NC State wrestling defeated Brown 29-10 in a special match in PNC Arena Saturday afternoon. The Wolfpack started off slow as Brown won the first two bouts but bounced back to take control of the match.
Wolfpack (10-2) freshman Colin Lawler started off the afternoon in the 285-pound bout, falling to Brown’s Ian Butterbrodt 4-0. Redshirt freshman Zurich Storm then followed in the 125-pound bout falling 8-4 after three rounds giving Brown an early 6-0 lead in the match.
The Wolfpack was not put off by the early deficit, going on to win three bouts in a row by technical fall. Redshirt senior Sean Fausz started the streak winning the 133-pound bout 17-2, before redshirt senior Jamel Morris won the 141-pound bout by 16 points. Graduate Justin Oliver rounded out the streak with a 19-4 win in the 149-pound bout.
“We have an environment where we always want to do better than whoever went out before us,” Oliver said. “Score more points, get a quicker tech fall so in the 141 we got a tech fall in the first period so that was a little hard to top, but it’s definitely a lot of momentum. We thrive off of each other and we always want to one-up each other and do better, so it kinda drives us to get those tech falls and score more points and win these matches.”
NC State continued its dominant streak with another three bout wins in a row before Brown ended that in the 184-pound bout. Along the way, redshirt sophomore Hayden Hidlay won the 157-pound bout 16-8, redshirt sophomore Thomas Bullard won the 165-pound bout 17-5 and redshirt sophomore Daniel Bullard won the 174-pound bout 4-2.
In the 184-pound bout, Brown was able to stop the Wolfpack landslide as C.J. LaFragola beat redshirt junior Roderick Davis 14-5 in a major decision. However, it was too little too late for the Bears.
The Wolfpack rounded out the match in style with redshirt senior Malik McDonald winning the 197-pound bout thanks to a 2-point takedown which gave him a 5-4 advantage late in the third period.
For Wolfpack wrestling, PNC Arena is not a familiar venue as the team usually competes in Reynolds Coliseum. However, for head coach Pat Popolizio, the change of venue wasn’t an issue for his team.
“Reynolds is one of the best venues you can have for college wrestling,” Popolizio said. “This is a great atmosphere to be in and it’s good exposure for our sport to grow it because if someday we get a big huge dual where we can grow our fanbase, it’s a perfect venue and someday to have the NCAA Tournament. That’s the ultimate goal.”
The NC State wrestling team will next face-off against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Jan. 3 at 1 p.m. back in Reynolds Coliseum.
