(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
TEMPE, Ariz. — The No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils proved it can compete with any team in the country following a narrow 22-17 defeat at the hands of the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at Wells Fargo Arena.
The crowd played a huge role in the meet. “The crowd, it’s critical. We can’t win without them,” coach Zeke Jones said.
Not only was the crowd buzzing, but ASU’s entire team cheered each other on in support during the intense matches.
“It’s a good feeling knowing that we’re a close knit group and that we’re always cheering for each other,” Zahid Valencia said.
ASU’s 125 lb. No. 9 ranked Ryan Millhof started off the dual meet against the Buckeyes by dominating Brady Koontz with an 18-1 tech fall victory, giving the Sun Devils an early 5-0 lead.
The 133-lb., 141-lb., and 149-lb. matchups were all decided by major decisions in the Buckeyes favor, with Josiah Kline (133) falling to No. 5 Luke Pletcher 16-6, Cory Crooks (141) falling to No. 2 Joey McKenna 12-0 and No. 11 Josh Maruca (149) falling 18-8 to No. 3 Micah Jordan.
Those three matches were tough for Kline, Crooks and Maruca, but they made them hard fought and tough.
“They fought hard, even though they went down, they just didn’t lay down. They kept battling back, hustling to the center, fighting as hard as they could and we needed to weather that storm until we got to our stars,” Jones said.
These major decisions gave Ohio State the 12-5 lead going into the 157 lb. matchup between Christian Pagdilao and No. 7 Ke-Shawn Hayes.
Pagdilao led for most of his match against the Buckeyes’ Hayes, but his upset bid fell short when Hayes scored two points off a takedown on Pagdilao within the last 30 seconds of the match, sealing Hayes’ 4-3 victory.
The Sun Devils went into the intermission trailing Ohio State 15-5.
After the intermission, ASU’s All-Americans started to turn the tide in the Sun Devils favor. No. 8 Josh Shields (165) picked up a decision victory over Kaleb Romero, cutting Ohio State’s lead to 15-8.
No. 1 Valencia (174) continued his dominance by defeating No. 11 Te’Shan Campbell in a 5-2 decision victory, bringing the Sun Devils within striking distance 15-11.
ASU looked to continue its momentum with No. 19 Kordell Norfleet (184) taking on Ethan Smith. Norfleet gave the Sun Devils its first lead since the first match of the meet by pinning Smith.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t pull it out, but it at least put us in striking distance. That’s all you can do sometimes,” Norfleet said of his pin.
ASU went into the 197 lb. and Heavyweight matches with a 17-15 lead.
Ohio State quickly regained the lead when Kevin Snyder took a 12-3 majority decision over ASU’s Chad Porter, giving the Buckeyes a 19-17 lead.
The Sun Devils were within striking distance heading into the Heavyweight match. Brady Daniels and Chase Singletary battled until the end, with Singletary taking a 3-1 decision victory over Daniels.
Although ASU took the defeat, there is optimism things will improve for the team.
“I’m just excited for the future. I think we have a lot of potential and room to grow,” Valencia said.
The Sun Devils travel to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville to compete in the SIUE Cougar Clash on Dec. 2.
