Ohio (2-1) lost the first match of its season to Navy (5-0) on Sunday, 27-12, despite looking strong out of the gate.
Initially, the bout looked promising for the Bobcats as freshman Dominic Hoffarth defeated Midshipmen wrestler Nicholas Vafiadis by decision 8-5 in the 149-pound class. Redshirt freshman Payton Kellar would help Ohio extend its lead after another decision win, taking down Jonathan Ley in the process 4-1.
Navy would bounce back with the help of No. 27 ranked Andrew Cernigla of the 165-pound class, who would beat No. 11 Garrett Thompson through a 7-5 decision.
The highlight of Ohio's night would come from the 174-pound and 184-pound class matches as those matches would see No. 21 Sal Perrine and No. 28 Zayne Lehman pull off upsets against Navy's highest-ranked wrestlers in No. 20 Danny Wask and No. 19 David Key. Perrine would defeat Wask, while Lehman would defeat Key in two matches that ended in a decision.
Despite leading 12-3 with the momentum of two big upsets, Ohio would stagnate and fail to score a single point the rest of the game, giving up 24 unanswered points to Navy.
Ohio's Austin Starr of the 197-pound class lost what was the night's closest bout against Jacob Lucas of Navy by a decision of 4-3.
Navy would dominate the 285-pound class as No. 13 Grady Griess put on a show, winning by a major decision, trouncing Ohio's Jordan Greer 11-2.
Navy would conclude the final three matches with three wins by falls. Navy's Evan Tallmadge would takedown Ohio freshman Ryan Meek using fall 4:10 into the match. No. 22 Brendan Ferretti would defeat Ohio's Paul Woo with a tech fall win 18-2.
With the match seemingly out of reach for the Bobcats at 21-12, the No. 18 ranked wrestler in the 141-pound class, Josh Koderhandt, would finish off the night for Navy by defeating Ohio Sophomore Aidan Waszak utilizing fall 4:59 into the bout.
