SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Notre Dame (Ohio) wrestling team took advantage of its depth and experience at the upper weight classes Monday night to come from behind for a 41-6 victory against West Liberty at Murphy Gym.

Coach Mitch Smith's youthful Hilltoppers (4-10) got off to a flying start against the Falcons (5-0) when Zach Brown powered out a 7-5 overtime decision against nationally-ranked Jacob Goodwin at 125 pounds. Goodwin had come into the match ranked No. 8 in the nation.

West Liberty kept the ball rolling at 133 pounds when Bryce Humphries outdueled Notre Dame's Ivan McClay, 17-13, in a highly-entertaining bout to gave the Black and Gold a 6-0 lead.

Notre Dame notched back-to-back falls at 141 and 149 to take the lead for good, 12-6.

The Hilltoppers' David Schlieper had a strong outing against Falcon 157-pounder Jonatan Rivera, taking the defending national champion to the limit only to come up short in a 6-3 decision.

It was all Notre Dame the rest of the way as the powerful hosts closed out the match with two major decisions, a technical fall and a fall. 

The Falcons – who feature seven nationally-ranked wrestlers and two former national champions – picked up a forfeit at 285 to wrap up the scoring.

The West Liberty wrestlers will be back on action on Feb. 6 when they host Shippensburg (Pa.) in a 4 p.m. match at the ASRC.

WRESTLING

No. 1 Notre Dame 41, West Liberty 6

125: Zach Brown (WLU) d. Jacob Goodwin, 7-5, OT

133: Bryce Humphries (WLU) d. Ivan McClay, 17-13

141: Cobey Fehr (NDC) p. Anthony Craig, :40

149: Isaac Dulgarian (NDC) p. Cole Nace, :30

157: Jonatan Rivera (NDC) d. David Schlieper, 6-3

165: Juwan Edmond (NDC) md. DeMadre Turner, 15-5

174: Justan Rivera (NDC) md. Daniel Carpenter, 19-6

184: Joey Davis (NDC) p. Doug Sizemore, 3:13

197: Garrett Lineberger (NDC) tf. Nate Dawson, 17-2

285: Almonte Patrick (NDC) won by forfeit