What happened to Dayton Pitzer?

It’s a question that many Pitt wrestling fans were asking after Friday night’s loss to No. 18 North Carolina, where the 13th-ranked heavyweight fell to an unranked wrestler in the final bout, allowing the Tar Heels to escape with a 17-16 victory on criteria.

Two years ago, Pitzer looked destined for stardom after beating All-Americans Colton Schultz and Trent Hilger in back-to-back matches at Midlands. On Friday, he took three bad third-period shots, with each leading to takedowns in an ugly 14-9 loss to Nolan Neves, who entered the night with a losing record.

Injuries have been problematic for Pitzer throughout his career, but Friday night revealed what might be his biggest issue: He has almost no experience in close matches.

As amazing as it sounds—especially for a heavyweight—Pitzer has only wrestled four one-point matches in the past seven years.

He was so dominant in winning three PIAA Class AA titles – he missed his entire sophomore season with a knee injury – that he didn’t wrestle a single one-point match in his career. He went 130 -3 at Mount Pleasant with 100 pins. As a senior, he won all 45 of his matches and didn’t go the distance once, with 38 pins and seven forfeits.

College hasn’t been nearly so easy – he’s now 28-13 at Pitt – and he looks very uncomfortable in close matches. That was evident in the final period on Friday night.

“It was panic,” Panthers coach Keith Gavin said. “He was forcing a lot of shots. Mentally, he wasn’t doing the right things.”

In high school, Pitzer wrestled at 182 and 215 pounds. When he got to college, he moved up to 285 pounds, but he didn’t wrestle like a heavyweight. In his first season, that was a bonus. His mat wrestling skills caught some opponents by surprise and allowed him to overcome a neutral skillset that is not at an elite level. Up to that point, he had rarely been in the third period of a close match, let alone one where he needed to go get a takedown.

Since then, opponents have gotten a scouting report on him. Try to stay off the mat with him – he’s also prone to look for reversals instead of escapes, which is unusual at this level – and make him win a match on his feet, as is so often the case at heavyweight.

To the coaching staff’s credit and his, Pitzer has gotten better on his feet. His biggest problem now is developing that mat sense that most D-I wrestlers learned over hundreds of close matches, where being down a point or two in the third period wasn’t a reason to panic. He has to learn to find the right opportunity, not necessarily the first one, and that until the final few seconds a bad attack is much worse than no attack at all.

Against UNC, Pitzer scored the opening takedown but seemed to cut Neves loose with 21 seconds remaining in the first period – another sign that he’s not used to wrestling in close matches. Neves escaped in the second, then scored off a Pitzer shot.

Pitzer escaped to tie it at 5 in the third, but Neves’ three defensive takedowns resulted in a 14-9 victory.

Knee and shoulder issues have limited Pitzer – consider that Campbell heavyweight Taye Ghadiali wrestled more matches last season than Pitzer has in his first three years – but he needs to get more experience to pick up the mat sense necessary to win big-time college bouts.

“You’ve got to wrestle more – in practice and in matches,” Gavin said.

The good news is that Pitzer didn’t have long to dwell on his loss. By Saturday morning, the Panthers were already traveling to Ames for Sunday’s dual with No. 14 Iowa State. The Cyclones’ Daniel Herrera, a freshman ranked 26th, should provide another test.

“This should be a good thing for him,” Gavin said. “It’s good to get back out there and get a worthy opponent.”

All the drama

Pitzer’s loss took the luster off a strong night for No. 15 Pitt. After dropping the first four bouts, the Panthers (9-4, 2-2 in ACC) won five consecutive bouts, including three where they scored in the final 30 seconds to win.

“Eight of the 10 matches we wrestled really well,” Gavin said. “Dayton had kind of a mental breakdown out there or whatever. At ’41, we just didn’t do enough to win. Even the matches we lost, we wrestled pretty well.”

No. 23 Dylan Evans started Pitt’s run with a takedown at the buzzer to beat No. 18 Sonny Santiago 4-1 at 157. It was the fifth victory over a ranked opponent for the redshirt freshman, who let out a triumphant scream.

“Dylan’s having a great year,” Gavin said. “I don’t think anybody would argue that. From his freshman year to where he’s at, his improvement has been impressive. He won a lot in high school in Pennsylvania, but he wasn’t a top-100 guy. Really happy with the composure that he has as a freshman. Last year, he didn’t have that. He was panicking in situations.”

Jared Keslar was solid at 165, beating Charlie Darracott 4-1 in a toss-up match, and No. 18 Luca Augustine beat No. 16 Joshua Ogunsanya 6-5 with a very late reversal.

Reece Heller provided more drama at 174, as the 13th-ranked Panther scored off No. 22 Gavin Kane’s shot in the final 30 seconds, then rode him out for a 7-6 victory.

No. 10 Mac Stout posted his 15th consecutive victory at 197, an 11-2 major decision over Cade Lautt that put the Panthers ahead 16-13.

The Tar Heels (7-5, 3-1) were favored in the first three bouts, where No. 13 Spencer Moore beat No. 23 Nick Babin 6-4, No. 12 Ethan Oakley beat Tyler Chappell 4-1, No. 22 Jayden Scott beat Anthony Santaniello 4-2, and No. 5 Lachlan McNeill majored No. 23 Finn Solomon, 9-1.

“I felt good about most of them,” Gavin said. “Tyler Chappell is a takedown away from beating the No. 12 guy in the country, and he was in on a leg at the buzzer.”

New names in Ames

Pitt’s lineup will look a little different against Iowa State, a Heller suffered an injury on Friday night and will not wrestle against the Cyclones. Chase Kranitz is expected to step in at 184 pounds, and Gavin wasn’t sure about a timetable for Heller’s return.

Briar Priest will get his fourth dual-meet opportunity at 141. Priest is 2-1, with victories against Rider and Pitt-Johnstown and a sudden-victory loss against Stanford.

Iowa State’s projected lineup includes seven ranked wrestlers, led by No. 5 Evan Frost at 133.

Pitt was supposed to wrestle in Ames last year, but that trip was canceled due to weather, sending the Panthers back there on Super Bowl Sunday.

“It is what it is. It’s on the schedule and we’ve got to go wrestle it,” Gavin said. “We only have a couple of these left. You get to wrestle a good team, and it’s going to be a good environment. It will be a great crowd. Each time you compete you get real feedback that you can use.”