No. 2 Ohio State (18-1, 7-1 Big Ten) closed out the dual season with a 29-16 win over Maryland (4-9, 0-8 Big Ten) Sunday afternoon at the Stephen M. Schanwald Pavilion at XFINITY Center in College Park, Md.
Ohio State’s No. 2 Nic Bouzakis bounced back from his first loss of the dual season to Penn State’s No. 1 Luke Lilledahl with a thrashing of Maryland’s Abram Cline. Bouzakis jumped out to an early 11-0 lead in the first period and never looked back as a pair of near falls and two takedowns helped him claim a 15-0 technical fall and give Ohio State an early five-point advantage.
No. 2 Ben Davino opened his bout with Maryland’s No. 13 Braxton Brown with two early takedowns and an escape to fuel a 7-1 advantage after the first period. Davino then secured a late takedown to earn an 11-2 major decision, extending Ohio State’s lead to nine.
Ohio State’s No. 1 Jesse Mendez capped off a perfect regular season (19-0) with a win by fall over Dario Lemus. Mendez led 16-7 after the first period, but ultimately pinned the Terrapin at 4:04 to grow the Buckeye lead to 15.
At 149 pounds, Brogan Fielding wrestled in the absence of sixth-ranked Ethan Stiles. However, the freshman was defeated by Maryland’s No. 4 Carter Young via a 14-3 major decision, as the Terrapins cut the lead to 15-4.
With the Buckeyes’ top-ranked 157-pounder, Brandon Cannon, out with an injury and not expected to return until the Big Ten Championships, Ohio State’s Daxton Chase wrestled up to face Mekhi Neal, losing in a tight 4-1 decision as Maryland narrowed the gap to eight.
Ohio State rebounded after the halftime break as No. 16 Paddy Gallagher dominated Maryland’s AJ Rodrigues with a 23-7 technical fall to increase the Buckeyes’ advantage to 16.
In the 174-pound weight class, Ohio State’s T.J. Schierl and Maryland’s Seth Digby found themselves tied at one apiece after three periods before Digby earned a takedown in sudden victory for the 4-1 decision, cutting the deficit to 20-10.
No. 8 Dylan Fishback got Ohio State back on track with a 17-4 major decision over Maryland’s Sepantra Ahanj-Elias to extend the lead to 24-10, and ultimately push the dual out of reach for the Terrapins.
Despite the dual being over points-wise, Maryland’s No. 17 Branson John pulled off an upset over Ohio State’s No. 10 Luke Geog. After a scoreless opening period, John pinned Geog at 4:20 as a Terrapin win by fall pushed the score to 24-16.
No. 3 Nick Feldman finished off the Buckeyes’ regular season in stylish fashion. A dominant first period gave Feldman a 16-3 advantage, before he clinched a 19-3 technical fall win over Maryland’s Joey Schneck to give Ohio State a 29-16 win in its final regular-season match.
The victory marked Ohio State’s best finish to a dual season (18-1, 7-1) since head coach Tom Ryan assumed the role in 2006-07. The Buckeyes also finished with just one loss in 2017-18 (14-1, 8-1).
The WrestleBucks will return to action for the 2026 Big Ten Championships on March 7-8, which will be held at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.
Image courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
