Duke’s forfeits push UNC to easy wrestling win

The “Battle of the Blues” between the North Carolina wrestling team and Duke didn’t live up to its billing, since there wasn’t even a battle in two weight classes.

Duke buried themselves in a 12-point hole because they had no one to wrestle North Carolina’s 125- and 133-pound wrestlers and forfeited the bouts. The Blue Devils never managed to erase that deficit, but they did throw a wrench in the Tar Heel wrestling machine.

The forfeits came at inopportune times for the Tar Heels as redshirt sophomore Nick Shields and redshirt senior Mike Rappo were denied the chance to continue their comebacks. Shields only began his season Dec. 29 at the Southern Scuffle because he was out with a double hernia.

“We threw him to the wolves at the Southern Scuffle and he crashed his weight.” UNC coach C.D. Mock said.

“Nick has been working on his weight, and it’s very difficult when you can’t train.”

Rappo made his first appearance since November on Saturday in Carmichael Arena

“Poor Mike, Rappo’s just had one problem after another.” Mock said. “We thought 133 was a good place for him, and he gets injured and he can’t work out, and his weight goes flying up.”

To counter that problem, Mock has said that Rappo will likely move to the 149-pound weight class.

But Kyle Kiss and Nick Stabile did get the chance to wrestle. Kiss was wrestling just his second event this season in place of Thomas Scotton. Mock felt that the night off was the best thing for the slumping senior and Kiss deserved a chance.

Stabile recorded a major decision in his first appearance in three weeks and only his third bout of the season.

“You can’t get in wrestling shape doing anything but wrestling.” C.D. Mock said. “(Stabile) is in horrible shape, but he will get that back very quickly now that he’s able to wrestle.”

By the time Stabile recorded his major decision, the dual had been all but decided as the Heels had a 16-6 lead.

Freshman Corey Mock put all Blue Devil hopes to bed when he won his 157-pound bout with Ryan Harding.

Mock’s win came in peculiar fashion, though, as he thought he had a technical fall after the second period of his match with Harding when the scoreboard read 19-4. The referee insisted that the score was actually 18-5 and that the bout must continue.

Thinking his match had ended, Harding had retreated to the locker room. He returned to the mat and fought off Mock in the last period to avoid the technical fall but still lost in a major decision, pushing the Tar Heel lead to 13.

“That’s never happened to me before — I was tired — more tired than when I left. ” Mock said. “I thought for sure I was going to get that last two but he was fending me off pretty well. I was just pretty gassed at that point.”

Regardless of the type of decision, the Blue Devils were down for the count halfway through the scheduled match-ups, due in large part to the hole they dug for themselves early on.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.