The 184-pound freshman Ryder Rogotzke claiming his victory after defeating Michigan’s No. 15 Jaden Bullock 21-0 Jan. 26 at the Covelli Center. Credit: Alayna Lopez | For The Lantern
No. 6 Ohio State (15-2, 7-1 Big Ten) cruised past Michigan State (9-5, 2-5 Big Ten) at Jenison Field House Friday night 38-7 in its last dual meet of the regular season, while allowing just three takedowns.
The Buckeyes presented eight freshmen and defeated the Spartans in eight of 10 matches in their visit to East Lansing, Michigan, topped by three fall wins, two technical falls and a major-decision victory.
“We have a young team and the young guys are awesome,” senior 149-pound wrestler Dylan D’Emilio said. “My message to them is to believe; they are animals. They just need to trust who they are, they are all very talented and can do big things.”
Redshirt freshman Brendan McCrone’s regular-decision victory 4-1 over senior Tristan Lujan at 125 kicked off the dual meet. The initial matchup was taken to sudden victory, decided by McCrone’s takedown.
The 133-, 184- and heavyweight contests were fall wins for Ohio State
At 133, No. 10 freshman Nic Bouzakis pinned Andy Hampton in the first period to give Ohio State the first fall win of the night and bring the total score to 9-0.
The No. 23 freshman Ryder Rogotzke pinned No. 15 senior Layne Malczewski in the 184-pound matchup for his 13th fall win this season.
“Ryder is a unique wrestler,” head coach Tom Ryan said. “He had 193 pins in high school, the pin record in the history of Minnesota high school wrestling. He has a mindset in which he wants to pin in every position, and that puts a lot of stress on his opponents.”
The 141- and 149-pound matchups were technical fall wins for the Buckeyes.
At 141, No. 3 sophomore Jesse Mendez had his ninth technical fall win of the season against No. 27 senior Jordan Hamdan by 19-2, topped by four takedowns and a four-point near fall, to put the score at 14-0 for the Buckeyes.
The second technical win of the night was handled by No. 10 D’Emilio against redshirt freshman Braden Stauffenberg 20-3, followed by five takedowns and a 4-point near fall, for a 19-point lead over the Michigan Spartans.
Michigan State took the 157- and 165-pound contests.
No. 20 senior Chase Saldate’s major-decision win over unranked freshman Gavin Brown by 9-0 in the 157- matchup put Michigan State on the board for its first 4 points of the night.
At weight 165, No. 9 senior Caleb Fish defeated unranked freshman Carter Chase by 5-0, followed by one takedown and a riding point, for the Spartans’ second win of the night to bring it 19-7.
“Super proud of Carter,” Ryan said. “I’m not surprised that he competed with that type of effort.”
In the 174-pound contest, No. 11 freshman Rocco Welsh took over unranked senior DJ Shannon by a 14-4 major-decision win, topped by four takedowns.
In the second to last match of the night, unranked freshman Seth Shumate’s regular-decision win over unranked freshman Remy Cotton by 10-3 at 197 pounds, gave Ohio State 3 more points for a 32-7 lead.
To close the regular season, following six takedowns, No. 7 freshman Nick Feldman pinned sophomore Josh Terrill in the heavyweight contest to bring the final score to 38-7.
“We’ve got great depth in the team,” Ryan said. “We really suffered with injuries, but the team is so committed to what they are doing that the next guy in is able to compete at a high level.”
Ohio State will have some days off before postseason wrestling begins in the first week of March.
