2025 NCAA Semifinals Live Blog

Come back often to read David's analysis from the 2025 NCAA Semifinals

SEMIFINALS

125 lbs:

It’s time for the dogbone!! Semis on the inside, blood rounds on the outside, dreams are made and crushed tonight. My guy Ethan Carl had the crowd buzzing with a stirring rendition of the national anthem. Reminder, semifinal winners get 6 + 1 + bonus, while blood round winners get 3 + 0.5 + bonus. Friday is moving day!!! #8 Seymour vs #4 VRob and a rematch #3 Eddie V vs #7 Spratley who won the match in December in GIA. Eddie V in right away, Spratley trying to stalemate and does. Spratley big riding advantage so Eddie V needs to get to work on his feet. VRob likes to start slow and figure it out so the match is his pace right now. Not much happening tbh. This round is so important that sometimes it slows down.

Spark plug and Eddie V go scoreless. VRbo won 10-6 in November vs SS. Spratley down and looking R2, Eddie V grabbing his own leg and working on RT. Spratley gets the reversal which is BIG. Caution Eddie V. Escape VRob and TD VRob. Eddie V E1. 2-1 Spratley. 4-0 VRob. Eddie chooses down. E1 would tie it. Blood time VRob. Ventresca beautiful short sit and we are tied 2-2. Eddie has :50 RT and a caution. 1:00 to go Eddie V vs Spratley. TD will win it Eddie great post swing single. Spratley shin whizzer. :20 to go on the restart. Blood time. 4-2 VRob they are neutral. Seymour needs a TD. 1:00 to go. VRob so hard to find. Lateral movement is SO nice. LOOOONGGG stoppage in the other semi. Both on blood time now. OT Spratley match. VRob wins to make the finals!!! The finals will be rematch either way. Ventresca good shot. Stalemate. :26 to go. Eddie V has taken all the shots. Heading to the rideouts. Eddie down 1st. Eddie E1, Spratley TD3 and will ride out. Spratley down. Eddie will cut. Needs a fast TD. Spratley will make the finals!!! OSU jumps into 2nd place. Finals will be a rematch of Robinson and Spratley that Robinson won in GIA.

133 lbs:

Byrd vs Romney and Ayala vs Fugitt. Fugitt is the FR from Nixa MO, shout out Dustin Martin. Ayala best slide by in the weight class, so smooth. Good attack by Fugitt. Slow close to scoring but no points. Romney and Byrd getting to know each other. No threats yet. Ayala good attack and kick out by Fugitt. 30 to go in both matches. Ayala down 1st. Byrd down 1st. Both guys out quick 1-0 on serve. Van Dee AA for NEB and they are back in 2nd place. IA challenge. Romney picks down. Byrd will try for RT. Good lift by Byrd. RT at 40 and climbing for Byrd. At 1:00 now and 58 in the match. Byrd really tough ride. Winners win and Byrd to the finals. Ayala gets the TD on the challenge and 2NF at the buzzer and just like that it’s 6-0. Fugitt E1. 45 to go. Ayala will be back in the finals. B10 rematch Byrd vs Ayala part 3. Fugitt will be back in the morning. 

141 lbs

#1 Hardy vs #5 Happel, #3 Mendez vs #2 Bartlett. Jordan Williams LR vs Sammy Alvarez Rider were teammates a year ago at OSU. Jameson loses in OT which keeps OSU in 3rd. IA now 4th, IL up to 5th. 3 B10 entries in the semis just like 133. Bartlett doesn’t mind low scoring affairs. Happel with a nice slide by attempt. Hardy in and we are in the waterfall. Quick stalemate. Hardy strikes 1st TD3. Both of these are rematches. Happel won 7-5 and BB won both matches with Mendez this year. E1 Happel and another TD3 for Hardy. E1 Happel. Hardy must know how dangerous Happel is on bottom. Fish wins for OSU and NEB and OSU are tied for 2nd team score.

