LYNCHBURG, Va. Liberty won six of 10 matches, including the finale at
157, and came away with an 18-18 tie against NC State on Saturday at the Vines Center.
The Wolfpack now is 5-5-1 on the season, while the Flames are 3-5-1.
Liberty won four of the first five matches and built a 12-5
lead midway through the match. NC
State’s lone victory in that stretch was Ryan
Goodman’s 16-1 technical fall against Kyle Walters, the end coming at the 6:34
mark.
The Pack began to claw back
into the match with Taylor
Cummings’ 10-0 major decision over Sean Katz at 125 pounds. Darius Little then
tied the team score at 12-12 with a 7-3 decision over Christian Smith at 133.
The key bout turned out to be
141, when neither team’s expected starter was able to go. Liberty’s Tim Harner at 17-9 is the Flames’
winningest performer, but NC State’s
Joe Caramanica, ranked No. 8 nationally and 20-4 on the season, would have been
heavily favored had the two met. Instead of those two squaring off, however, Liberty’s Collin Lewis took a 3-2 decision over Josh Langholtz to
give the Flames a 15-12 lead.
Darrion Caldwell, ranked No. 9 at 149 pounds, improved his
season’s record to 21-3 by pinning Scottie Clymer at the 5:35 mark. The pin was
Caldwell’s
13th of the season and the 23rd of his career. He now is tied with Jim Best
(1985-86, 1988-89) for sixth place in Wolfpack history for career falls.
The match came down to 157
pounds, with NC State
needing a win to secure the team victory, and Liberty needing a decision to tie or a major
decision or greater to pull off the upset. And Shaun Smith improved to 9-12 on
the season with a 4-1 decision over Anthony Badaracco.
NC State will return to action on Sunday, January 20, at Ohio
University. That match is
scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
NC State 18, Liberty 18
165 Chad Porter
(LU) dec. Jalil Dozier, 9-5
174 Aaron Kelley (LU) dec.
Randy Goodman, 6-2
184 Ryan Goodman (NCS) tech
fall Kyle Walters, 16-1, at 6:34
197 Patrick Hogan (LU) dec.
Mark Jahad, 6-4, sv
Hwt Patrick Walker (LU)
dec. Bobby Isola, 10-4
125 Taylor Cummings (NCS)
major dec. Sean Katz, 10-0
133 Darius Little (NCS)
dec. Christian Smith, 7-3
141 Collin Lewis (LU) vs.
Josh Langholtz, 3-2
149 Darrion Caldwell (NCS)
pinned Scottie Clymer, at 5:35
157 Shaun Smith (LU) dec. Anthony
Badaracco, 4-1
