West Virginia Wrestling

WVU Comes From Behind to Top Ohio

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (February 15, 2015) – Trailing 16-8 with three bouts remaining, the West Virginia University wrestling team won three in a row, including back-to-back major decisions, to top Ohio University, 19-6, on Sunday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.

It marked the first win at home for the Mountaineers (8-8, 0-3), who have seen the WVU Coliseum just three times this season. They now lead the Bobcats (8-6, 4-4) in the all-time series 35-17-1.

“We didn’t know where we were going to start at, but I was pretty happy starting at 141,” said Mountaineer head coach Sammie Henson. “Mike (Morales) is pretty much a guaranteed win for us. The way he wrestled on Senior Night, I knew he wanted to go out on top and he did a great job. A.J. (Vizcarrondo) has been wrestling better every week, and Cory Stainbrook wrestled an unbelievable match today. He’s been doing the things we’ve asked – (Zeke) Moisey and Bubba (Scheffel), too. We’ve had a quite a few matches where they’re doing the right things, following our system and that’s more important to me. Taking what we’ve practiced in the practice room and getting it done out here.”

With WVU trailing 16-15 at the start of the final match, Cory Stainbrook recorded his third major decision of the season with an 8-0 win over Josh Parrett at 133 pounds to give the Mountaineers the victory. Stainbrook led 2-0 with more than two minutes of riding time after the first period and rode Parrett out through the second to keep the lead with more than four minutes of riding time. Starting down in the third, Stainbrook registered a reversal and a trio of nearfall points before adding the point for riding time in earning the major.

No. 13/16 Michael Morales got West Virginia off to a strong start with a 16-0 third-period tech. fall of Joel Shump at 141 pounds. Morales scored an early takedown, then added five back points throughout the rest of the period to lead 7-0 following three minutes of action. He escaped in the second to record a takedown and three more nearfall points for a 13-0 advantage entering the third. Shump chose to start neutral, and Morales registered the takedown 20 seconds in for the tech. fall.

Roman Perryman dropped a 4-1 decision to Cullen Cummings at 149 and Bubba Scheffel (157) lost a 7-3 decision to Spartak Chino as Ohio took a 6-5 lead. Harrison Hightower earned a 3-0 decision over Ross Renzi at 165 and No. 9 Cody Walters (174) took a 10-1 major decision from Parker VonEgidy to make it four straight for the Bobcats, who took a 13-5 lead.

Bubba Scheffel claimed a 3-1 decision over Andrew Romanchik at 184, scoring a first period takedown and an escape in the second for the win. He added three points to the board to cut the WVU deficit to five at 13-8.

No. 17 Phillip Wellington won a 4-2 decision over Jake A. Smith at 197 pounds, putting the Ohio lead back up to eight at 16-8.

A.J. Vizcarrondo started the comeback at heavyweight, winning a 2-0 decision against Jesse Webb. Scoreless after one period, Vizcarrondo got on the board with an escape in the second. He started on top in the third, and rode Webb out to pick up the riding time point and cut the WVU deficit to five as the Mountaineers trailed 16-11.

Zeke Moisey won his third straight major decision at 125, earning a 17-8 victory over Zak Hassan. Moisey scored five takedowns in the first period for a 10-4 lead. Hassan escaped in the second then registered a takedown of his own before surrendering an escape, though Moisey continued to lead 11-7 through five minutes of action. Moisey scored five more points in the third, with an escape and a pair of takedowns, before adding riding time for the major. The score set up a winner-takes-all bout at 133 with WVU trailing 16-15.

Prior to the start of the match, the West Virginia honored Morales, Brutus Scheffel, Perryman, John Pellegrino, Greg Thurston and Mickey Bennett as part of the squad’s annual Senior Day.

The Mountaineers will host No. 15 Edinboro at the WVU Coliseum on Friday in an 8 p.m. dual. They will close out the regular season on Sunday when they travel to Pitt for a 2 p.m. match.

West Virginia 19 Ohio 16
141: No. 13/16 Michael Morales (WVU) tech. fall Joe Shump (Ohio), 16-0 (5:19)
149: Cullen Cummings (Ohio) dec. Roman Perryman (WVU), 4-1
157: Spartak Chino (Ohio) dec. Brutus Scheffel (WVU), 7-3
165: Harrison Hightower (Ohio) dec. Ross Renzi (WVU), 3-0
174: No. 9 Cody Walters (Ohio) major dec. Parker VonEgidy (WVU), 10-1
184: Bubba Scheffel (WVU) dec. Andrew Romanchik (Ohio), 3-1
197: No. 17 Phillip Wellington (Ohio) dec. Jake A. Smith (WVU), 4-2
HWT: A.J. Vizcarrondo (WVU) dec. Jesse Webb (Ohio), 2-0
125: No. 20 Zeke Moisey (WVU) major dec. Zak Hassan (Ohio), 17-8
133: Cory Stainbrook (WVU) major dec. Joshua Parrett (Ohio), 8-0

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