Happel chooses down to start the 2nd. BB down, up and out quickly for 1-0 lead. They were holding a stall on top which prevented a sweet Winn Dixie by Hardy. Happel great knee pull single and Hardy getting scrambly. Mendez up and out and RT is exactly 0:00. TD or OT will decide it. Hardy quick E1 and is up 7-3. Happel good shot but Hardy sits the corner again and we have a stalemate. Mendez in on a leg. :15 to go. Almost a finish. They waive it off and we have brick for J Jaggers and Ohio State. Hardy will get a 11-4 Win and into the finals. Feel good story!!! Review on mat 4. NEB alone in 2nd. Lost brick. OT for Mendez and BB. 

Literally nothing going on in the OT. Blood stoppage and 34 to go til rideouts. Rideouts here we come. Mendez down 1st. Bartlett has rode for :14. Now for 22. Kasak gives PSU 10 ALL AMERICANS. Mendez gets out 27 seconds of RT. He has to ride him out to win. Mendez is SO CLUTCH! He rides like the returning champ he is and will face Hardy Saturday night!!!

Ohio State jumps to 5th. 

149 lbs

The defending champ Caleb Henson vs surprise semifinalist D’Emilio and old friends Ridge Lovett and Shane Van Ness. Lovett with a quick TD and leg in. Not best scenario for SVN. 3 NF Lovett up 6-0. Good mat return by Lovett. Rocking the pink combat speed prototypes. DD and Henson scoreless 1st 2 minutes. Absolutely dominant period for Lovett. Cradle and 10-0 lead. Monster period. If I was Lovett I’d pick top. DD picks down 1st. Lovett up and out. DD with a reversal. Big upset possible. Henson E1 and they are back on serve. High crotch SVN and it’s 12-6. E1. SVN trying to go to work on his feet. Henson takes the lead 5-2 1:00 to go. SVN going to run out of time he needs feet to back. Henson has RT and unless something crazy happens it will be Lovett vs Henson tomorrow night and big points for NEB and VT. Should be a dandy tomorrow night. 

157 lbs

Chaos in the top half as #8 Blaze will take on #20 Chumbley. Chalk at the bottom #3 Taylor vs #2 Shapiro. Trelly and Slicedawg should be very entertaining. Slicedawg wants space and Trelly wants to be in the pocket. Shapiro good attack, Taylor great defensive hips. No score Blaze/Chumbley and not much offense at this point. Blaze waterfall and steps over for TD3. Taylor gets to the body and good D by Shapiro. Great match for no score. 1st period scoreless. E1 Chumbley and 3-1 at the break. Shapiro will go down and Chumbley will do the same. Shapiro out quick. E1 Chumbley. Shapiro in on a leg, kickout Trelly. Both guys wrestling on a knee. Taylor will choose down. Hard mat return Shapiro. Blaze picks down for the 3rd. Taylor out. Coin flip match there. Blaze out quick. TD Taylor. Patrick Kennedy AA for IA. Shapiro out and Taylor ices him 7-2. Nebraska has 7 AAs and at least 3 in the finals. Unbelievable tournament. He will take on Joey Blaze. 

165 lbs

Mesenbrink vs Minto, Caliendo vs Hall. Mesenbrink a massive favorite. Caliendo and MM both with quick TDs and it feels like these guys are destined for the finals. Caliendo low key has been so good vs everyone not named Mesenbrink. MM 4-0. Caliendo 6-1. Hall E1. 6-2 Mikey. Hall in now deep single and scores. 9-5 at the break. Caliendo down and up and out. MM 8-0 and RT big #. Caliendo 10-5. NEB is going to take 2nd folks unbelievable tournament for them. AAs at 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 174 and maybe 197. OSU pretty much locked in for 3rd. 4th up for grabs still. MM exhausting the scoreboard and Mikey C up 13-6. MM into the finals 13-2. Caliendo will meet him there. Really helps IA with those points.

