BOONE, N.C. — Caleb Smith didn't beat his chest or gesture toward the opposing bench.
After triumphantly waving his arms to raise the volume of App State supporters in a frenzied Varsity Gym, Smith formed a heart with two hands and signaled to his nearby teammates.
The Mountaineers showed plenty in a dramatic win that puts them in the driver's seat to secure a SoCon regular-season title.
Smith's overtime takedown of Korbin Meink capped a thrilling 19-13 victory over Campbell on Sunday in a matchup of top-30 programs with unbeaten league records. App State (7-2, 5-0) has two duals remaining and can officially clinch a regular-season title with a victory at Davidson on Friday.
"I didn't know Varsity Gym could get
that loud," Smith said with a smile. "It was beyond awesome. Whatever that is, that's what it was. It felt like a movie. When it went into overtime, I just heard the crowd erupt with everyone there supporting us.
"My teammates, they love me, and that's why I put up the heart. I had to do it for them."
With wrestling beginning at 133 pounds based on Campbell's pre-dual choice after a coin flip in its favor, the 125-pound match between Smith and Meink followed the heavyweights and ended the dual instead of starting it.
Wins by
Codi Russell (9-5 decision at 133 for the first three team points),
Jonathan Millner (3-2 decision in a top-10 showdown against Josh Heil at 149),
Cody Bond (14-5 major decision over JoJo Aragona for a critical bonus point at 157),
Will Formato (7-2 decision at 165) and
Thomas Flitz (key reversal in a 2-1 decision against 19th-ranked Austin Murphy at 174) gave App State a 16-3 lead with four matches to go.
Campbell (11-5, 6-1) won the next three matches, although first-year starter
Barrett Blakely led most of the way in a controversial 5-4 loss to 30th-ranked Caleb Hopkins at 184 and true freshman
Wyatt Miller went to overtime in a 3-1 Sudden Victory loss to two-time NCAA qualifier Chris Kober.
App State took a 16-13 lead into the final following a major decision at heavyweight. Individual victories by less than eight points are worth three team points, so the stakes were clear — to a degree.
Campbell actually needed to win the 125 finale by at least five points because, at that juncture, the Mountaineers had a 47-42 advantage in individual match points when adding up the scores from the first nine matches. Individual match points would have been the decisive tiebreaker if the team score had ended up 16-16 with a decision in Meink's favor.
That math didn't end up mattering. After the wrestlers traded escapes in the final two periods, Smith recorded his overtime takedown of the two-time SoCon champion to wrap up a 3-1 victory with less than 40 seconds left in the two-minute Sudden Victory period.
In the previous four duals between the Mountaineers and Camels, 20 of the 40 individual matches were decided in overtime, by one point in regulation or by two points in regulation. That was the case in six of 10 matches Sunday.
"It was a tough battle today, and I thought our guys wrestled well," App State coach
JohnMark Bentley said. "I was proud of the effort they showed. I knew going into this match that we had the capability of winning, but I knew we were going to have to fight from the first whistle to the last whistle. Our guys did a good job of that."
Russell gave up an early takedown but led 3-2 by the end of the second period against Domenic Zaccone, and Campbell's only win in the first six matches was Shannon Hanna's 4-2 decision against
Heath Gonyer at 141 pounds via a Sudden Victory takedown in overtime.
The highly anticipated matchup at 149 pitted Millner, who is No. 4 in Intermat's rankings, against Heil, who is No. 4 in the NCAA Coaches Rankings.
Heil used a first-period takedown to claim a 2-0 lead, but Millner escapes following that takedown and coming in the second period created a tie score with Millner starting the third period on top. Heil could regain the lead with an escape, but Millner rode out the period and got the accompanying point for that time advantage to win 3-2.
Bond faced an early deficit against Aragona but finished the first period on top to lead 3-2, and a 6-2 lead entering the third turned into a nine-point margin that produced a big extra point.
After Formato's 7-2 decision against Troy Nation, Flitz broke a scoreless tie against Murphy by executing a reversal with 1:13 left in the second period and finishing it on top. Murphy quickly recorded an escape in the third period, but that capped the scoring.
The 2021-22 wrestling season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station.
App State 19, Campbell 13
133: #30
Codi Russell (APP) def. Domenic Zaccone (CU), 9-5 dec.
141: Shannon Hanna (CU) def.
Heath Gonyer (APP), 4-2 dec. (SV)
149: #8
Jonathan Millner (APP) def. #4 Josh Heil (CU), 3-2 dec.
157: #32
Cody Bond (APP) def. JoJo Aragona (CU), 14-5 maj. dec.
165: #18
Will Formato (APP) def. Troy Nation (CU), 7-2 dec.
174: #29
Thomas Flitz (APP) def. #19 Austin Murphy (CU), 2-1 dec.
184: #30 Caleb Hopkins (CU) def.
Barrett Blakely (APP), 5-4 dec.
197: Chris Kober (CU) def.
Wyatt Miller (APP), 3-1 (SV)
285: #21 Taye Ghadiali (CU) def.
Michael Burchell (APP), 15-5 maj. dec. (47-42 in team score at that point for TB purposes)
125: #31
Caleb Smith (APP) def. #32 Korbin Meink (CU), 3-1 SV
