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Indiana Holds Off Ohio State In Lansing

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Indiana Holds Off Ohio State In Lansing

From ohio State's Twitter feed, the teams prepare for the 2nd-half kickoff.

Indiana held off a late Ohio State charge to win Game 1 of the two-game Battle For The Mitten challenge in Lansing, Mich. Friday night.

The game was part of a doubleheader that also included Michigan vs Michigan State. Both games were held at the baseball stadium for the Lansing Lugnuts minor league team.

Ohio State led early thanks to a penalty goal from Conor Forestal and then a try from Mike Kwarteng—Josh Leidich made the key line break for that.

Indiana, meanwhile, was coming away empty even with some pressure on the Ohio State line. The Hoosiers had a kickable penalty missed before the Kwarteng try.

But things changed for IU right after that try. An Indiana player was hit in the air on the restart, and IU pressured from there, and eventually a strong scrum shove from IU set up freshman No. 8 Russell Lemaster, formerly of HS rugby powerhouse Royal Irish, to pick up and go over.

The teams battled hard after that but Ohio State held the lead 8-5 at the break.

Another Royal Irish product, front-rower Andy Guhl, scored for IU early in the second half, capping off some good pressure from the Hoosiers. Mike Nettleton converted and it was 12-8 Indiana.

Moments later, Case Fleck burst through ahd fed Nettleton for the fullback to score. He converted and it was 19-8. Ohio State replied, with Kwarteng once again getting involved. This time his break set up Ben Richards for the try and a 19-13 scoreline with about 20 to go.

Indiana once again answered a score with a score. Iason Terezis made the break and Nettleton was once again right there for the offload and the try. That made it 24-13, and a few minutes later Nettleton would add a penalty goal for a 27-13 lead. Ohio State would need two converted tries to tie it. They got one. That made it 27-20, and there was time for more, but Indiana defense just held.

With the victory Indiana improved to 2-0 in the Big 10, while Ohio State dropped to 1-1. IU has Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, and Purdue left on its conference schedule. Ohio State also has four games left: Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.