College Wrestling: Ohio State shows its power in win over Rutgers

PISCATAWAY - The depth of the Ohio State lineup was too much for Rutgers University as the Buckeyes recorded a 29-11 victory on Sunday in a Big Ten Conference match before a crowd of 5,109 at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

The Buckeyes, who are ranked No. 2 in the country behind Penn State, the defending national champion and the national champion six of the last seven seasons, won the first four bouts and seven of the first eight seven bouts to build leads of 19-0 and 26-5.

Ohio State did not allow Rutgers, ranked No. 17, to score an offensive point in the first seven bouts it won. Nine of the 10 Buckeyes who wrestled on Sunday are ranked in the top 11 in the country.

"That's a really, really good team,'' said Rutgers' coach Scott Goodale. "I've been watching college wrestling for a long time. I think of the teams from Iowa in the '80's. Top to bottom - and maybe I'll be saying the same thing come January 28 when we wrestle Penn State (in front of what will be a capacity crowd at the RAC), but that's (Ohio State) one of the best wrestling teams I've really ever seen from top to bottom with a top 10 guy at every single weight class.

"I know Minnesota had 10 All-Americans back in 2001, but these guys have 10 guys who are in the thick of it. They really are.''

And one of the Buckeyes' big guns - redshirt senior 125-pounder Nathan Tomasello- did not wrestle. Tomasello is ranked No. 1 in the country, was the 2015 125-pound national champion and is a three-time NCAA Top 3 finisher.

Tomasello made his season debut Friday at Maryland after being sidelined with an injury until then with a knee injury.

With Tomasello's absence, fans were not able to see what could be a potential NCAA championship bout with Tomasello and Rutgers sophomore Nick Suriano.

"I don't think anything about it,'' said Suriano, when asked what his mindset was at wrestling freshman Braken Mead instead of Tomasello. "I'm here. I've never ducked anyone. I'm here. I'm here doing what I do. I take everyone the same way.''

Suriano, who won by technical fall 24-9 over Mead in the fifth bout of the match, was the only Scarlet Knight to score in the first seven bouts. Suriano had 11 takedowns in his bout.

The other two Rutgers' wins were ones that will help their seeding in the Big Ten Tournament March 3-4 at Michigan State.

Redshirt senior 149-pounder Eleazar DeLuca recorded a dramatic-come-from-behind 12-7 win over No. 5 Ke-Shawn Hayes and redshirt senior 165-pounder Richie Lewis defeated Te'Shan Campbell, who is ranked in the 7-11 range, 5-2, in the final bout of the match.

"There's little battles in these type of matches that you have to win. Good for those guys (DeLuca and Lewis),'' Goodale said.

DeLuca, a transfer from Northern Colorado, brought the house down, with his hard-to-believe win over Hayes.

The final minute of that bout created a roar that could be heard down Route 18 in New Brunswick.

DeLuca threw Hayes to his back twice in the final minute, including one in the final 10 seconds. He had two six-point moves off the two throws.

Hayes was leading 7-6 on the riding time point when DeLuca tossed him to his back the second time.

"It (the throw) was there because I made it there,'' DeLuca said. "I put myself in that position to throw. That's what I do.''



Goodale pumped his fist to the crowd after the bout was over.

DeLuca was pictured with his tongue hanging out after he threw Hayes to his back for the second time.

"That's just for the fans,'' said DeLuca, when asked about wagging his tongue.

With about a minute left and Hayes ahead 6-0 with the riding time point, DeLuca, ranked in the the 16-19 range nationally, threw Hayes to his back for the first time and appeared to have Hayes flat and pinned.

"Right away I did,'' said DeLuca, when asked if he thought he had Hayes pinned. "But, he made the adjustment. My arm was stuck in there a little bit under his shoulder blades so I couldn't really adjust correctly. So, when he got back up to his feet. I was like, 'Got to go again.'''

Hayes eventually got out and still had the lead with the riding time point.. He had built the lead by riding DeLuca out the entire second period and turning him in that period for four backpoints. He then escaped early in the third period.

Lewis, a former Toms River High School East star who is ranked in the 9-15 range, broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown midway in the third period. He got another takedown in the final seconds.

"He's adjusting to that weight,'' said Goodale, about Lewis, who has moved up to 165 pounds in the last month from 157. "He had to really gut out a finish. He did a really good job at riding and then he ran around one (to get the second takedown). That's sticking to a game plan. That's a good job. He's going to have win matches like that going forward.

The match started right in Ohio State's wheelhouse at 174 instead of the traditional start at 125. A start at 125 would have given Rutgers early momentum with Suriano and gotten the crowd involved from the start.

The Buckeyes four upperweights are ranked in the top three with two ranked No. 1, including two-time defending national heavyweight champion and Olympic and World gold medalist Kyle Snyder.

"We don't like to draw (the starting weight). They wanted a draw (for the starting weight),'' Goodale said.

Pins by Snyder and 2016 NCAA 174-pound champion and Penns Grove native Myles Martin (184) highlighted Ohio State's start that enabled it to build the 19-0 lead after four bouts.

Snyder concluded the run when he threw Razohnn Gross to his back with 1:01 left in the third period.

Martin pinned Jordan Pagano with a tight cradle 27 seconds into the bout.

Suriano, who became Rutgers' first-ever Midlands Champion Dec. 28 and is ranked No. 2 in the country, had three takedowns in the first period and four in each of the second and third periods.

Suriano, who transferred from defending national champion Penn State last summer could become Rutgers first-ever national champion March 15-17 in Cleveland.

An ankle injury sustained last February prevented Suriano from wrestling in both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments last season. He did defeat defending national champion Darian Cruz of Lehigh last season before he was injured.

Steven Falk: 732-643-4267; sfalk@gannettnj.com