Ohio State defeated longtime in-state rivals Bowling Green 41-19 Saturday in a non-conference clash.
Early pressure from the Buckeyes got them on the board within four minutes. The OSU defense forced a knock-on in-goal by Bowling Green, and from the ensuing goalline dropout the Buckeyes put flanker Ian Fairfield in under the posts. Harry Colbert converted. (Correction. Earlier we had Nick Zolikoff listed as the flanker. He was selected as the starting #6 for OSU but was ruled out at game time due to injury. Fairfield, a freshman out of St. Edward HS, was selected instead. We apologize for the error.)
OSU was scoring again soon thereafter. From the restart captain and scrumhalf Vince Carso collected the ball and set up his teammates for a breakaway. Bowling Green's defense stopped it but OSU recycled quickly and Colbert cut through for the second try. He converted and it was 14-0.
Bowling Green responded after Ohio State knocked on the restart. They worked their way deeper into OSU territory and got a penalty. It was emminetly kickable but the Falcons opted for a scrum, made it closer to the line, and from there lock Zach Szepiela crashed over. Jake Kubicki converted and it ws 14-7.
Colbert answered with a penalty goal, but Bowling Green edged closer.
A huge breakaway up the middle by lock Ryan McBride put the second row under the posts, and with Kubicki's conversion it was suddenly 17-14.
Struggling with Bowling Green's pack, Ohio State wasn't getting a lot of ball but they started making inroads with ball in hand. A massive run by fullback Taylor Gleeson saw him touch down in the corner. Colbert slotted the difficult conversion to make it 24-14.
Both teams had chances after that but the half ended at 24-14.
