The No. 17 UNC wrestling team dropped its second consecutive match against a top-five opponent on Sunday, falling 33-9 to No. 4 Ohio State.
What happened?
The match began with the 165-pound bout between Nicholas Fea of UNC and Carson Kharchla of Ohio State. Fea took a two-point lead early in the contest with a takedown and added another four points with a near fall. Kharchla dominated the second period, and the No. 6 wrestler in the weight class won by decision, 12-8.
In the highest-ranked dual of the match, UNC’s No. 5 Clay Lautt battled Ohio State’s No. 6 Ethan Smith in the 174-pound weight class. It was a gritty match, with neither wrestler scoring a point in the first two periods. Smith earned an escape point early in the third and rode that to a 2-0 decision.
The 184-pound match pitted No. 13 Gavin Kane of UNC against No. 4 Kaleb Romero. Ohio State continued its dominance with Romero earning a 6-4 decision win and extending the Buckeye lead to 9-0.
Ohio State did not relent. A 7-3 decision win for No. 15 Gavin Hoffman over Max Shaw in the 197 weight class gave the Buckeyes a 12-0 start to the contest.
Heavyweight No. 7 Tate Orndorff put a stamp on the match with a victory by fall in the second period. The six points extended Ohio State’s lead to 18-0 as the teams left the mat for the break.
Coming out of the break, the 125-pound dual saw Jack Wagner of North Carolina battle No. 11 Malik Heinselman. Wagner got up early in the second period with a one-point escape, but a last-minute takedown delivered Hainselman the victory. After six matches, the Tar Heels were losing 21-0.
Another fall victory for Ohio State came in the 133-pound bout, as No. 13 Jesse Mendez dominated the entire dual and handed the Buckeyes another six points.
