The Bobcats top Northern Iowa 20-18 in an intense MAC regular season finale.
For the past month, 133-pound junior Kagan Squire watched all of Ohio’s matches from the sideline due to an injury.
Friday evening at The Convo, Squire pinned Northern Iowa’s Leighton Gaul in the second-to-last match of the dual. Squire’s pin resulted with cheers from the crowd and vocal student section, and gave the Bobcats a 20-15 lead and eventual 20-18 Mid-American Conference victory.
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The student section stormed the mat after the buzzer sounded to end the match, celebrating a Senior Night victory in which Ohio honored three seniors: Harrison Hightower, Kyle O’Donnell and Tywan Claxton.
“The crowd did a great job of getting everyone pumped up, especially me,” Squire said. “It was my first match in over a month, I just wanted to go out there and help the team win.”
Even after Squire’s pin, the Panthers still had a chance to tie or beat the Bobcats. Northern Iowa was not able to get the technical fall or pin needed for victory, and Ohio hung on for the win.
“The score’s tied up at that point essentially, and we get a fall (with Squire), now anything can happen except get pinned in the last match and we win the dual,” coach Joel Greenlee said of the final bouts. “I got a lot of confidence in Joel (Shump).”
The Bobcats started the match off with a victory by decision from 149-pound redshirt junior Claxton. Ranked No. 12 nationally, the win raised his record to 24-3 on the season.
No. 8 Cody Walters, 174-pound redshirt junior, raised his record to a team high 25-1 earning a decision for his 19th-straight victory.
Following two straight losses, the Bobcats responded with three consecutive victories, including major decisions by 184-pound redshirt junior Andrew Romanchik and 197-pound redshirt junior Phil Wellington.
“When we lost 157 I thought we were in a bit of trouble,” Greenlee said. “The rest of our guys responded well.”
Wellington, ranked No. 17 nationally raised his record to 20-5 and let him stay unbeaten in MAC competition.
Greenlee, coaching against his alma mater, felt that his team competed hard and deserved the win on Senior Night.
“We don’t have 10 great guys on our team right now, but we have 10 good guys,” Greenlee said. “Northern Iowa is the same way, a lot of it’s about matchups. Some of those guys went out there and fought hard.”
The Bobcats will travel to Morgantown, West Virginia next Sunday to take on the Mountaineers with only two dual meets left in the season before the MAC Championships.
Having won three of its last four dual meets, the Bobcats will look to continue to do the things in Morgantown that put them back in the thick of the MAC standings.
“You always just focus on what you gotta do to win,” Squire said. “If there’s an opportunity there to get bonus points that’s what we need to do.”
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