Matthews helps Pitt upset fifth-ranked Ohio State

Cole Matthews stood and screamed after beating third-ranked Jesse Mendez of Ohio State on Sunday in Columbus.

It was an unusual display of emotion for the normally reserved Matthews.

Was it the release of frustration that has built up over the course of the 2022 All-American’s 3-3 start to the season? Jubilation at breaking through for a last-second takedown in the 4-2 victory? Excitement because he knew that the victory might help propel his team past the favored Buckeye?

“I don’t know what it was,” Matthews said with a little laugh. “I threw an F word in there, and I regret that. I think it was pretty loud.”

Pitt’s statement on Sunday was pretty loud, too. The No. 20 Panthers won six of 10 matches to beat No. 5 Ohio State 21-13 for their first top-five win in a decade.

“They’re an elite team,” Panthers coach Keith Gavin said. “Any time you can get a win over an elite team, it means you’re in a good place. We just try to progress and get better each week.”

With five redshirt freshmen in the lineup, Pitt (6-1) seems to have done that after a 21-12 loss at Navy on Nov. 12.

They’ve won three straight since then – against Big Ten foes Maryland (21-16), Illinois (22-0) and Ohio State.

“We had some matches against Illinois that were gritty and I think that carried over,” Gavin said. “I think they were excited to go compete, and that helps. You’ve got to have that same attitude no matter who you wrestle.”

Colton Camacho set the tone at 125 pounds. He scored a takedown seconds into the dual on his way to a 14-9 victory over No. 22 Brendan McCrone.

“I told him I think the last two matches were mature wins for him,” Gavin said. “He wrestled really well but really smart, too. He’s one guy that’s not afraid to go out there and pull the trigger. Just sometimes he does some silly things. He stayed focused throughout the match and beat a tough guy. When he performs well and gets a good start, it usually carries over.”

Ohio State got a 5-2 decision at 133, as Nic Bouzakis beat Vinnie Santaniello, but Matthews swung the momentum back in Pitt’s favor.

Matthews, who started last season ranked first nationally but has fallen to No. 20 this season, looked headed to another close loss after Mendez locked up a riding-time point, but Matthews was able to escape, get in on a shot, finish behind the Buckeye, then bring him to the mat just before the buzzer.

“It’s something that we knew he could do,” Gavin said. “He’s had a rough start, but knowing that this match was coming, I felt pretty good about it, just because he’s a tough out all of the time.”

The three losses that Matthews have taken this season haven’t done much to damage his confidence.

“It was frustrating, but I usually have my head screwed on pretty well most of the time,” he said. “I don’t let them get to me after I lose. I think that’s one of my better qualities when it comes to wrestling.”

Defense is arguably his best quality, and that isn’t about to change.

“I don’t know that I’ll ever be the guy that’s going out and scoring 15 points, but I’ve kind of found my lane of what I like to do and how I’m going to get to a leg,” Matthews said. “It was kind of trial and error early in the season. Am I the guy that’s going to sprint the whole time because I have the tank for it? Should I try to burn guys out or am I going to be the guy that’s still stingy on defense?”

Matthews was happy to see his hard work pay off.

“It feels good,” he said. “The team win feels way better. That was so much fun.”

Finn Solomon wrestled well at 149 in a loss to an opponent who majored him earlier in the season. He led fifth-ranked Dylan E’Emilio 9-4 before the Buckeye wrestled a strong third period on his way to a 12-11 victory.

Despite the loss, Gavin liked much of what he saw from Solomon.

“Hopefully, he learns from that and gets better from it,” Gavin said. “For the majority of that match, he wrestled really well. We felt like we should have had that one.”

Paddy Gallagher looked like he was headed toward a tech fall at 157, but Jared Keslar improved his defense in the third period to limit the damage to a 17-3 major decision.

Holden and Reece Heller sandwiched major decision victories around Luca Augustine’s loss to Carson Kharchla at 174. Holden beat Isaac Wilcox 10-2 at 165, and Reece looked very good in a 12-2 victory over Gavin Hoffman.

“Holden has been really consistent, and Reece has, too, other than the Navy match,” Gavin said. “They’ve both gotten a lot better over the past year. That’s been fun to coach and to watch. That’s been fun because they’re two guys that we can count on.”

Mac Stout all but locked up the dual victory with his 7-1 victory over Luke Geog at 197. Stout used a nice double-leg takedown late in the second-period to build a 3-1 lead, then countered a late headlock attempt finish off the victory.

“I thought that was going to be a good match,” Gavin said of the matchup of redshirt freshmen. “I think those two are going to have a lot of battles through the years. That Ohio State kid is going to be good, too.”

Dayton Pitzer, another redshirt freshman, closed out the dual with a 12-2 victory over Hogan Swenski, as the Buckeyes were without starter Nick Feldman. It was another encouraging sign from Pitzer, who has already shown he is an elite heavyweight when it comes to mat wrestling. If he can finish cleanly on shots, he could be one of the nation’s best for years to come.

“Just him being more comfortable pulling the trigger,” Gavin said of what he saw from Pitzer. “He did it against a good kid from Illinois last weekend. We told him, ‘Hey, nothing changes. You’re continuing to try to get to guys’ legs and get takedowns.’ He did that. He didn’t let himself off the hook because he knew he could just lay on top and win. He continued to try to score points.”

The road won’t get any easier for the Panthers, who will face two more top-10 teams in Cornell and Iowa State at the National Collegiate Duals in Nashville on Dec. 18.

“We wrestle some really tough teams,” Gavin said. “We just wrestled a really tough team. Just stay the course. This week, we’re going to get back in the room and try to make some small, incremental improvements. We’ll keep doing that each week. If we lost today, we’d do the same thing.”