Wolfpack Wrestlers Nip Heels to Stay Undefeated
Friday's rivalry showdown between second-ranked NC State and No. 8 North Carolina was exactly the kind of match you'd expect from two of the top 10 teams in the nation.
It all came down to one final match.
And with just over a minute remaining in the 285-pound clash of titans between the Wolfpack's Deonte Wilson and the Tar Heels' Andrew Gunning, only one point separated the two.
But instead of holding on to try and run out the clock, Wilson kept shooting, earning a late takedown to send the record crowd of 4,384 at Reynolds Coliseum into a frenzy and State on to a 19-14 victory.
The win keeps the Wolfpack undefeated while extending its winning streak against UNC to seven dating back to 2012.
"You get in these dual meets when there's good rivalries and great wrestling and I think anything goes," a relieved State coach Pat Popolizio said after his team improved to 13-0 for the season (3-0 ACC) by the slimmest of margins.
"You could wrestle this dual meet 10 times and you never know what the outcome is going to be and who's going to step up. (UNC) did a phenomeal job. It's good for wrestling in the state of North Carolina. These are rivalries that are going to get more and more intense."
It's hard to imagine the competition getting any more intense than it was at Reynolds on Friday.
The Wolfpack could have taken the suspense out of the final bout by clinching the match with a win at 197 pounds. But UNC's Brandon Whitman did let that happen, shutting out State's Nick Reenan to set up a winner-take-all duel between Wilson and Gunning.
The buildup began as Whitman was closing out his 7-0 victory to pull the Tar Heels to within 16-14 in team team score.
That left the outcome squarely on the shoulders of Wilson at 285, who may have been the only one in the building that didn't feel the pressure of the moment.
At least, that's what he said.
"I didn't want to let the pressure get to me," the sophomore said after improving his dual record to 6-3. "I saw that coming right after the 197, that it was going come down to me. We prepare for this. It's all or nothing and I've got to give it my everything like I do every match."
Wilson was the aggressor throughout, but it took him until the final 30 seconds of the second period to finally break a scoreless tie when he scored an escape to lead 1-0.
The turning point of the bout -- and the match -- came a few seconds later when Wilson drove his opponent to the mat and appeared to gain control of him before the referee ruled they had gone out of bounds.
A review of the sequence however, reveresed the call and gave a critical two points to the State wrestler, who never trailed again. When the final horn sounded to seal the result, Wilson celebrated by yelling "Not in my house" and flexing to the raucous crowd before being mobbed by his teammates.
"It was huge," Popolizio said of the reversed call. "It was a takedown. We were right there on it. Luckily we have good officials that took the time to review it and did the right thing for the guys out there wrestling."
It was no surprise that the margin of victory was so slim. Both the Wolfpack and Tar Heels are among the best in the nation and fueled by an electric atmosphere in the arena, they wrestled like it Friday.
The teams alternated wins through the first seven matches, with State getting victories from Jakob Camacho at 125, Tariq Wilson at 144 and Hayden Hidlay at 157 and UNC scoring points with Jaime Hernandez at 133, Austin O'Connor at 149, Kennedy Monday at 165.
Among the most significant of those victories was the one by Tariq Wilson, who scored what would prove to be a pivotal. He dominated UNC's Zach Sherman in what was considered a tossup matchup of nationally ranked wrestlers -- Wilson is No. 11, Sherman No. 10 -- to win in a 5-0 shutout.
"(With) the first period being 0-0 tied up, I knew in the second period I had to get things rolling," Wilson said. "When he chose down and I got up, I knew it started feeling in my favor. The crowd was getting amped up, giving me that extra umph and (when) I saw him start to slow down ... I knew the third period was going to be the pivotal point in that match."
Although each team had three wins through the first six bouts, UNC led 10-9 because of the bonus point earned by Monday at 165 when he scored a 20-5 technical fall on State's Tyler Barnes -- who was subbing for injured regular Thomas Bullard.
Bullard's twin brother Daniel got the lead back for the Wolfpack by rallying from an early deficit to beat UNC's Clay Loutt 7-4 at 174 before the second nationally ranked Hidlay brother, Trent, gave State a small cushion it would eventually need by easily defeating Joey Mazzara 14-5 at 184 to set up the final drama.
"This was awesome," Popolizio said. "For the casual fan to be here and see this ... this is what my vision of college wrestling should be like. I've had the opportunity to be in arenas with good crowds and this is as good as anywhere I've ever been."
