Kent State University
Cleveland State
Vikings Rally to Spoil Senior Day
2/1/2020 9:20:00 PM | Wrestling
KENT, OHIO- Kent State honored their five-man senior class but Cleveland State rallied back to defeat the Flashes 16-15 on Saturday night at the M.A.C. Center.
The Flashes honored Kade Byland, Lane Hinkle, Shane Mast, Tim Rooney and Cory Simpson in a pre-dual ceremony before taking on the local and conference rival Vikings.
Andrew McNally got things started for the Golden Flashes with a dominant 13-5 major decision to give Kent State the early lead. Shane Mast ended his home career on a strong note, grinding out a 3-2 decision at 184 pounds. Colin McCracken followed suit with a decisive win at 197 pounds at the Flashes raced out to a 10-0 lead through three matches.
Things took a turn in the heavyweight bout as both Spencer Berthold and John Kelby took turns controlling the match. Kelby was the aggressor in the second period, initially earning a fall as time expired in the period. Kent State successfully challenged that the fall happened after the buzzer but was deducted a team point for coming too far out on the mat to do so. Berthold would rally back but lose a 10-5 decision to make it now 9-3 Kent State.
Both Tomas Gutierrez and Tim Rooney were victims of similar, last-second fates. Both wrestlers led late in the third period until a last-second comeback by the Vikings gave Cleveland State a pair of one-point wins. Evan Cheek gave Cleveland State their first lead with a major decision at 141. Kody Komara cut the Vikings' lead to 13-12 with a strong performance at 149 that led to a 7-4 victory by decision. Brady Chrisman lost a tough 2-1 defensive battle to put the Vikings up four with one match remaining. At 165, Kade Byland went out on a high note in his home wrestling career, finishing strong over the final two periods to earn a 10-7 decision, but putting the Golden Flashes one point short in the final outcome.
The Flashes are now 6-10 overall in traditional duals and 2-5 in conference. Kent State is on the road for the final two duals of the regular season. First up is a trip to Mount Pleasant to wrestle Central Michigan next Sunday. The first match is set for 2 p.m.
125 Logan Heil (Cleveland State) over Tomas Gutierrez (Kent State) (Dec 5-4 | 1:02)
133 Justin Patrick (Cleveland State) over Tim Rooney (Kent State) (Dec 4-3)
141 Evan Cheek (Cleveland State) over Cory Simpson (Kent State) (MD 10-0 | 1:14)
149 Kody Komara (Kent State) over Gus Sutton (Cleveland State) (Dec 7-4| 1:14)
157 Nico O`Dor (Cleveland State) over Brady Chrisman (Kent State) (Dec 2-1 | 1:08)
165 Kade Byland (Kent State) over Riley Smucker (Cleveland State) (Dec 10-7)
174 Andrew McNally (Kent State) over Chase Archangelo (Cleveland State) (MD 13-5|2:06)
184 Shane Mast (Kent State) over DeAndre Nassar (Cleveland State) (Dec 3-2)
197 Colin McCracken (Kent State) over Benjamin Smith (Cleveland State) (Dec 8-4 |1:06)
285 John Kelbly (Cleveland State) over Spencer Berthold (Kent State) (Dec 10-5)
failure to control mat (HWT match) -1.0 (Kent State)
Team Score:
Kent State 15
Cleveland State 16
Players Mentioned
