North Carolina
Ohio
Carolina Edged By Ohio, 22-20
February 15, 2008 | Wrestling
Feb. 15, 2008
ATHENS, Ohio - North Carolina grabbed a 10-point lead on the strength of a pin by junior heavyweight Justin Dobies, but could not hold off a late rally by Ohio University in a 22-20 loss Friday at the Convocation Center. The Tar Heels dropped to 8-6 with the loss, while the Bobcats improved to 5-15.
In addition to the pin by Dobies, junior Keegan Mueller won his 18th straight bout at 165 pounds with a 10-0 major decision over Kent Smith to close the match. Sophomore Dennis Drury also picked up a major decision with a 13-1 victory over Chris Iammarino at 197 pounds.
With the match starting off at 174, freshman Kyle Kiss, who improved to 16-12, got the Tar Heels off to an early lead with a 5-3 decision over Jacob Ison. After the Bobcats evened the score at three, Drury and Dobies combined to score 10 points to push the UNC lead to 13-3. Drury won his fourth straight match and the eighth in his last nine outings with his major decision to move to 16-10 and 9-3 in duals. Dobies' pin of Jason Marshall was his fifth of the season and ran his record to 24-6 and 13-1 in dual action.
With senior Drew Forshey out with an ankle injury, Carolina was then forced to forfeit at 125 pounds, trimming the lead to 13-9. Ohio then picked up wins at 133 and 141 to take its first lead of the night. Normally a starter at 133, sophomore Danny Lopes wrestled up to 141 pounds in place of normal starter Nick Stabile but suffered a major decision loss to Quentin Lindsey of the Bobcats.
Junior Vincent Ramirez tied the match with a 4-0 decision at 149, but Ohio's Clay Tucker pinned Thomas Scotton in the third period to give Ohio a 22-16 lead it would not give up. Scotton held a 3-1 lead in the match before he was pinned for the first time this season to drop to 15-7 on the year. Ramirez improved to 13-11 with his victory.
Mueller closed the match with a major decision for the final two-point margin. In addition to being Mueller's 18th straight win, the victory also marked his eighth by fall, major decision or technical fall in his last nine bouts. He has allowed just three points to his opponents over this stretch and is now 24-3 and 14-0 in duals.
The Tar Heels are back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. at No. 22 Pittsburgh.
Ohio 22, North Carolina 20 Wt. Result Score/Time 174 Kyle Kiss (UNC) dec. Jacob Ison (OU) 5-3 184 Erik Schuth (OU) dec. Nick Tenpenny (UNC) 3-2 197 Dennis Drury (UNC) major dec. Chris Iammarino (OU) 13-1 HWT Justin Dobies (UNC) pins Jason Marshall (OU) 2:23 125 Heath Allen (OU) wins via forfeit FOR 133 Quentin Keyes (OU) dec. Jeremy Shaw (UNC) 4-2 141 Germane Lindsey (OU) major dec. Danny Lopes (UNC) 12-3 149 Vincent Ramirez (UNC) dec. Kevin Christensen (OU) 4-0 157 Clay Tucker (OU) pins Thomas Scotton (UNC) 5:47 165 #11 Keegan Mueller (UNC) major dec. Kent Smith (OU) 10-0
Players Mentioned
