The Kent State wrestling team’s graduate student Jake Ferri earned his 100th career win in a 18-16 loss to Cleveland State on Thursday.

Ferri started the dual in the 125-pounder match and beat Ben Aranda on a 15-4 major decision victory.

The win was Ferri’s 15th of the season and is third on the team in win total. He has never had a season with less than 12 wins.

“He’s done really well and he’s come a long way, but his last three years have been really really good,” coach Jim Andrassy said. “He’s a fighter and a good kid that means a lot to this program and he means a lot to me as a person, and I’m happy that he got 100 wins. Hopefully he can get another seven or eight more.”

Kent State has an 0-12 record this season following the loss.

“I thought we had 10 guys that wrestled pretty hard,” Andrassy said. “We just lost all the close ones. It seemed like all the close ones were our young guys wrestling against their fifth year guys.”

KSU remains in last place in the Mid-American Conference Western Division. The team has an 0-7 record in the MAC.

Cleveland State remains in fourth place in the MAC Eastern Division, following the win. They are 4-3 in conference play and have a 5-6 overall record this season.

Kent State’s 16 points are its second-highest this season, behind its 21-point outing Jan. 14 in a loss to Navy.

Blown lead

Ferri’s win was the first match of the day and gave Kent State an early 4-0 lead.

Cleveland State would cut the lead to 4-3 after the 133-pounder match. Redshirt junior Louis Newell lost to the Vikings’ Jake Manley in a three-point decision.

Newell was wrestling in the 133-pounder matches after wrestling at 141 pounds for the last two seasons.

In the 141-pounder match, freshman Pablo Castro IV earned the first varsity win of his career. He beat Cody Moosman in a 2-1 decision, giving the Flashes three points and taking a 7-3 lead.

Kent State added to its lead in the 149-pounder match. Graduate student Kody Komara defeated Douglas Terry in a 3-2 decision to give KSU three points.

This was Komara’s 16th win of the season and is second on the team in overall wins this season.

Kent State won three of the first four matches of the day, leading 10-3.

Cleveland State took the 157-pounder match when freshman Keegan Knapp lost to Marcus Robinson on a 9-7 decision.

“It was a really good match and I thought he wrestled really well,” Andrassy said. “He has to learn how to win those matches, which he hasn’t yet, but he has to get better at winning those.”

The lead was now 10-6.

Kent State’s lead was cut to one after sophomore Enrique Munguia lost to Daniel Patten in the 165-pounder match by a 3-1 decision.

The score was 10-9.

“I don’t know what’s going on with him,” Andrassy said. “I don’t know where he’s at or where his head’s at. Enrique was ranked as low as 15th in the country, so I don’t know how he wasn’t able to figure out that match and that’s probably the only frustrating match I saw. 165 was a pretty frustrating match for me.”

Sophomore Michael Ferree gave KSU its last win of the night in the 174-pounder match. Ferree’s opponent, JR Reed, had to forfeit the match 14 seconds in, due to an injury.

This was Ferree’s third win of the season. Kent State gained six points, making the score 16-9.

Cleveland State would go on to win the last three matches of the dual.

In the 184-pounder match, redshirt senior Tyler Bates lost to DeAndre Nassar in a 5-2 decision.

“Tyler Bates has wrestled this kid six times,” Andrassy said “He’s never beaten him so it’s not a close one he just lost.”

The loss made the score 16-12.

Cleveland State cut the deficit to one again following the 197-pounder match.

Freshman Blake Schaffer lost to Cleveland State’s redshirt senior Anthony Perrine in a 3-1 decision.

“At 197, there was a sixth-year guy against our true freshman and it went literally down to the wire and they got a takedown with almost no time left to win,” Andrassy said. “It was a really, hard fought match and we gave Blake a good game plan and he did a really good job of executing, he just needs more experience in certain situations and he fought really hard and did a good job.”

The score was 16-15.

In the last match of the night, redshirt senior Jacob Cover lost to Daniel Bucknavich by a 4-2 decision in the heavyweights match.

The loss gave Cleveland State the last three points of the night, making the score 18-16.

Kent State won one of the final six matches of the night.

The 18 points given up is tied for the lowest total this season by the Flashes.

Looking ahead

Kent State’s final dual of the season will be against Bloomsburg at noon Feb. 12 in the M.A.C Center.

Bloomsburg has a 4-9 overall record this season with an 0-4 record against MAC opponents.

The Huskies have won four of their last six games this season putting up 34 or more points in each of its wins.

Kent State is a perfect 3-0 against Bloomsburg all-time with the most recent win coming last season, where the team won 25-16.

The Flashes look to avoid a winless season on Sunday.

“We lost a lot of matches like this- it seems like this has been our whole year,” Andrassy said. “We’re just trying to get a win and have our guys go out there and fight really hard. Hopefully we can get some momentum going into an MAC tournament and go from there.

John Hilber is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected]