey scored a takedown with three seconds left in overtime to take the win and improve his mark to 17-12. The victory trimmed the Mountaineer lead to 15-13.

David Jauregui scored a 14-6 major decision over Christensen at 149 to push the margin out to a 19-13 WVU edge.

19^th-ranked Zac Fryling knocked off Ohio's Tucker to snap his seven-match winning streak with a 5-3 win at 157.

WVU's Donnie Jones won at 165 on a forfeit for the final margin of 28-13.

Ohio will be back in action at sixth-ranked Central Michigan a week from Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.