Pitt Falls to West Virginia in Backyard Brawl Dual

Sunday, January 8

Pittsburgh, PA

2 PM

Pitt

West Virginia

Pitt Falls to West Virginia in Backyard Brawl Dual

1/8/2023 4:00:00 PM | Wrestling

PITTSBURGH—The Backyard Brawl proved to be just that in Sunday's Pitt-West Virginia wrestling match, with several contests coming down to crazy scrambles and last-second decisions.

Unfortunately for the No. 21 Panthers, the Mountaineers (6-1) won the majority of those crucial moments and emerged from Fitzgerald Field House with a 24-11 dual victory.

Winning bouts for the Panthers were No. 7 Micky Phillippi at 133 pounds with a major decision over WVU's Davin Rhoads, Luca Augustine at 174 pounds with a nice win over Brody Conley and No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi at 197 pounds with a typically dominant performance against Brian Finnerty.

Close defeats defined the dual. The Panthers (5-2) fell in tight bouts at 125 pounds, 141, 157 and lost key scrambles that determined outcomes at 165 and 184 pounds.

"Disappointed with losing so many matches that were decided in the third period," Pitt head coach Keith Gavin said afterwards. "Give credit to West Virginia; they wrestled tough. But we need to work on some things and come back strong next time out."

Here are full results from the 2023 Backyard Brawl dual:

West Virginia 24, No. 21 Pitt 11
125: No. 7 Killian Cardinale (WVU) dec. Colton Camacho (Pitt), 5-3 (WVU leads, 3-0)
133: No. 7 Micky Phillippi (Pitt) maj. dec. Davin Rhoads (WVU), 10-2 (Pitt leads, 4-3)
141: Jordan Titus (WVU) dec. No. 1 Cole Matthews (Pitt), 3-1 (WVU leads, 6-4)
149: No. 28 Sam Hillegas (WVU) dec. No. 25 Tyler Badgett (Pitt), 2-0 SV (WVU leads, 9-4)
157: No. 27 Alex Hornfeck (WVU) dec. Dan Mancini (Pitt), 3-1 (WVU leads, 12-4)
165: No. 12 Peyton Hall (WVU) pins No. 28 Holden Heller (Pitt), 3:43 (WVU leads, 18-4)
174: Luca Augustine (Pitt) dec. Brody Conley (WVU), 3-2 (WVU leads, 18-7)
184: No. 30 Anthony Carman (WVU) dec. No. 14 Reece Heller, 7-2 (WVU leads, 21-7)
197: No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) maj. dec. Brian Finnerty (WVU), 18-4 (WVU leads, 21-11)
HWT: No. 28 Michael Wolfgram (WVU) dec. Jake Slinger (Pitt), 10-4 (WVU wins, 24-11)
Attendance: 1,486

The Panthers return home this upcoming Friday, Jan. 13 for a 7 p.m. dual at Fitzgerald Field House against the Buffalo Bulls from the Mid-American Conference.

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