Despite being down three starters for the second dual this weekend, the Cowboys tallied six bonus-point victories, along with six points from a forfeit at 133 pounds. OSU turned in four major decisions on the day to go along with a pin from Anthony Collica at 149 pounds and a technical fall from Nick Piccininni at 125.
"Bonus points early on gets your team rolling," Head coach John Smith said. Sometimes, when you're wrestling teams that are a little bit undermanned you can take advantage of that, so it was good to see us do that."
Piccininni got back on track with a 20-5 technical fall on Saturday after a tough loss to ninth-ranked Sean Russell of Edinboro Friday night. Leading, 9-1, over Kent State's Cory Simpson after two periods, the Cowboy redshirt freshman scored five takedowns in the third on the way to an 11-point period to finish off the tech in 6:25, his sixth of the season.
After redshirt freshman Kaid Brock was awarded the win by forfeit at 133 pounds, Ohio natives Dean Heil and Anthony Collica piled on to boost OSU's lead to 21-0.
Heil used three takedowns in the third to finish off a 16-5 major decision over Chance Driscoll at 141 pounds. The win served as the 2016 NCAA Champion's 20th-straight win and boosted his undefeated record on the season to 21-0. Fresh off his 100th career win Friday night, Collica would put the exclamation mark on a hot start for the Cowboys with his second pin of the season, decking Kent State's Tim Rooney in 4:52 to move to 15-1 for his senior campaign.
Davey Dolan turned in the first of two losses for the Cowboys Saturday, as he came up short, 11-5, to No. 30 Casey Sparkman at 157 pounds. Derek White would also drop his match to Stephen Suglio at 197 pounds.
"Our two losses at 157 and 197 just weren't enough," Smith said. "We need to stay in a little better position, and we need to score defensively. We just didn't get it done."
Redshirt sophomore Chandler Rogers had no trouble putting points on the board at 165 pounds, scoring seven takedowns and a nearfall for the 20-7 major decision over Jared Walker. The win was a nice rebound from Friday night against Edinboro, which saw the Stillwater native suffer a fall at the hands of No. 17 Austin Matthews.
Senior Kyle Crutchmer got in on the bonus-point action at 174 pounds, as he handled Kent State's Isaac Bast, 19-6, for his third major of the season. Crutchmer led, 6-2, heading into the third, but opened up the match late with five takedowns in the final frame that would lock up the major decision and his 13th win of the season.
"The coaches have really been stressing putting up points and getting takedowns," Crutchmer said. "Anytime you're on a road trip, it can be a little harder. (Bast) came out firing at the beginning, but you just move forward and push the pace. I ended up scoring a couple of takedowns, which is really good for me at this point in the season."
After gutting out a 10-8 win over Edinboro's Dakota Greer on Friday night, senior Nolan Boyd registered a 7-0 decision over Shane Mast at 184 pounds to improve to 16-3 for the year. Despite only getting the decision, Boyd was in control throughout, as he racked up over six minutes of riding time in the win.
Redshirt sophomore Tanner Allen had an impressive day at heavyweight for the Pokes, as he posted a 10-2 major decision over Devin Nye for the first dual win of his career. Allen jumped up early with a pair of takedowns in the opening period and never looked back, adding a couple more scores in the final frame to finish off the victory.
"That was nice to see," Smith said. "Those guys look forward to opportunities, and I thought he had a good outing against one of the top 10 heavyweights at Edinboro, and I thought he followed it up today with a good outing. You don't often see a heavyweight score four takedowns in a match, so it was good to see and it was a good win for him."
The Cowboys now look ahead to their final weekend of the regular season that will bring Big 12 foes Wyoming and Oklahoma into Gallagher-Iba Arena next weekend. OSU will face Wyoming Friday night at 7:30 p.m., before returning to host the 15th-ranked Sooners on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Results:
125: No. 12 Nick Piccininni (OSU) TF Cory Simpson (KSU) 20-5
133: No. 3 Kaid Brock wins by forfeit
141: No. 1 Dean Heil (OSU) MD Chance Dricoll (KSU) 16-5
149: No. 3 Anthony Collica (OSU) fall Tim Rooney (KSU) 4:52
157: No. 30 Casey Sparkman (KSU) dec. Davey Dolan (OSU) 11-5
165: No. 7 Chandler Rogers (OSU) MD Isaac Bast (KSU) 20-7
174: No. 9 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) MD Jared Walker (KSU) 19-6
184: No. 6 Nolan Boyd (OSU) dec. Shane Mast (KSU) 7-0
197: Stephen Suglio (KSU) dec. Derek White (OSU) 4-2
HWT: Tanner Allen (OSU) MD Devin Nye (KSU) 10-2
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