174 lbs

Marquee matchups: O’Toole vs Devos and Levi vs DJ. DJ with the quick TD and D1 Levi. Keegan with a TD. DJ Hamiti came to wrestle the DT connection between these 2 is real. 3-1 DJ and Levi picks down and is out quick. 3-1 Keegan and Devos up and out quick. Now Levi in on a shot. Great baseline D by Hamiti. Devos in deep and scores it to take the lead. Gets hit for stalling on top stuck on the leg. 3-2 Hamiti going into the 3rd and he has choice. Will go down and he is out. Hamiti quick shot short offense Levi. We are scrambling now. Keegan out. 5-4 Devos but Keegan choice next period. Levi 45 seconds to go get it. In on a single. Stalemate with 28 to go. Keegan R2 and Hamiti is going to upset Levi Haines. Keegan up 6-5 on top and RT at 56. Devos E1 would not be enough. Devos needs a R2. E1. Devos in, Keegan is Houdini. We will have a B12 final rematch tomorrow night. 

184 lbs

Starocci vs Plott, McEnelly vs Keckeisen. HERE WE GO. McEnelly vs Keck is super intriguing. Starocci in on a leg. And he converts. Starocci 2nd TD up 6-1. Max and Keck will go scoreless 1st period. Max down 1st. Starocci chooses down. Max is out 22 RT for Keck, Starocci R2. He is special people. 8-1 CS. 1-0 Max. Max and Keck feel like they are headed to OT already. Nice E1 by Plott. Keck picks down. Taking his time getting set lol. Out quick. 1-1. Plott chooses down. Starocci 8-3. Both matches 40 to go. Starocci going for the major. OT Keck and Max. Starocci is now a 5x finalist. Great shot reshot re re shot and no points Max and Keck. Max in deep. Leg in the air and Keckheisen with an AMAZING counter to get the win. We get a rematch of the All Star Meet that went to OT 

197 lbs

Cardenas vs Barr rematch and the matchup I think we are all interested in, Buchanan vs Ferrari. Cardenas in right away and great hips by Barr to get the TD. He has a turk and has Cardenas in trouble Ferrari being Ferrari. Controlling the space and pace. Barr 3-0 and 1:20 of RT. E1 Cardenas. Buchanan has been a beast as the match goes on so very interested in how the match develops. Ferrari trusts his ability to ride and get away so he is not high risk on his feet. 0-0 scoreless. AJ down 1st. Blood time. Barr 3-1 and he chooses down. Barr E1. Buchanan doing a good job riding. Buchanan up oer 1:00 of RT and now it gets interesting. Buchanan is doing a great job. Barr and Cardenas not doing much this period. Buchanan got 1 swipe but a 2:00 rideout is huge. Big decision here. Pick Neutral and keep the RT or pick down and maybe get rode out. IA brick for 2 swipes. Cardenas up and out. 4-2 and RT for Barr. Lost brick for IA. Buchanan will choose down. Cardenas has to go get it. Locked hands against AJ. CSUB brick. Barr has RT locked so Cardenas needs a TD to tie. Now Stall point. TD would give Cardenas the W. Barr too tough. Makes the 1st period TD stand up and PSU has ANOTHER finalist. Still waiting on CSUB brick decision. Brick lost. AJ should cut him. E1 Buchanan and he has 1:20 RT. Blood stoppage. 

AJ gotta let it rip. Needs a TD and rideout. Instead Buchanan is in on a single. Ferrari gets OOB. has 17 seconds to get a TD. And Buchanan gets it down. Great ride was the difference. Buchanan vs Barr tomorrow night.

285 lbs

Gable vs Trephan, Wyatt vs Kerk. Gable is a freaking unicorn. So special. Gable TD3. No score other semi. Hendrickson with the 1st TD. Now it gets interesting. Gable with a 2nd TD. Steveson up 7-2 with bonus Minnesota would jump from 10th to 5th. Kerk is up and out. 3-2 Wyatt and he has 1:27 RT. Wyatt picks down and out quick. And a quick TD and he is going to win unless something crazy happens. Trephan E1 and it’s 7-3. Minnesota could use bonus but Gable only has 1 minute left. Wyatt has dominated which is surprising. Gable TD cuts him and gets to the major. Wyatt wins and has a meeting with Gable tomorrow night.