The No. 3 NC State men’s wrestling team continued its historically dominant season as it defeated the No. 14 UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels 28-8 Monday night at Dorton Arena.
The win marked the seventh-straight match in which the Wolfpack defeated its opponent by 20 points or more. Head coach Pat Popolizio recognized it didn’t matter who it was on the floor, the team could win.
“You wanna win everything you can, that was the goal and it didn’t matter who it was on the mats,” Popolizio said. “Our goal is to go out and compete at our best and control what we can control, and we did that tonight.”
Prior to the meet against the in-state rivals, the Wolfpack crushed the reigning ACC-champion Virginia Cavaliers 35-7 at Dorton Arena, in what could only be described as pure dominance from almost the entire team. Sophomore No. 3 Kevin Jack stated the home crowd has been a huge factor for the matches.
“This is a great atmosphere,” Jack said. “I think this is the most that NC State has had cheering for us. Being able to win that last period and have everyone cheer for you, it’s awesome in here.”
The Pack got things started at the 125-pound and 133-pound weight classes, when fellow redshirt freshman No. 24 Sean Fausz and No. 28 Jamal Morris took the mat against Anthony Bosco and James Szymanski. Both Pack wrestlers handily beat their opponents 11-3 and 13-3, respectively, to put the Pack up 8-0, with Jack coming up at 143.
Jack didn’t get through his matchup as easily as his earlier teammates, trailing 2-1 after one round to Joey Ward. After starting Round 2 with two cautions, Jack tied it and sent the match to sudden victory and then double overtime. He then scored three points at the end of double OT to get the win, 5-3, and put up NC State 11-0. Jack credited his preparation before the match to the win.
“My workout partners and who I get to wrestle against in practice prepares me for stuff like that,” Jack said. “I could feel that he was wearing out while I was feeling good.”
Redshirt sophomore Beau Donahue gave the Tar Heels their first points of the night after being defeated by Evan Henderson 11-2 at 149, but the Wolfpack was still on top, 11-4.
Redshirt senior No. 4 Tommy Gantt took the mats next at 157 against Christian Barber. Gantt began his domination early with two monster takedown slams, to get an early 4-0 lead. Gantt scored six more points to secure the win 10-4, and put the Wolfpack up 14-4 at intermission.
Junior No. 7 Max Rohskopf took the floor following intermission against No. 10 John Staudenmayer in a matchup of two top-10 wrestlers at 165 pounds. Both wrestlers showed that they were evenly matched, as they were scoreless after two rounds. Rohskopf would win after getting an escape early in the third and holding off Staudenmayer, 1-0, giving NC State a 17-4 lead. Rohskopf had confidence that he could pull it out the defensive bout.
“I know when it comes to close matches, I’m going to gut it out,” Rohskopf said. “I’m one of the best in the country when it comes to close matches. At that point, it’s just a matter of who’s tougher.”
Sophomore Nicky Hall took on Ethan Ramos at 174 pounds, falling 14-2, but junior No. 15 Pete Renda suffocated the breath of momentum from the Tar Heels, defeating No. 17 Alex Utley to preserve 20-8 lead for the Wolfpack.
Following a win by sophomore No. 17 Michael Boykin against No. 23 Chip Ness, 11-6, redshirt senior Nick Gwiazdowski would take the mats in the heavyweight bout of the evening against the Tar Heels Cory Daniel with the lead 23-8 in favor of the Wolfpack.
“Gwiz” made quick work of the redshirt freshman, getting two take-downs and two near-falls in the first to grab a 12-1 lead, and eventually getting a tech-fall win 19-2, to secure the Wolfpack victory, 28-8.
Following this match, the Pack has three straight road matches, starting with an ACC tilt against No. 18 Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh Saturday.
