Ryan Boyd and Kayla Hanley are at the desk for the last episode of the Fall Semester. With this Holiday Special Boyd and Hanley speak about the joyous Ohio Basketball and Hockey teams while ending the show with a Holiday poem. Be sure to watch for a special holiday wish from the OSZ crew!
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A Holiday Poem from Ohio Sports Zone
Twas the night before game day when all throughout Athens
Students were cheering because winning happens
The banners were hung on Court Street with care
In hopes that a winning title would be there
The students were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of trophies danced in their heads
And Kayla in her sweatshirt and I in my jersey
We knew Ohio was going to show no mercy
The out on the field there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my couch to see what was the matter
I grabbed the remote in a dash
Just in time to hear the 110 play such a smash
The moon on the breast of the newly laid turf
Showed the colors of green and white on the surf
Then what to my wandering eyes should appear
But a bobcat team showing no fear
Then a little old coach, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it must be Frank Solich
More rapid than flashers his courses they came
And he whistled and shouted, and called them by name
Now Tettleton! Now Blankinship! No Boykin and Foster
ON Weller! On Bass! ON Lewis and Carpenter!
To the end of the field, to the end of the zone!
Now touchdown, Now touchdown! Let’s get the ball thrown
He sprang to his sideline to his team gave a whistle
All their hard work was sure beneficial
Although this game has yet to roam
Happy Holidays to all, from all of us at Ohio Sports Zone
More classes mean more Ohio Sports Zone
Last weeks show is brought to you by Kayla Hanley and Taylor Petras for an extra week of Ohio Sports Zone. This week is a recap on the women’s volleyball team and swimming and diving. Taylor Greik and John Kocsis join set to discuss the news of Ohio Football and Ohio Men’s Basketball.
Be sure to watch tomorrow’s show for our new annual Christmas episode! Ryan Boyd and Kayla Hanley will be bring you the holiday spirit of the Ohio Bobcats sports.
Ohio wrestling grabs comeback win from Eastern Michigan to finish weekend with a split
By Taylor Greik
Going into their two home matches this weekend, the Ohio Wrestlers knew they had two “grind-it-out” matches ahead of them. They took on #12 Central Michigan on Saturday and Eastern Michigan on Sunday in the Convocation Center.
Central Michigan was a tall task for Ohio to overcome, the Chippewas were ranked #12 in the nation and not to forget, the defending Mid-American Conference champions. The Bobcats took it on the chin Saturday, falling 23-12.
The match started with a marquee match-up at the Heavyweight division, featuring #4 Jarrod Trice and Ohio’s Jeremy Johnson, ranked #14 in the nation. Johnson found himself down early in this match and was never able to recover. Trice dominated the match by beating Johnson with a 3-1 decision. This really set the tone for the Chippewas as they started the match by beating Ohio’s best wrestler.
With the 3-0 advantage, Central Michigan was then able to rip of four more wins in a row to take the 17-0 lead. This proved to be too much of a lead to overcome for the Bobcats, despite some strong performances from their Middle-Weights.
Ohio seemed quite dead at this point, but Freshman Spartak Chino gave Ohio the jolt they needed with a 3-1 win in overtime. Spartak, aka “Sparty”, found himself down 1-0 going into the third when Lucas Smith was called for stalling with less than a minute to go. That was all the momentum Sparty needed, as he scored a thunderous take down in the extra period to put Ohio on the board.
The energy from Chino’s victory seemed to be contagious, as Harrison Hightower was able to win the very next match 9-4. This was a huge win for the team and Hightower himself because Harrison beat the defending conference champion Mike Ottinger. It’s also important to know that Ottinger came in ranked #20 in the 165 pound weight class. Hightower wrestled with fierce tenacity, as he really dominated this match, scoring two take downs and three back points.
“I’d like to think that I pumped him up a little bit, but he went out there and wrestled great. I don’t really like to think about it that I started it because he works really hard, but maybe I gave him a little bit of a spark” Spartak Chino on the Ohio momentum swing.
