The Bobcats see their MAC record fall to 0-2, and will hope to rebound with rival Kent State upcoming.
Joel Greenlee put it plainly after Saturday’s meet in The Convo.
“We didn’t look tough,” the Ohio coach said.
Two nights after a dominating performance against Clarion, the Bobcats fell to Central Michigan 19-14. The loss dropped the Bobcats to 0-2 in the MAC and to 4-3 on the season.
Ohio opened the match in a hole, as Central Michigan took a 16-0 lead after four consecutive wins. Spartak “Sparty” Chino, a 157-pound redshirt junior, reversed the slide, however, earning a sudden victory at the midway point of the match.
The Bobcats would then go on to get five straight wins, including redshirt junior Cody Walters’ 14th straight victory, which boosted his record to a team-high 20-1 on the season. Redshirt senior Harrison Hightower also kept a winning streak alive, winning his sixth straight bout in the 165-pound weight class.
After the five straight wins, Central Michigan’s lead was cut to 16-14. The Chippewas would take the match in the heavyweight bout, giving them a three-point victory.
Although Ohio took Central Michigan to the last bout of the evening, Greenlee was disappointed in his team’s performance.
“I think you’re looking at mirror opposites. I think at Clarion we got on a roll and steamrolled them, and we were tough,” Greenlee said. “We looked like we were afraid to be scored on. We looked tentative, we gave them too much respect.”
Greenlee felt that although the team had also wrestled Thursday night, that there was no excuse for the loss on Saturday.
“Tough people do tough things. Yeah sure we wrestled on Thursday night, but Central practiced then drove here so what’s the difference,” Greenlee said. “Maybe that was a tough thing, but we gotta get tougher to do it.”
With the Bobcats in the heart of their schedule, they will look to change their performance in preparation of their upcoming physical MAC schedule. Ohio will begin a streak of three consecutive road matches on Friday against Kent State, which is 5-7 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.
“Right now, the things going through my head are how we can make these guys tougher. I think that’s the thing we need to work on,” Greenlee said.
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