The Flashes (10-5), now ranked No. 17 by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, will host the 3-4 Clarion Golden Eagles.

The 157-pound class matchup between Kent State’s No. 16 Matt Cathell and No. 12 James Fleming has been called off, as Cathell returned home to Delaware due to a death in the family. Cathell (12-5) had recorded three major decisions over the past three weeks. Kent State coach Jim Andrassy said sophomore Mallie Shuster (5-5) will fill-in for the absent Cathell.

In the following 165-pound class match, Kent State junior Ross Tice (21-9), ranked 24th, will matchup against Clarion’s 29th-ranked junior Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (18-6).

Kent State’s third place leader in career wins, Dustin Kilgore, will take on Clarion’s 197-pound No. 32 Alex Thomas (13-8). The No. 5-ranked Kilgore (26-2) is coming off a pin last Friday against Northern Illinois junior Mike Lukowski.

Though Kent State has won the last six matchups, Clarion leads overall 12-7 against Kent State. Last year the Flashes led a late comeback to keep this winning streak alive. Trailing 15-10, the Flashes won the last five matches to pull a 24-15 road win. This year’s Golden Eagles finished first out of ten teams at the PSAC Championships.

“As long as we go in there and wrestle our best we’ll be fine,” Andrassy said.

Friday’s match is broadcast locally on TV2 and streamed live at Kentstatesports.com and live stats are available at nwcaonline.com nwcaonline.com. Gohiocasts.com offers the video Saturday.

Contact Alex Atkinson at [email protected].