BOONE, N.C. — With a standing-room-only crowd still filling Varsity Gym on a snowy weekend in the High Country, Appalachian State's young wrestling team put up a spirited fight in a 34-3 loss to No. 6 NC State.
In the first six completed matches, App State (3-2) received a 10-4 decision from 174-pound senior
Forrest Przybysz and had four losses to the Wolfpack (9-0) by decisions with a margin of three points or less.
"I thought our guys wrestled hard," App State head coach
JohnMark Bentley said. "It's a tough test for us right here before exams start, and I was proud of the way our guys battled. There were a couple matches I felt like we kind of let slip away, but the effort was there, and mental errors made the difference in some of those matches.
"All in all, we take a lot of positives from today. We had a lot of good energy and a lot of good effort with a lot of young guys wrestling hard, and we had a great crowd here. Any time we're in Varsity Gym, we like wrestling here because we always have really good fan attendance. I appreciate the fans of App Nation for coming out today."
App State had strong showings in consecutive matches from Przybysz and
Alan Clothier at 184 pounds before the halfway-point intermission.
Ranked 20th nationally, Przybysz fell behind 2-0 against Daniel Bullard before tying the match and taking a 4-2 lead on a takedown with 39 seconds left in the first period. Ahead 6-4 entering the third period, Przybysz seized control with an escape and takedown before winning 10-4. He improved to 11-4 this season and handed Bullard only his second loss.
Clothier, a redshirt freshman, nearly pulled off an upset of unbeaten senior Pete Renda, who is ranked No. 3 nationally at 184. Trailing 2-0 at the start of the second period, Clothier rode out Renda to prevent him from earning one point for an escape.
Clothier swung overall riding time in his favor while tying the match on a takedown with 1:09 remaining. With Clothier on top near the edge of the mat with only 16 seconds left, an out-of-bounds stoppage brought both wrestlers back to the center, and NC State coach Pat Popolizio had a discussion with the referee at the scorers table.
With time to catch his breath during the discussion, Renda executed a tiebreaking escape from the down position with nine seconds remaining. Clothier finished with 58 seconds of riding time – 2 short of the minute needed for a tying point — in a 3-2 decision that had both wrestlers engaging with the loud, large crowd.
After the Clothier-Renda match, NC State sent out another top-10 wrestler as App State's
Randall Diabe faced No. 7 Michael Macchiavello at 197 pounds.
Diabe took a 1-0 lead with a second-period escape and trailed 2-1 entering the third period. Macchiavello moved ahead 4-1 with a reversal, and Diabe was behind 4-2 when he made a late push for points, but Macchiavello used his advantage in riding time to claim a 5-2 decision.
There were also close calls at 149 pounds, as 18th-ranked Beau Donahue of NC State claimed a 6-3 decision against App State's
Gavin Londoff, and 165 pounds, where 20th-ranked NC State senior Brian Hamann won a 5-3 decision against redshirt freshman
Thomas Flitz.
Flitz used an early takedown to move ahead 2-0, and Hamann broke a 3-3 tie with a third-period escape.
App State returns to action next Sunday, Dec. 17, at No. 21 Oklahoma.
NC State 34, App State 3
149: #18 Beau Donahue (NCSU) def.
Gavin Londoff (APP), 6-3 dec. (0-3)
157: #17 Hayden Hidlay (NCSU) def.
Laken Cook (APP), fall, 6:29 (0-9)
165: #20 Brian Hamann (NCSU) def.
Thomas Flitz (APP), 5-3 dec. (0-12)
174: #20
Forrest Przybysz (APP) def. Daniel Bullard (NCSU), 10-4 dec. (3-12)
184: #3 Pete Renda (NCSU) def.
Alan Clothier (APP), 3-2 dec. (3-15)
197: #7 Michael Macchiavello (NCSU) def.
Randall Diabe (APP), 5-2 dec. (3-18)
HWT: Malik McDonald (NCSU) def.
Cary Miller (APP), 6-1 dec. (3-21)
125: Tommy Cox (NCSU) def.
De'Andre Swinson-Barr (APP), fall, 2:19 (3-27)
133: Tariq Wilson (NCSU) def.
Codi Russell (APP), 8-2 dec. (3-30)
141: #2 Kevin Jack (NCSU) def.
Irvin Enriquez (APP), 15-3 maj. dec. (3-34)
