Ohio State Pulls Away from Bowling Green in Rivalry Match
Ohio State Pulls Away from Bowling Green in Rivalry Match
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.
Early in the second half BGSU was in scoring position thanks to a nifty play from Kubicki at flyhalf, but Ohio State stopped them and then turned the tables. A steal off a lineout led to a 90-meter movement with seven offloads before Zolikoff Fairfield finished it off. Colbert was good on the kick to make it 31-14.
Once again Bowling Green answered. and once again Ohio State penalties were a factor. With those penalties they moved in closer and scrumhalf Ryan Niemiller scampered over to make it 31-19 with 15 minutes left.
Ohio State closed it out, however. They handled a Bowling Green attack that got the Falcons close to the line, and once they cleared BGSU seemed to let some frustration get the better of them. It ended up with outside center Tyson Riggins getting a yellow card and Colbert slotting a penalty.
Another yellow card, this time to flanker Kobe Choat put Bowling Green down two players and Ohio State made them pay. Wing Travis Riba raced down the sideline and while he was caught, prop Joey Phipps picked up and was over to make it 44-19.
And that's how it ended. Ohio State put their foot on the neck when they needed to against a very good Bowling Green side.
—Reporting by Brian White and Harrison White
