Facing a ranked Pittsburgh team at home, the VMI wrestling team fell by a 37-6 score to the No. 23 Panthers Saturday afternoon at Cormack Hall.
The Keydets earned their six points at 133 pounds as junior Michael Hulcher tallied the score by way of a forfeit from an injured Pitt wrestler. Ahead 6-3 after the first two bouts, the Panthers shut out the Keydets the rest of the way to score 34 unanswered points in the final eight matches.
VMI was without the services of its top wrestler, sophomore 157-pounder Neal Richards, who was forced to sit out the match due to injury.
The Keydets had close losses in several bouts, starting at 125 pounds where senior Dalton Henderson wrestled a solid match against No. 25 LJ Bentley, who escaped with a 2-1 decision. Fellow senior Shabaka Johns fell by a 7-3 decision to Pitt’s Christian Dietrich at 174 pounds before freshman Chris Beck (184) lost by a slim 3-2 decision to the Panthers’ Donovan McAfee.
Junior Taylor Thomas also battled a strong bout with Pitt’s John Rizzo at 197 pounds but fell by a 7-4 decision despite great hustle in the final period.
The Keydets return to Cormack next Friday, Jan. 27, with a dual versus SoCon rival The Citadel. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. start time.
No. 23 Pitt 37, VMI 6
- 125: No. 25 Lorenzo Bentley (PITT) dec. Dalton Henderson (VMI) (Dec 2-1) 0-3
- 133: Michael Hulcher (VMI) over (PITT) (Forfeit) 6-3
- 141: Robert Lee (PITT) pinned John Reed (VMI) (Fall 1:07) 6-9
- 149: Alesandro Murray (PITT) dec. Stevan Smith (VMI) (Dec 11-4) 6-12
- 157: Taleb Rahmani (PITT) tech fall Dolan Walsh (VMI) (TF 19-1, 4:39) 6-17
- 165: No. 12 Te`Shan Campbell (PITT) tech fall Cade Kiely (VMI) (TF 21-6, 6:23) 6-22
- 174: Christian Dietrich (PITT) dec. Shabaka Johns (VMI) (Dec 7-3) 6-25
- 184: Donovan McAfee (PITT) dec. Christopher Beck (VMI) (Dec 3-2) 6-28
- 197: John Rizzo (PITT) dec. Taylor Thomas (VMI) (Dec 7-4) 6-31
- 285: No. 23 Ryan Solomon (PITT) pinned Thomas Shea-Roop (VMI) (Fall, 1:17) 6-37
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