No. 9 NC State wrestling took only six out of 10 bouts in its season-opener against Appalachian State, but when NC State won, it won big.
Redshirt junior Trent Hidlay and sophomore Isaac Trumble brought the house down with back-to-back pins, giving the Wolfpack (1-0) the boost it needed to beat the Mountaineers (0-1) by a final score of 26-12.
“Anytime you get to wrestle in front of your home crowd here at Reynolds Coliseum is really exciting,” Hidlay said. “This was a match that I’ve been looking forward to for a while.”
The 184-pound bout was over about as soon as it started, with No. 3 Hidlay scoring an early takedown and amassing a 12-0 lead by the end of the first period. He scored one more takedown in the second period before putting away App’s Luke Uliano with a pin, earning the Pack six points for a 17-6 lead. Afterwards, Hidlay did his signature “raise the roof” celebration for the first time this season.
Hidlay didn’t even have time to get changed before Trumble pinned No. 18 Wyatt Miller of the Mountaineers in the first period of the 197-pound bout, making Reynolds Coliseum roar once again. That scored the red-and-white six more points and all but put the match away at 23-6.
“It’s really exciting having Isaac behind me in the lineup,” Hidlay said. “You know you’re gonna get the best out of him every time, and he’s dynamic on top. So it’s good to have someone that can look for bonus points and put the guys on their backs and get the pin.”
NC State’s other wins came from sophomores Ed Scott and Ryan Jack, redshirt freshman Brock Delsignore and redshirt sophomore Owen Trephan.
Scott, ranked No. 7 in the 157-pound class, won the only bout between ranked opponents, defeating No. 24 Cody Bond of App State 14-5 with six takedowns. Jack opened the match with an 11-2 win in the 141-pound bout, Delsignore hung on for a 12-8 win in 174 pounds and Trephan won the heavyweight 285-pound contest 8-3.
After Trephan’s victory, NC State led 26-6 with two bouts left, making it mathematically impossible for App to come back. However, the Mountaineers scored two more wins to close it out, beating No. 17 redshirt junior Jarrett Trombley 3-2 in 125 pounds and beating redshirt sophomore Kai Orine 3-1 in 133 pounds. Both of those bouts were exciting, with Trombley’s coming down to the last second and Orine’s coming in overtime, but App State pulled them out to add six more points.
The Pack’s other two losses came from freshman Jackson Arrington in 149 pounds and sophomore Donald Cates in 165 pounds.
Despite the dominating pins from the Pack’s veterans, there were still more than enough kinks to iron out in the season opener, especially from the younger wrestlers on the Pack’s roster.
“First time competing this year, so definitely rusty going into that,” said head coach Pat Popolizio. “There’s gonna be some challenges for the young guys in our lineup, so I felt like the guys competed hard, but we should have won a couple more of those matches that were real tight and close.”
With the Wolfpack’s first match of the season in the rear view mirror, there will be plenty of time and opportunity to improve on an already impressive team performance. However, NC State won’t compete in another match in front of its fans at Reynolds Coliseum until after the new year.
Next up for the red-and-white is a doubleheader day in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania against Lock Haven and Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 12. Those matches are set to begin at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
