Virginia Wrestling Knocks Off NC State, 23-13
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CHARLOTTESVILLE Va. The Virginia wrestling team took an early lead and never looked back in defeating NC State, 23-13, Saturday night at Memorial Gymnasium. UVa won six of the 10 weight classes to earn the team victory.
Virginia (10-10, 1-2 ACC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a major decision by Calvin Cardillo (Jr., Alexandria, Va.) at heavyweight and never trailed, although the Wolfpack (4-13-1, 0-4) climbed to within one point on two occasions after the 125 and 157 bouts. UVa then won three of the final four matches to clinch the 23-13 triumph.
The featured match of the night, the battle at 141 pounds between No. 18 Nick Nelson (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) of Virginia and No. 19 Joe Caramanica of NC State went to Nelson in a 3-2 thriller. After battling to a 1-1 tie through three periods and overtime, Caramanica held the advantage for all 30 seconds of the first tiebreaker. In the second tiebreaker, Caramanica earned a point on an escape to take the 2-1 lead, but Nelson responded with a late takedown to bring the crowd to its feet and earn a 3-2 decision.
At 133 pounds, Matt Bonson (Fr., Lewistown, Pa.) recorded a 12-4 major decision over Darius Little after scoring a takedown as time expired in the third period to notch the final points needed for the major decision. Mike Sewell (Sr., Bothell, Wash.) had a tough match at 165 with Quinton Godley but scored on an escape in the second period to scratch out a 1-0 decision.
At 174 pounds, Chris Henrich (So., Lansdale, Pa.) posted a 4-3 win over Jacob Burge and improved to 32-1 on the season. The win moves Henrich to within one victory of the top 10 in a single season in UVa history.
At 197, No. 19 Brent Jones (Jr., Burke, Va.) won by forfeit to push his record to 25-5 this season. It marked his 12th win in his last 13 matches.
UVa held an early 11-3 lead after four weight classes before NC State battled back with back-to-back wins to cut the lead to one. No. 3 Darrion Caldwell improved to 29-1 with a 13-3 major decision over UVa’s Peter Ferrara (Sr., Doylestown, Pa.) at 149 pounds, and No. 19 Cody Hamrah followed with a 5-0 decision over UVa’s Jedd Moore (Fr., Mount Vernon, Ohio).
UVa wrestled without Rocco Caponi (Sr., Uniontown, Ohio) at 184 pounds because of an illness. At intermission of the match, UVa honored the 1956 Virginia wrestling team, as several members of the team returned for a reunion today.
The Cavaliers conclude their home schedule at 1 p.m. Sunday when they play host to Duke.
Virginia 23, NC State 13
285: Calvin Cardillo (UVa) major dec. Austin Haigler (NCSU), 10-2; UVa leads 4-0
125: Mike Moreno (NCSU) dec. Wyatt Anderson (UVa), 14-9; UVa leads 4-3
133: Matt Bonson (UVa) major dec. Darius Little (NCSU), 12-4; UVa leads 8-3
141: No. 18 Nick Nelson (UVa) dec. No. 19 Joe Caramanica (NCSU), 3-2 (SV); UVa leads 11-3
149: No. 3 Darrion Caldwell (NCSU) major dec. Peter Ferrara (UVa), 13-3; UVa leads 11-7
157: No. 19 Kody Hamrah (NCSU) dec. Jedd Moore (UVa), 5-0; UVa leads 11-10
165: Mike Sewell (UVa) dec. Quinton Godley (NCSU), 1-0; UVa leads 14-10
174: No. 9 Chris Henrich (UVa) dec. Jacob Burge (NCSU), 4-3; UVa leads 17-10
184: Mark Jahad (NCSU) dec. Joe De Garavilla (UVa), 6-1; UVa leads 17-13
197: No. 19 Brent Jones (UVa) wins by forfeit; UVa wins 23-13