North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Wrestlers Edge North Carolina 21-18
1/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (January 11, 2000) -- True freshman Scott Garren recorded a lightning-quick 38-second pin at 165 pounds, and senior Joel Dramis won a clutch decision at 184 in a battle of team captains to lead the NC State wrestling team to a 21-18 win over North Carolina.
The match was the ACC opener for both teams. The Wolfpack, which won in Chapel Hill for the third year in a row, improved to 4-1 in dual matches this season, 1-0 in the ACC, while North Carolina dropped to 1-3 and 0-1.
NC State jumped to a fast start, winning five of the first six matches to take a 21-4 lead in the team scoring, and then held off a late charge by the Tar Heels, who won the last four matches.
Freshman Oraefo Brown got things rolling for the Wolfpack with a workmanlike 9-3 decision over Andrew Slack at 141 pounds, and junior Tommy Davis overcame a strong performance by UNC's Aaron Gilson to take a 4-1 decision and give the Wolfpack a 6-0 lead.
UNC's Dennis Landin got the Tar Heels on the scoreboard with a 13-5 major decision over Wolfpack freshman Justin Parlier at 157, but Garren then electrified the crowd with an astonishingly fast pin of Jason Wilson at 165, just 38 seconds after the opening whistle.
That set up the key match of the evening. With NC State's Kevin Boross, the defending ACC champion at 174 pounds, out with a knee sprain, Dramis moved up from 165 to take on Tar Heel captain Corey Bell, last year's conference champion at 184. Bell led most of the match, but Dramis got an escape midway through the third period and then won the match with a late takedown, 4-3. That made it 15-4, NC State, and the Tar Heels had to forfeit to Zach Breitenbach at 184, which gave the Wolfpack a 21-4 team lead.
Clint Osborne defeated NC State's Jason Gore 9-5 at 197 to cut the lead to 21-7, and the Tar Heels won major decisions in the two of the final three matches, but could not get the fall they needed to catch the Pack in the team scoring.
UNC heavyweight Matt Kinney used a third-period flurry to down Mike Mordarski 21-11, and Tar Heel freshman Skylar Holman defeated NC State frosh George Cintron 13-2 at 125. That cut the lead to 21-15 and left UNC one pin shy of a tie, but Brad Byers' 8-3 decision over the Wolfpack's Damon Blackley left the final score at 21-18.
NC State 21, North Carolina 18
141-Oraefo Brown (NCSU) dec. Andrew Slack, 9-3
149-Tommy Davis (NCSU) dec. Aaron Gilson, 4-1
157-Dennis Landin (UNC) major dec. Justin Parlier, 13-5
165-Scott Garren (NCSU) pins Steve Echeverri at 0:38
174-Joel Dramis (NCSU) dec. Corey Bell, 4-3
184-Zach Breitenbach (NCS) wins by forfeit
197-Clint Osborn (UNC) dec. Jason Gore, 9-5
Hwt.-Matt Kenny (UNC) major dec. Mike Mordarski, 12-4
125-Skyler Holman (UNC) major dec. George Cintron, 13-2
133-Brad Byers (UNC) dec. Damon Blackley, 8-3
