NC State
#6 Oklahoma State
No. 20 Wrestling Battles No. 6 Oklahoma State Till End
2/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
RALEIGH, N.C. - Going into the final two matches of the evening, the 20th-ranked NC State wrestling team and sixth-ranked Oklahoma State were deadlocked 12-12, but the Cowboys scored two major decisions and came away with a 20-12 win. The Wolfpack (16-6) won four bouts on the day, including a pair of upsets at 125 pounds (over #8) and at 141 (over #16).
The dual started at 174 pounds, and the Cowboys reeled off three straight decisions to go up 9-0 early.
In a true heavyweight main event, #1 Nick Gwiazdowski defeated #5 Austin Marsden 4-1 to get the Wolfpack on the scoreboard. Gwiazdowski has now won 48 straight matches and improves to 11-0 versus ranked foes this season, with four wins versus top-10 foes.
Redshirt senior Joe DeAngelo, competing in his final home match of his career, pulled off a huge 3-2 upset over #8 Eddie Klimara to get the Pack within 9-6 at the halfway point. DeAngelo has now won each of his last three matches, all versus ranked foes, and has won 11 of 13 dating back to Jan. 7 (his only losses in that span were to #2 and #3).
Oklahoma State used a decision at 133 pounds to push its lead to 12-6.
NC State battled back once again, and with back-to-back wins, even the dual up at 12-12 with two bouts left.
Freshman Kevin Jack scored the Pack’s second upset of the night with a 7-3 decision over #16 Dean Heil at 141 pounds. Jack has been the Pack’s starter the last three duals at 141, and is a perfect 3-0 after initially planning to redshirt this season. At 149 pounds, redshirt freshman Beau Donahue scored a 9-7 overtime decision to even the dual 12-12.
Oklahoma State would get two major decisions to close out the dual from #20 Anthony Collica and 157 pounds and then #1 Alex Dieringer at 165 pounds.
Popolizio’s Prospective: “Winning four matches off of Oklahoma State is pretty big for any team nationally, especially for us with six freshman in our lineup today. We competed tonight and that is what we need heading into the postseason now. The environment could not of been better, our guys really feed off the crowd and tonight was such a great environment.”
Up Next: The Pack now shifts its attention to the postseason. Up first, NC State will compete in the ACC Championships on March 8 hosted by Pittsburgh. NC State will then be in action at the NCAA Championships, March 19-21 at St. Louis, Mo.
#6 Oklahoma State 20, #20 NC State 12
174: #12 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) dec. #21 Pete Renda; 5-3 - 0-3
184: #16 Nolan Boyd (OSU) dec. Nicky Hall; 4-2 - 0-6
197: Austin Schafer (OSU) dec. Michael Boykin (NCSU); 4-2 - 0-9
285: #1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NCSU) dec. #5 Austin Marsden; 4-1 - 3-9
125: #26 Joe DeAngelo (NCSU) dec. #8 Eddie Klimara; 3-2 - 6-9
133: #31 Gary Wayne Harding (OSU) dec. #30 Bryce Meredith; 9-4 - 6-12
141: Kevin Jack (NCSU) dec. #16 Dean Heil; 7-3 - 9-12
149: Beau Donahue (NCSU) dec. Davey Dolan; 9-7 (SV-1) - 12-12
157: #20 Anthony Collica (OSU) major dec. Sam Melikian; 20-9 - 12-16
165: #1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) major dec. #22 Max Rohskopf; 14-5 - 12-20
