The Kent State wrestling team went into Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and toppled the Bloomsburg Huskies 37-5 on Saturday.
The Flashes move to 5-0 all-time against the Huskies and have been winners in three of their last four matchups.
“Everyone wrestled really solid,” coach Jim Andrassy said. “We beat a team that we should have beat, but it’s good to go in there and just take care of business.”
KSU improves to 5-13 on the season. Bloomsburg falls to 4-13.
Total domination
Kent State saw eight of its nine wrestlers on Saturday come away with victories.
Three of those eight wins came from major decisions and two from technical fall.
One of those major decision victories was from sophomore 133 lbs. Pablo Castro IV. He tacked on five takedowns in his 17-4 win.
Castro IV is coming off earning MAC Wrestler of the Week and was impressive again Saturday.
“He missed about a month and a half of time with injury at the beginning of the year, so he’s just starting to get in the groove of things,” Andrassy said. “He’s being more consistent with going out and doing things he should be doing.”
Junior 149 lbs. Matt Ryan had two takedowns in the first period and added two more in the third in his 17-5 win.
Freshman 125 lbs. Adan Benavidez had three takedowns and got the riding time bonus in an 11-3 win, a match including two top ten MAC wrestlers.
The two technical fall wins came from graduate student 174 lbs. AJ Burkhart and sophomore 197 lbs. Blake Schaffer.
Burkhart’s 17-1 technical fall win came with just under a minute left in the third period, a match that he almost ended earlier with near falls.
Schaffer’s match ended early in the third period, which saw him record seven takedowns in the 23-6 rout.
“He’s just the better wrestler, nothing fancy about it, he’s just better than the kid he wrestled,” Andrassy said.
Junior 165 lbs. Aaron Ferguson picked up a 5-0 win, and sophomore 157 lbs. Keegan Knapp won 5-1 in two matches highlighted by defensive play.
Sophomore 285 lbs. Josh Boggan had two takedowns in his 6-3 victory.
The Flashes head home this week and will look to finish off their season on a high note.
Home cooking
Kent State will now put its attention on the dual against Ohio University on Feb. 9.
KSU looks for revenge after dropping its last two matchups against the Ohio Bobcats.
OU is currently 5-4 and 1-4 away from the friendly confines. Ohio is 1-2 in MAC play, and Kent State is 1-4 against the MAC, both teams sitting at the bottom of the west division.
With the last three matches coming at home, the Flashes have hopes to finish the season strong.
“We’re going into all of those as the underdog,” Andrassy said. “Having some home cooking would be a good thing to do in these next matchups and just go out and fight hard; that’s all we’re looking for.”
Andrew Gold is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
