The Kent State wrestling team erased a 12-4 Bloomsburg State lead by winning the final five matches Friday to win 25-16.

The Flashes are now 6-7 overall and 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference, and they are tied for sixth place in the MAC. The Huskies are 8-6 and 1-5 in the MAC, and they are tied for 11th.

“We were down worse than that,” coach Jim Andrassy said. “We had an injury and had to forfeit. [Backup] guys aren’t making weight in a second, so we had no backups. Unfortunately, this happened 30 minutes before we left for the dual. We knew we’d give up six points right away.”

Fifth-year Jake Ferri (20-8) once again had a 16-3 dominant opening match. Ferri had two early takedowns and a four-point near fall to lead 8-1 at the end of the first. He would add on three more takedowns to beat junior Bronson Garber (14-12). 

“Jake wrestled as well as he has wrestled in a long time,” Andrassy said. “He needs to figure out how to get tech fall. Jake continues to get very close to putting the match away but can’t get the final move in..”

Senior Colin McCracken (12-8) won his sixth-straight match 14-2 at 184 pounds. He was able to takedown Bloomberg’s junior Bruno Stolfi (10-12). McCracken had an early takedown and then a four-point near fall to stretch his lead 8-0. He would go on to get another takedown and a nice reversal to secure the match.

Redshirt junior Tyler Bates (11-14) picked up his third consecutive win after beating sophomore David Tuttle (3-14) of Bloomsburg. Bates has an early takedown and a second-round escape to secure his match and win 4-0. In the final round, Tuttle chose to go neutral and couldn’t secure a point.

Redshirt junior Jacob Cover (12-15) upset Bloomsburg’s redshirt sophomore Shane Noonan (15-9) at 285. Cover was able to tie the match 3-3 at the end of the first period, then added another escape and takedown in the second to go up 8-5. In the final round, he added another takedown to win 11-6.

“They were favorites at 174, 197 and heavyweight,” Andrassy said. “McCraken we knew could win, but the kid did a good job at stalling and kept it close. Bates and Cover were picked to lose, and they ended up winning very easily.” 

The other winners of the day for Kent State were

• Senior Kody Komara (12-11) defeated freshman Cade Balestrini 2-0, by decision at 149.

• Redshirt junior Brady Chrisman (13-12) defeated sophomore Trenton Harder 18-6, by major decision at 165.

• Freshman Michael Ferree (10-14) defeated sophomore Matt Benedetti 18-6, by major decision at 174.

“It all goes with the momentum of the match,” Andrassy said. “Momentum is a huge factor, and we definitely had the advantage going into those matches.”

Kent State will have its regular-season final match Friday when it travels to take on Southern Illinois (1-12 overall, 1-5 MAC), which is tied for 11th in the MAC, at 7 p.m. 

Noah Keeney is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].