“Going into the match, I knew it was a big match, the kid was ranked in the top 20 so I knew I had to pull out a big win for our team” said Harrison Hightower.
After Hightower, 174 pound freshman Cody Walters remained undefeated on the season with a 5-3 overtime win. This was the third straight win, in the match, for Ohio as they cut the Chippewa lead to only eight points with two matches to go.
The teams split the last two bouts as Central Michigan finished off Ohio in the 184 bout.
Ohio had nothing to hang their heads about since they only lost by 11 to a top 15 team. Also, three of four Ohio’s victories came from freshman and the other came from Hightower, who is a sophomore.
“Going into the match, it was just about wrestling as hard as you can for seven minutes and winning or losing would take care of itself. For us wrestling seven freshman, I thought it was a great dual for us” said Ohio coach Joel Greenlee after the loss.
Sunday was a new day for Ohio, as they notched an exciting victory against Eastern Michigan. The match started at the Heavyweight bout, for the second consecutive night, and Jeremy Johnson had no problem with this match-up.
#14 Jeremy Johnson convincingly beat Chris Eggert 12-4 to pick up the four team points that come with a major victory. Johnson dominated with three take downs in the first period and one in the second and third period respectively. Johnson now moves to 10-3 on the season and looks to continue building his top 15 ranking in the weeks coming.
“You can’t think about the night before if you have a match the next day. If I came out here and said ‘oh I lost last night’ and felt sorry for myself, I wouldn’t have gotten it done. I knew I had to come out and get bonus points for my team and that’s what I did” Jeremy Johnson after going 1-1 on the weekend.
Unlike the night before, the Bobcats were not able to ride the momentum from their first win, as they dropped their next three bouts by a combined 30-16 score.
Looking to get his team back into the picture, 149 pounder Andrew Romanchik got the Bobcats going again with a close 6-4 decision victory.
“Sparty” Chino could not keep the flow from last night going as he dropped his match 3-0 to Aaron Sulzer.
As this match began to develop a “see-saw” feeling to it, Harrison Hightower picked up another huge win for Ohio, beating Jacob Dorulla 3-0. Hightower won his second match in as many nights, to cut the Eagles lead to 10-7.
Another wrestler who has caught fire for Ohio is 174 pound freshman Cody Walters. Walters gave Ohio a one point lead with a 9-2 major decision win. Walters now improves to be 12-0 on the season and starts out 2-0 in conference duals.
After Phillip Joseph gave the Eagles another lead, the stage was set for 197 pounder Phil Wellington. Wellington has been a little under the radar for Ohio in this young season, but he really put his name out there in this match. The Ohio freshman jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the first and it was tied at two going into the third. This match went right down to the wire as Wellington escaped the clutches of Anthony Abro with 38 seconds left to score the final point of the match. With his win, Ohio grabbed three more team points, giving them the 17-16 victory.
“Phil’s a beast. He’s trained hard all year long, he even spent the summer here and has done everything he’s supposed to” Coach Joel Greenlee on Phil Wellington.
“Some matches got out of control, like Phil’s, but he kept his composure and was good for the win. I was pretty confident having Phil out there to go out and seal the win for us” Jeremy Johnson on Phil Wellington’s late win.
Ohio has a lot of young talent on this roster and it was evident in both matches this weekend. In the weeks to come, Ohio has their next dual match versus Appalachian State on December seventh, then a couple of tournaments around the holidays. Those include the Reno Tournament of Champions and the Southern Scuffle, before the team encounters more conference duals in January.
“I think we’re pretty good. We’re young, but we fly under the radar for most teams so we just have to gear up for App State next week and start thinking about Reno” Jeremy Johnson looking forward to the next few matches.
“In all honesty, Reno is one of the tournaments we try to peak for. Our whole early season is geared towards that. That’s a ranking tournament, as I look at it. You go there and do well, you’ll get ranked as individuals and you’ll get ranked as a team” Coach Joel Greenlee looking forward to Reno.
