Press pause on the conference play for a brief moment. Come this Friday, Ohio will face a non-conference opponent for the first time this season.
Although Clarion doesn’t wrestle in the Mid-American Conference, the Bobcats and Golden Eagles have an intertwined schedule for the 2016-2017 season. The two teams have five of the same opponents on their schedules: Campbell, American, Appalachian State, Eastern Michigan and West Virginia.
Ohio (6-5, 4-3 MAC) faced both Campbell and West Virginia to start off its season at the Mountaineer Quad in Morgantown, West Virginia, in early November. Ohio lost to Campbell (23-15) and defeated host West Virginia (25-11). Clarion lost to Campbell the following weekend, only the score differential was two times greater than the Bobcats', as the Golden Eagles lost 28-12.
The other MAC school on both teams' schedules, Eastern Michigan, defeated Clarion 18-16 on Nov. 18, while the Eagles lost to the Bobcats 20-12 in Ohio’s first match of 2017. Clarion has already faced both American and Appalachian State this season, but lost both duals. Ohio will face both American and Appalachian State in its final home meet of the year.
Not only have the two teams seen common opponents, they have seen each other quite frequently over the last few years — seven times to be exact. In that time span, the Bobcats have gone 5-0 (the match in 2012 was postponed due to an undisclosed medical reason and was never rescheduled).
The Bobcats have beaten the Golden Eagles in exceedingly dominant fashion in both 2015 and 2016, by a combined score of 82-9. According to coach Joel Greenlee, there’s a reason behind the rather impressive recent success.
“Clarion used to be a top-10 team in the country year in and year out," Greenlee said. "They have fallen off a little bit because of lack of funding and facilities. I think we have gotten a lot better, and they have really kind of stayed the same.”
This year's Clarion team (4-7, 1-2 Eastern Wrestling League) presents somewhat of a challenge to the young Bobcats.
While they’ve lost, the Golden Eagles haven’t been blown out. Their biggest point differential in a loss was 25 points against conference opponent Edinboro, and in one of their four wins, the lowest score differential was 14 points against conference foe George Mason.
Clarion also brings redshirt sophomore Brock Zacherl to the table. Zacherl is the No. 20 wrestler in the nation in the 141 weight class and has posted a 17-2 record as of Feb. 1. Greenlee said the 141 match this weekend is “the number-one key.”
Typically, redshirt junior Noah Forrider wrestles at the 141 for the Bobcats and is more than likely to get the start for them this weekend.
“We think we are pretty dang good,” Greenlee said of the 141-pound class.
Pretty dang good, indeed. Forrider has posted a 22-3 record this year and has yet to be ranked.
The Bobcats square off against the Golden Eagles Friday in Clarion, Pennsylvania, with the first match slated to begin at 7 p.m.
