Darrion Caldwell, ranked No. 9 nationally at 149 pounds, got the Wolfpack off to a fast start, literally, pinning Duke's Mike Bell in 58 seconds. The pin was Caldwell's 12th of the season and the 22nd of his career, tying him with Mike Lombardo (1985-88) for seventh place in NC State history for career pins. Caldwell improved to 20-3 on the season, matching his season total for victories from a year ago.
Duke took the next three matches. Voris Tejada earned a 6-0 decision at 157 pounds against Ray Ward. Tejada improved to 23-9 overall in 2007-08. At 165 pounds, Addison Nuding had a big second period and won a 10-0 major decision over Jalil Dozier. Nuding, 20-6 on the year, gave the Blue Devils a 7-6 lead in team points. Aaron Glover used a takedown with 11 seconds left in the match at 174 pounds to win a tense 6-5 decision over Randy Goodman and give Duke a 10-6 lead in the team scoring.
And that was the last victory of the evening for Duke. Ryan Goodman, a two-time ACC champion, defeated the Blue Devils's winningest wrestler, John Barone, by a 9-5 decision. Goodman rallied late to win the bout, which was tied 5-5 after two periods. Goodman, who missed all of November while playing football, improved to 11-4. Barone is now 24-4.
Junior Mark Jahad won a 13-2 major decision over Duke's Robert Holbrook at 197, giving the team lead back to the Wolfpack at 13-10. Another close match pitted Duke's redshirt sophomore Mike Tunick and the Wolfpack's Bobby Isola at heavyweight. The first period was scoreless, but Isola wound up with a 10-4 decision to put the Wolfpack up 16-10.
At 125 pounds, NC State's Taylor Cummings overcame a late lead by Duke's Kellon McKeon and took a 4-2 decision. Cummings, the defending conference champion, lifted his season mark to 15-8 with the win. At 133, freshman Darius Little took an 11-6 decision over Bryan Gibson with a strong final period. And eighth-ranked Joe Caramanica won the 141-pound bout by technical fall over A.J. Guardado. Caramanica wrapped up the tech fall by a 17-1 score with 41 seconds left in the bout.
NC State returns to action on Saturday, January 12, at Liberty for a 7 p.m. match.
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