The Bobcats seem to be on the upswing and Bobcat fans sure do hope that they peak, as coach Greenlee mentioned, at this point in the season.
Bobcats battle Bonnies until whistle is blown
By John Kocsis
The Ohio Bobcats edged out the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 69-64 to win their 15th consecutive game at home.
Overall the game was sloppy. The Bonnies had 20 turnovers and 21 fouls and the Bobcats turned the ball over 12 times to go along with their 22 fouls. The Bonnies shot 56% from the free throw line and the Bobcats shot 65%.
The Bobcats started off lethargically, until they hit a string of three consecutive three pointers with about five minutes to go in the first half. Going into the second half, the Bobcats led 37-29 and St. Bonaventure guard Eric Mosley was the high point man with 12 points. DJ Cooper had eight first half points and four assists.
In the second half the Bobcats fell behind again, not regaining the lead until late in the half. After they lost the lead with 10 minutes in the half, they did not regain a multiple possession lead until there were 20 seconds left in the game.
There was a dog pile on the floor of the Convocation Center over a loose rebound that the Bobcats recovered, and after that, the game was sealed.
Mosley finished with 19 points and fellow guard Chris Johnson, who leads the Bonnies in average points per game, had 17. Bonnie center Youssou Ndoye turned the ball over seven times in his two point and six rebound effort.
Cooper led the way for the Bobcats with 16 points, but Walter Ouffet scored 14 points and Nick Kellogg added 13. The top performer for the Bobcats may have been on the defensive end of the floor. Jon Smith, who scored six points and had four rebounds, had a total of four blocked shots and three steals.
The Bobcats, who are ranked 13th in the NCAA in field goal percentage, averaging 50.9% from the floor, shot 46% compared to the Bonnies 47.7%. St. Bonaventure was on fire from behind the arc, shooting 57.1% on 8-14 shooting—that was higher than their free throw percentage.
Ohio will travel to Moon, Pennsylvania to play Robert Morris Saturday Dec. 1.
Bobcats hope to win 15th straight in the Convocation Center
By John Kocsis
Tomorrow night, the 5-0 Ohio Bobcats will play the 3-1 St. Bonaventure Bonnies at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
Saturday the Bonnies beat Niagara 80-75. Senior Chris Johnson led the way for St. Bonaventure, scoring 19 points for the third consecutive game. He averages 16.5 points per game.
The Bonnies sole loss was at the hands of the 3-1 Canisius Golden Griffins November 17. The Golden Griffins overcame a 37-32 first half deficit to win the game 72-69. Canisius went on a 10-4 run in the final 6:23 seconds to close out the game.
The Bobcats are trying to finish their six-game home stand to begin the season undefeated before heading off to Moon, Pennsylvania to play Robert Morris (3-4) Friday at 7. Coincidently, Robert Morris is the last team that Ohio lost at home to. Since then, they have won their last 14 home games by an average of 16.3 points.
This year the Bobcats have an average margin of victory of 24.6 point per game. Saturday, the Bobcats routed Richmond (4-2) 73-48. Both of the Spiders losses are away– the other was against Minnesota.
The Bobcats should not have too much trouble getting their 15th consecutive home victory as they have better statistics in every single offensive category and their defense allows 14 less points per game than the Bonnies. Ohio averages 77.4 points per game to St. Bonaventure’s 71.5, average 17.8 assists to 15.3 and shoot .509 from the field compared to .440. Ohio’s field goal percentage is ranked 14th in the nation and their assists per game is 18th.
Some of St. Bonaventure’s key players are senior forward Demitrius Conger, who averages 14.5 points per game, 3.5 assists per game and a team high seven rebounds per game, Johnson, who averages 16.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game and junior Matthew Wright, who averages nine points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game and 3.8 assists per game.
The Bobcat to watch for against St. Bonaventure is senior Ivo Baltic, who ranks second on the team in points, rebounds and assists, with 12.4, five and 2.4 respectively.
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