2023-11-21 03:04:11
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COLLEGE PARK, Md.—It felt like a familiar story. Maryland jumped out to an early lead on Pitt on Monday night, just as the Terrapins had done in their upset win at Fitzgerald Field House last season.
But trailing 13-5 at the intermission, Keith Gavin‘s Panthers rallied for a Big Ten road win by taking four of the final five bouts, including a dramatic top-20 win at heavyweight for Pitt freshman Dayton Pitzer.
This season, the Panthers (4-1) earned the road win in this emerging ACC-Big Ten wrestling rivalry.
“Well, that was not the way we planned on winning that dual,” Coach Gavin said following Pitt’s victory. “But sometimes, that’s how it goes. The guys stepped up following the intermission. We needed that. The Hellers scored big bonus points for us and sparked what was a quality road win for the team.”
Pitt completed a perfect road trip on this challenging early season doubleheader that also included a win at No. 17 Lehigh on Sunday. The wins should vault the Panthers back into the top 20 this week following they had dropped in the NWCA Coaches Poll following a disappointing defeat at Navy last weekend.
“We wrestled two tough teams this weekend and were able to pull out two wins,” Gavin added. “We have a lot of things to work on, but I liked how some of our guys started to show aggression from the first whistle and look to score points early. That was the key in a lot of our wins on this trip.”
Maryland (1-1) has started to emerge as a rising force in the Big Ten in recent seasons, and the Terps looked the part of a ranked team for much of Monday night’s dual.
But Pitt’s upperweights, especially the dynamic Heller brothers, proved to be too much.
Following the break, Holden Heller sparked Pitt’s comeback with a technical fall at 165 pounds. Then Luca Augustine avenged his 174-pound defeat to Dom Solis in last year’s dual once morest Maryland.
And when Reece Heller tech falled his opponent at 184 pounds, Pitt’s eight-point halftime deficit had quickly turned into a five-point lead.
That meant the Panthers needed just one win in the final two bouts, which Pitzer supplied courtesy of a clutch third-period ride that gave him the decisive riding time point over No. 19 Seth Nevills at 285.
Colton Camacho also earned an impressive win for the Panthers on Monday, picking up what proved to be one of three technical falls for Pitt on the evening to start the dual at 125 pounds.
Full results from Monday night’s Pitt-Maryland dual in College Park are available below.
The Panthers will be back in action on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. with another Big Ten opponent when Illinois comes to Fitzgerald Field House for Pitt’s home opener of the 2023-24 wrestling season.
When. 23 Pitt 21, Maryland 16
125: Colton Camacho (Pitt) tech fall Tommy Capul (Maryland), 18-0 5:00 (Pitt leads, 5-0)
133: No. 22 Braxton Brown (Maryland) dec. No. 13 Vinnie Santaniello (Pitt), 6-3 (Pitt leads, 5-3)
141: No. 17 Kal Miller (Maryland) maj. dec. No. 7 Cole Matthews (Pitt), 12-4 (Maryland leads, 7-5)
149: No. 12 Ethen Miller (Maryland) dec. No. 24 Finn Solomon (Pitt), 7-3 (Maryland leads, 10-5)
157: No. 29 Michael North (Maryland) dec. Jared Keslar (Pitt), 4-2 (Maryland leads, 13-5)
165: No. 10 Holden Heller (Pitt) tech fall Gaven Bell (Maryland), 20-4 4:33 (Maryland leads, 13-10)
174: No. 21 Luca Augustine (Pitt) dec. No. 32 Dom Solis (Maryland), 7-2 (Tied, 13-13)
184: No. 17 Reece Heller (Pitt) tech fall Chase Mielnik (Maryland), 20-5 7:00 (Pitt leads, 18-13)
197: No. 10 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) dec. No. 18 Mac Stout (Pitt), 8-2 (Pitt leads, 18-16)
285: No. 13 Dayton Pitzer (Pitt) dec. No. 19 Seth Nevills (Maryland), 4-3 (Pitt wins, 21-16)
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