The No. 6 NC State wrestling team defeated Pittsburgh 23-9 on the road in Fitzgerald Field House Friday night. NC State showed off its impressive depth, winning 7 of 10 bouts despite resting two top-10 wrestlers in their respective weight classes.
The Wolfpack (13-1, 3-0 ACC) dominated a lot of the match, and even the bouts that it lost were close. NC State showed that it has the squad to compete for the national title, sitting two of its best wrestlers and defeating Pitt’s (2-9, 0-3 ACC) ranked wrestlers in upsets.
The match began at 149 pounds, with NC State’s redshirt senior Beau Donahue, ranked No. 13, facing off against Robert Lee of Pitt. Donahue took the early lead with about one minute left in the first period with a takedown for two points, and Lee came back with an escape to cut the lead in half.
Lee got a locked-hands penalty as Donahue quickly maneuvered off the mat, forcing the mistake. With the move Donahue also got an escape to take a 4-1 lead. Midway through the second round Lee pulled off another escape point. Lee was aggressive to try and tie the match late as he took Donahue off the guard to get the takedown, but Donahue’s experience allowed him to get the escape to pull out the 5-4 decision.
Redshirt freshman Hayden Hidlay, ranked third nationally, wrestled Taleb Rahmani in the 157-pound division. Hidlay got an ankle-pick takedown on Rahmani early and got another takedown late in the period to get up 4-1 in the match. Hidlay would continue to get takedowns including a vicious pancake takedown that also earned him a near fall to put him up 16-2.
Rahmani would get two takedowns late to make it 16-7. Hidlay picked up a major-decision victory to remain undefeated and is one of just two freshmen in the country who is without a loss in 10 or more matches.
Redshirt senior Brian Hamann was taken down by Jake Wentzel at the end of the first period as time expired for a 2-0 Pitt lead. Hamann, however, would get two points on a tilt to get on top and managed to stay ahead the rest of the period and scored four back points. Wentzel started off the third period with a reversal, but Hamann held him off for a 7-5 win. The Wolfpack had a 10-0 dual score lead over the Panthers after the first three matches.
In the 174-pound bout, redshirt freshman Daniel Bullard got a takedown early on Tommy O’Brien with an inside-leg move. Bullard got another takedown with a side takedown later on. Bullard dominated the match and earned NC State four dual points to put it up 14-0.
Third-ranked redshirt senior Pete Renda, wrestling in the 184-pound division, got an early takedown, refusing to let go of his opponent’s leg and moving up, earning the two points. Renda moved to 18-0 on the season, controlling his match against Gregg Harvey winning by decision 5-2.
In a surprise in the 197-pound division, redshirt sophomore Tyler Johnson was in for redshirt senior Michael Macchiavello, who is ranked No. 6 in the country. Zach Bruce of Pitt picked up his first win of the season on a reversal in the third period to get the Panthers their first dual points of the night.
Senior Michael Boykin faced off against No. 19 Ryan Solomon. Boykin in his first dual match since Nov. 18 got an early takedown. After Solomon tied it 3-3 with 20 seconds left, Boykin scored the winning takedown seconds later, and got his third ranked win this season.
Sophomore Tommy Cox got tripped up early in his 125-pound bout against L.J. Bentley, who got him down by his leg to take the takedown points. Cox would get back an escape point and a reversal to even the score at three but allowed Bentley to escape to give him the lead 4-3. Bentley’s victory would give the Panthers a decision and make the score 20-6.
No. 13 redshirt freshman Tariq Wilson would take on No. 11 Dom Forys in the 133-pound weight class; Wilson conceded the early takedown to Forys, but would get an escape, reversal and a takedown to take a 4-2 lead. Forys would get another early-period takedown in the second, but would give Wilson the escape point to make the score 6-5 late. Forys would also gain the riding-time point to win the match 7-5 and the decision, cutting the dual score to 20-9.’
With the dual won, head coach Pat Popolizio decided to rest senior Kevin Jack in the final match. Jack is the No. 2 wrestler in the NCAA at 141 pounds. In Jack’s place, redshirt junior Jamel Morris would go against Pitt’s No.19 Nick Zanetta. Morris got an early takedown in the period and rode Zanetta the remainder for the remainder. Zanetta got three takedowns in the third period in an attempt to comeback. Morris would get an escape then a takedown and he also got the riding time point to win 12-8 to win by decision and give the Wolfpack a 23-9 win in the dual.
NC State will be back at Reynolds Coliseum next Friday to face off against No. 25 UNC-Chapel Hill.
