#6 PackWrestle sweep Gardner-Webb in Thursday night dual, 45 to -1

Yes, you read that right. Negative-1. For the second consecutive season, NC State (2-0) has shut-out Gardner-Webb (1-2) on the mat. The Pack won all ten bouts - seven for bonus points - but one-upped their performance of a year ago by casting the Runnin’ Bulldogs into the negatives. So yes, technically Gardner-Webb would have had a better performance had their bus broken down on I-40 and they canceled this meeting altogether.

The dual started at 125 where Jakob Camacho made quick work of his opponent. He was able to lock-up a cradle mid-scramble and secure the pin 2:36 into the first period. Kai Orine & Ryan Jack won the next two bouts by means of decision to push the team lead to 12-0.

At 149, Tariq came out firing and didn’t relent until he wrapped up a cradle of his own. Unfortunately for Jakob, it looks like Tariq is getting bragging rights here as it only took him 1:24 to get the pinfall. Ed Scott followed that up with a dominant performance of his own. His 19-4 tech fall victory really could have been much quicker, but you could tell he was delaying the finishing sequence by looking for the pin. Eventually he got sick of baiting his opponent, who was unwilling to bite, and spun around for the mercy kill.

In perhaps our most anticipated bout of the evening, Gardner-Webb’s RJ Mosley actually ended up forfeiting to Donald Cates. He probably was disappointed not to see Thomas Bullard in the lineup and decided it wasn’t worth his time and effort to possibly take a loss to a backup. At 174, we saw another Pack starter sit while Alex Faison made the most of his opportunity. He won in convincing fashion via 12-4 major decision.

We didn’t get to see Hayden, but we did get Trent who is an absolute brick wall. While GW’s Jha’Quan Anderson was clearly nowhere near the Hoagie Boy’s level, he is still quite the athlete and isn’t lacking strength. But when these two collided, Trent looked like prime Ray Lewis meeting a running back in the hole. He cruised to a 21-5 tech fall. Isaac Trumble followed with a hard-fought 9-0 major decision victory. And in the aftermath is where we saw the genesis of the unique scoreline we have above. Following the bout, GW’s Anthony Perrine ran off the mat without shaking Trumble’s hand. How do you punish an act like that after the guy has already lost and essentially has nothing else to lose? Well there is no yardage you can tack on to the end of the play or a penalty box to sit in. Unfortunately in wrestling, the penalty for such actions is to deduct a team point. So Gardner-Webb lost what they didn’t have to begin with, and finished the dual on the wrong side of zero.

I personally think this is a pretty severe punishment, but also realize there aren’t many other ways you can effectively penalize someone given the format we have for this sport. It didn’t matter so much here, but team point deductions have decided duals before and that doesn’t sit right with me. A whole team point seems excessive. We need to come up with an alternative that makes more sense, and I have yet to figure out what that looks like. Let me know what ideas you might have in the comments below.

In the final bout of the dual, we got to see Chef D return to the mat and his recipe looked to have added a little spice! Deonte surrendered the first takedown, but absolutely dominated from there. He looked motivated and hungry. He chased three third period takedowns to secure the major decision, which is not typical of the big man. In the past, he has been content to grind out close victories with sound defense, a good top game, and timely takedowns. It looks like the coaches’ critiques didn’t fall on deaf ears and having his spot temporarily manned by Owen Trephan earlier on this season may have kicked Deonte in the pants. This roster battle is not over by any means, but Owen’s disappointing showing against West Virginia combined with Deonte’s apparent increase in aggressiveness may just result in a return to the top for Chef D.

#6 NC State 45-(-1) Gardner-Webb

• 125: #11 Jakob Camacho (NCSU) pin Aedyn Concepcion (GW); 2:36 (6-0 NCSU)
• 133: Kai Orine (NCSU) dec. Todd Carter (GW); 11-5 (9-0 NCSU)
• 141: HM Ryan Jack (NCSU) dec. Trevon Majette (GW); 5-3 (12-0 NCSU)
• 149: #3 Tariq Wilson (NCSU) pin Corbin Dion (GW); 1:24 (18-0 NCSU)
• 157: HM Ed Scott (NCSU) tech fall Tyler Brignola (GW); 19-4 (23-0 NCSU)
• 165: Donald Cates (NCSU) forfeit (29-0 NCSU)
• 174: Alex Faison (NCSU) major dec. Evan Schenk (GW); 12-4 (33-0 NCSU)
• 184: #3 Trent Hidlay (NCSU) tech fall Jha’Quan Anderson (GW); 21-5 (38-0 NCSU)
• 197: #18 Isaac Trumble (NCSU) major dec. Anthony Perrine (GW); 9-0 (42-(-1) NCSU)
• 285: Deonte Wilson (NCSU) dec. Peyton McComas (GW); 11-4 (45-(-1) NCSU)

This wasn’t the best dual you’ve ever seen, but I will never complain about a Wolfpack win. Things will start to heat up here soon, beginning with a trip to Boone to take on App State on December 12th. Then the boys head to the Collegiate Duals, the most stacked dual event for years. I can’t wait. We don’t return to Reynolds until late January for a dual with Virginia Tech - be sure to buy some team gear in preparation for that one!