On Sunday, OSU earned its fifth straight win with a dominant 28-7 win against West Virginia.
Here are three takeaways from the dual.
Major decisions showing toughness
Over the course of the year, OSU has been stuck with a lot of close matches and struggling to put matches away. On Sunday, the Cowboys’ prolonging struggles were nonexistent.
Travis Wittlake had a very strong outing in his bout against WVU’s Anthony Carman, as Wittlake tallied three takedowns in both the second and third periods as well as a riding time point, which propelled him to a 16-7 major decision.
Luke Surber continued his success against Austin Cooley. Surber kept his foot on the pedal the entire match, as he scored four takedowns in the final period alone, as well as earning well over two minutes of riding time.
Surber made it sure to wrestle through the entire match, stating, “earlier in the year, I stopped wrestling in a few of my matches” and his focus is to “wrestle all three periods”. Surber won his match in a 14-5 victory, marking his second win by a major decision in the past three matches and his third straight bonus point victory.
Top dominance created extra point opportunities
OSU had no issue finding its bonus points against West Virginia. The Cowboys earned a riding time point in five of its matches, as both Wittlake and Surber found themselves with more than two minutes of riding time after the third period.
Kaden Gfeller and Carter Young were both in tight matches entering the final period of their bouts. Yet, the ability to stay on top for both proved to be crucial advantage points late in their matches, and allowed them to fend off some solid opponents due to their one-point riding time cushion.
Victor Voinovich was also able to add a riding time point in his bout en-route to an 8-3 victory over WVU’s Jeffrey Boyd, and marks Victor’s fourth straight dual win.
Doucet finding offensive groove
OSU heavyweight Konner Doucet faced early season offensive struggles, as he did not record a single takedown in any of the first five duals. However, Doucet seems to be finding his offensive groove in a weight class that offense is typically difficult to come by.
In his bout against West Virginia’s Michael Wolfgram, Doucet quickly took down his opponent in the first period. He was very close to earning more takedowns during his bout. For Doucet, there is a noticeable increase in both his aggressiveness and his confidence in his abilities in neutral.