University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Clarion
Pitt Pins Clarion, 51-0
2/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
PITTSBURGH – The 13th-ranked Pitt wrestling team used a dominating performance against Clarion, winning all 10 matches and getting falls in seven of them to cruise to a 51-0 win against the Golden Eagles on Sunday, Feb. 8 at Fitzgerald Field House.
It was the Panthers’ most one-sided effort since shutting out Millersville 53-0 more than five years ago on Jan. 30, 2010. However in that match, Pitt only recorded six pins and won two of its matches by forfeit. The only other time on record that Pitt totaled more falls in a single match was during the 1983-84 season when Pitt downed Eastern Michigan 60-0 with 10 pins. Overall it was just the second time since the 1996-97 that Pitt topped the 50-point plateau and seventh time in school history. It was the fifth largest shutout in the program’s tenure.
“I think it was a good match. What we asked of the guys was tough,” said head coach Jason Peters of the short turnaround following Friday night’s defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech. “They had a long bus ride back from Blacksburg yesterday, got off the bus, worked out and came in this morning and got ready to go. They came out ready, scored some points and got some pins. So we’re happy with the result.”
Pitt opened the match by getting five straight falls from freshman Dom Forys (125 pounds), redshirt freshman Nick Zanetta (133), freshman Ben Ross (141), sophomore Mikey Racciato (149) and redshirt junior Ronnie Garbinsky (157). Redshirt seniors Tyler Wilps and Max Thomusseit added falls later in the match at 174 pounds and 184 pounds, respectively.
The remaining wins for the Panthers were registered by redshirt senior Troy Reaghard (165 pounds), redshirt junior Nick Bonaccorsi (197) and redshirt freshman Ryan Solomon (285).
Forys set the tone early in the first bout at 125 pounds, recording a fall of Hunter Jones in 1:42 following just his second takedown of the bout. It was Forys’ second career fall and came in his fastest time, besting his previous record of 2:20. The win also snapped a three-match losing streak for the rookie.
Zanetta made it back-to-back falls after pinning his opponent Matt Liggett in 3:43. The fall was the first official one of Zanetta’s career and first bonus point victory in a dual match this season.
Competing up at 141 pounds, Ross dug himself an early 5-0 hole. But the outcome would be the same as the first two. After an escape and takedown, Ross scored a reversal to tie the score at 5-5 at the end of the period. Another reversal by Ross to begin the second put him squarely in the lead and gave him the momentum to pin Sam Sherlock in 4:26. It was both Ross’ first career fall and first career dual victory.
20th-ranked Racciato continued the trend of falls at 149 pounds with Pitt’s fourth straight to start the match. He had the fastest fall on the day in 59 seconds, pinning Brodie Zacherl, and giving him a total of two falls for the weekend. Racciato, who led the team last season with seven falls, is now tied for the second on the team with three this year and has 10 in his career.
Garbinsky notched his second fall of the season after finishing off Evan DeLong in 3:56. It was only the second time in his career that he recorded a fall in a dual match. The other instance was two years ago and also came against Clarion.
Pitt’s string of pins ended in the sixth bout of the afternoon, but Reaghard was still able to walk away with a 5-2 decision over former Pitt wrestler Slade Horner. That victory gave Reaghard his fourth straight victory over non-ranked opponents.
Sixth-ranked Wilps picked up his team-leading fourth fall of the season at 174 pounds in 5:47 over Michael Pavasko. Wilps, who suffered his first dual loss of the season on Friday night, improved to 10-3 this year since his return from injury a little over a month ago.
Second-ranked Thomusseit maintained his perfect dual record after recording a fall of Daniel Sutherland in a season-fast time of 2:42. It was also his second-fastest fall in his career. Thomusseit moved to 13-0 in duals and is now 22-1 overall this season with three falls, which is tied for second on the team with Racciato and Solomon.
Pitt closed out the match with decisions in favor of both 20th-ranked Bonaccorsi and Solomon at 197 pounds and 285 pounds, respectively. Bonaccorsi scored three takedowns on his way to a 6-2 decision against Ryan Darch and Solomon, who wrestled up and was giving up nearly 85 pounds to his counterpart Joshua Davis, escaped once for a 1-0 victory.
Overall, the dominating performance was a nice change of scenery for Peters who witnessed his team fall in five matches to Virginia Tech by two points or less.
“We lost a lot of one-point matches at Virginia Tech,” said Peters. “I think we need to find a way over the next few weeks to turn those around and be ready for what’s to come.”
The Panthers will wrap up conference action next weekend when they head to Raleigh, N.C. to face NC State on Saturday, Feb. 14. The school is hosting “Beauty & the Beast” which showcases wrestling and gymnastics running concurrently.
125: Dom Forys (P) fall Hunter Jones (C), 1:42; Pitt leads 6-0
133: Nick Zanetta (P) fall Matt Liggett (C), 3:43; Pitt leads 12-0
141: Ben Ross (P) fall Sam Sherlock (C), 4:26; Pitt leads 18-0
149: #20 Mikey Racciato (P) fall Brodie Zacherl (C), 0:59; Pitt leads 24-0
157: Ronnie Garbinsky (P) fall Evan DeLong 3:56 (C), 3:56; Pitt leads 30-0
165: Troy Reaghard (P) dec. Slade Horner (C), 5-2 ; Pitt leads 33-0
174: #6 Tyler Wilps (P) fall Michael Pavasko (C), 5:47; Pitt leads 39-0
184: #2 Max Thomusseit (P) fall Daniel Sutherland (C), 2:42; Pitt leads 45-0
197: #20 Nick Bonaccorsi (P) dec. Ryan Darch (C), 6-2; Pitt leads 48-0
285: Ryan Solomon (P) dec. Joshua Davis (C), 1-0; Pitt wins 51-0
