No. 26 App State wrestling opened their season Friday losing 40-3 against No. 3 NC State, a team with ranked wrestlers at all 10 weight classes.
The Wolfpack won all but one of the 10 matchups, achieving two falls by pin and two more by technical falls. One hundred thirty-three-pound redshirt sophomore Ethan Oakley took the lone win for App State against NC State’s three-time NCAA qualifier and No. 23 in the country at his weight class Jarrett Trombley.
“That’s a really good team. Probably the best team we’ve ever wrestled in my time here from top to bottom,” said head coach JohnMark Bentley. “They just don’t have any holes, they’re really good, they have a lot of experience and for us, I think it exposed some things and shows us where we need to be.”
The first match of the night saw No. 25 redshirt senior Cody Bond taking on No. 7 Jackson Arrington in his first match since moving to the 149-pound weight class. Bond, unable to get any leverage in the match, was dominated by Arrington from start to finish as he was only able to get three points off of escapes from his opponent’s takedowns. He defeated Bond on an 18-3 major decision, and got NC State on the board first as they took a 5-0 advantage to start the duel.
The 157-pound match saw No. 20 junior Tommy Askey take on No. 5 Ed Scott. Askey began slow, allowing Scott to add on early points, putting Askey in an 11-2 hole before the final period. A good third period effort from Askey saw a takedown and an escape to get the crowd on their feet, but good defense from Scott in the final minute thwarted any chance of a comeback from Askey as the match ended 13-6.
The next match saw 165-pound junior Will Miller face off against No. 33 AJ Kovacs. Miller started the match hot, achieving a takedown and finishing the period up 3-1. Miller gained all of the first 45 seconds in ride time, but after a Kovacs escape, he was unable to gain any other leverage as the two struggled for positioning the rest of the period. A third period takedown with 48 seconds left by Kovacs allowed him to dominate the final period as he never relinquished control of Miller and won the match 5-4.
The fourth match of the night saw redshirt sophomore Luke Uliano in a match against No. 22 Alex Faison. A slow starting match with zero points through the first two periods ramped up in the third period as Uliano used two escapes, and an extra point for ride time to tie Faison at three heading into sudden death overtime. Faison controlled Uliano the entire overtime period, eventually picking up a takedown and winning 6-3.
The next three matches were not kind to the Mountaineers as 184-pound freshman Tomas Brooker and senior heavyweight Jacob Sartorio both lost on first period falls while 197-pound redshirt freshman Hunter Adams lost on a technical fall in the third period. Brooker and Adams’ duels were the two wrestlers’ first ever matchups in front of a home crowd. One hundred forty-one-pound redshirt freshman Kaden Keiser and 125-pound junior Chad Bellis both also wrestled their first duels in Varsity Gym.
“Hopefully you’re going to grow and these young guys figure it out and get a lot more experience,” Bentley said. “Wrestling in front of the crowd is some different pressure and it’s stressful. I think we’ll be okay by the time March comes.”
The Mountaineers will be back in action Sunday as they send 22 wrestlers to the Battle at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina for an all-day event. Matches will begin at 9 a.m. and will run throughout the day.
