COLUMBUS, Ohio -- On a night when the Buckeyes honored 10 seniors, including three-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber, wins by a pair of freshman -- and Stieber -- propelled fourth-ranked Ohio State to a 22-13 victory against third-ranked Minnesota in front of 5,642 fans at The Jerome Schottenstein Center. Ohio State, which has now won eight consecutive matches, improves to 12-3 overall, 8-1 in the Big Ten. Minnesota is 10-2, 6-2.
Friday’s win is the highest ranked opponent Ohio State has defeated since knocking off No. 2 Iowa 21-9 on January 20, 2012. Overall, the Buckeyes have defeated four teams currently ranked in the top 16 -- No. 3 Minnesota, No. 5 Penn State, No. 12 Virginia and No. 16 Michigan.
Redshirt freshman Bo Jordan won his 14th consecutive match of the season in impressive fashion, getting a fall in 4:46 against 17th-ranked Nick Wanzek at 165 pounds to give the Buckeyes a 16-6 lead. For Jordan, the performance built off last week’s showing that saw him pick up technical falls in wins against Purdue and Rutgers.
With the dual meet hanging in the balance, true freshman Kyle Snyder improved his record to 22-2 on the year with a 3-1 victory against fifth-ranked Scott Schiller at 197 pounds. The most anticipated match of the night, Snyder scored the winning takedown with under 10 seconds left in the third period.
Not to be outdone, Kenny Courts also picked up a critical victory at 184 pounds when he scored a last-second takedown in the third period to secure a 3-1 win against No. 11 Brett Pfarr. The back-to-back victories gave Ohio State a 22-9 lead in the match with just the 285 pound match remaining.
Stieber, competing in his final home dual meet in the Scarlet and Gray, led throughout against fourth-ranked Nick Dardanes at 141 pounds, fending off a late rally from Dardanes to hold on for a 10-9 victory. Stieber, now 19-0 on the year and 109-3 in his career, gave Ohio State a 10-0 lead through three matches with the win.
The match started at 125 pounds and Nathan Tomasello ensured a bonus-points victory by rolling to a 19-5 major decision. He scored three first-period takedowns for a 6-2 advantage and didn’t let up in the second, getting a reversal and three more takedowns for a 14-5 edge.
In the next match, the much-anticipated showdown between 10th-ranked Johnni DiJulius and No. 1 Chris Dardanes did not take place as the Gopher senior did not make the trip to Columbus. Instead, Minnesota sent out Sam Brancale. DiJulius had a takedown in both the first and third periods to gain a hard-fought 4-1 decision.
Minnesota won matches at 149 and 157 pounds to cut the Ohio State lead to 10-6 at intermission.
