North Carolina defeated the Bobcats 21-17, and then on no rest held off Patriots 32-18 in back-to-back meets Saturday at Carmichael Auditorium.
"Those were two good wins," said UNC coach Bill Lam. "Ohio's a good team. I wish we hadn't gotten the second one scheduled right after; it kind of took the wind away from the Ohio win."
Despite the lack of rest, Chris Rodrigues, Brad Byers, Jake Reynolds, and Matt Kenny each got two wins for the Tar Heels (6-2) against fresh opponents.
The 125-pound Rodrigues won both his matches, first by pinning Ohio's Mike Caruso in 2 minutes, 7 seconds, and then by catching old training partner Wyatt Wilke of Cumberland (4-2) with five seconds to go in the second period.
"We practiced a lot over the summer," said Rodrigues of Wilke, a junior All-American and fellow state champion from Georgia. "You can't worry about losing. If it happens, it happens."
Trailing 1-0 in the second period, Rodrigues gave up a quick escape and fell behind 2-0. Then, after spending most of the period battling Wilke on his feet, Rodrigues hit a "ventriloquist," rolling a full 360 degrees while holding Wilke's head in a front headlock to put Wilke on his back. At 1:55 into the second period, he got the pin.
At 133 pounds, Byers didn't waste any time getting on the board. He scored his first takedown eight seconds into the match. He took down Chuck Bailey twice more to build a 6-2 lead by the end of the first period en route to an easy victory.
"I'm not a pinner," said Byers, who used a combination of single legs, inside trips and a double leg against Bailey. "I'm best on my feet. I just wanted to concentrate on going hard for the full seven minutes."
At 184 pounds, Nick Richmond redeemed his 5-2 loss to Ohio's Mark Shrour against Cumberland's Chris Butler.
