DURHAM — The wrestling team came away with a hard-fought victory against Duke Wednesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium in its first conference match of the year.
N.C. State (5-5, 1-0 ACC) topped Duke (4-5, 0-1 ACC) by a final score of 27-10, though the sizable lead did not come until a late tear by the Pack.
The first match of the night, in the 149-pound class, took only 58 seconds before Wolfpack sophomore Darrion Caldwell pinned Mike Bell of Duke to put the Pack ahead by a score of 6-0.
However, State lost three straight matches after that and fell behind 10-6. Redshirt freshman Ray Ward, redshirt junior Jalil Dozier and senior Randy Goodman all lost full-length matches before the Pack finally got over the hump with a comeback win by Ryan Goodman in the 184-pound match.
From then on, State won every match, several in a dominant fashion. After Goodman’s win, the Pack’s performances became more definitive each time before the match finally concluded with the team scoring 21 unanswered points.
Freshman Darius Little, who was hit in the eye twice by Duke’s Bryan Gibson in the 133-pound match, quickly responded by sending him to a loss with two bloody nostrils.
On the whole, the victory was very pleasing and promising, according to coach Carter Jordan.
“It’s always good to get the first one,” Jordan said.
“We wrestled real well. Duke’s got a nice team. I was impressed with their team. And we beat them, so I feel real good about how we wrestled tonight.
According to Caldwell, the closer matches and the comeback victory for the team were both good omens.
“We had a few matches that could have gone either way,” Caldwell said.
“But we fought through the tough matches, and that shows that we have the heart to compete when the intensity picks up. And that’s going to be a big plus for us.”
Junior Mark Jahad said the victory was the product of hard work by the entire team.
“We had a tough week of practice, real solid practice, and we came in expecting to win,” Jahad said.
“All year we’ve been working on the little things that make the big difference, as well as really hustling in every position.”
The hustle and effort were a point of emphasis for the first conference match, according to Jordan.
“I told the guys I wanted a lot of effort when we came here tonight,” Jordan said.
“I told them to trust our shape and the way we work, and we hung in there after getting down early. When you’re in great shape and you train really hard, you have the ability to overcome mistakes, and that’s a heck of an asset.”
