Wrestling: Pitt stuns Virginia Tech with walk-off pin

It took two pins by Pitt’s No. 9 Zac Thomusseit in overtime of his match to seal a come-from-behind win for the No. 18 Pitt wrestling team over No. 11 Virginia Tech, 18-16. The win gives the Panthers (1-2) their first dual match win of the year.

In the last match of the night, the redshirt senior heavyweight appeared to pin Virginia Tech’s David Marone as the first sudden-victory period was winding down. After signaling the pin, the referee waved off the fall after he discussed if it beat the period-ending whistle with the review official.

The Panthers entered Thomusseit’s match trailing 16-12, needing a major decision (worth four points) to earn a tie or a pin (worth six points) for the victory. After Thomusseit’s near pin, it appeared that he would just squeak out a win but not earn the team win.

With time ticking down in the first overtime ride-out, Thomusseit pulled off a reversal straight into the match-winning pin to earn the Panthers six team points and the stunning win as the nearly filled Fitzgerald Field House exploded with applause.

The exciting ending made up for what was once again a poor showing from the Pitt lower weight class wrestlers.

At 125 pounds, redshirt freshman Derrick Nelson got his first start of the season and his career. His task wasn’t easy though, as he was taking on Virginia Tech’s No. 6 Jarrod Garnett.

Garnett dominated the freshman throughout the match and finished with a 14-3 victory, earning an important four team points for the Hokies.

No. 7 Shelton Mack at 133 pounds wrestled a tight match, defeating Virginia Tech’s Erik Spjut. Mack earned a takedown but was unable to hold Spjut down for long. Spjut had two escapes in the match to even it up entering the third period. Mack escaped early in the third period and held onto the lead, despite receiving a stall warning.

The next three matches were all struggles for the Panthers, but there was one positive: Pitt’s wrestlers at 141, 149 and 157 pounds all avoided giving up any bonus team points to the Hokies.

No. 10 Zach Neibert of Virginia Tech didn’t wrestle his best match against Pitt’s Travis Shaffer, who led 3-2 entering the third period. But Shaffer had a poor third period, allowing an escape, giving up three back points and losing the riding time point as Neibert emerged as the 7-3 victor.

Pitt redshirt senior Donnie Tasser also took on a No. 10 wrestler in the Hokies’ Nick Brascetta. Tasser was dominated early by Brascetta, who jumped out to a 7-1 lead after the first period. The next two periods were much closer, and the score ended as a 10-3 win for Brascetta to give Virginia Tech a lead by the same score.

At 157 pounds, Pitt’s Troy Reaghard took on No. 8 Jesse Dong. In another seven-point victory, Dong defeated Reaghard 9-2. Winning by seven points is significant because an eight-point win earns the victorious wrestler four points for his team instead of the three.

The match of the night and the potential swing match came at 165 pounds. It was the night’s only matchup of ranked wrestlers. No. 4 Pete Yates, Virginia Tech’s highest ranked wrestler, faced off against Pitt’s No. 11 Tyler Wilps.

The wrestlers were tied at two following two Wilps escapes and one takedown for Yates. In the third period, Yates escaped and secured the riding time point for a 4-2 win.

With four matches remaining, Pitt trailed the Hokies 16-3 and desperately needed to begin its comeback attempt.

Nick Bonaccorsi and Austin Gabel went to sudden victory after wrestling to a 1-1 tie. While both wrestlers were close to takedowns in sudden victory, neither could finish it off. After each escaped in the two overtime periods, they entered another sudden victory period. Gabel was hit with a stalling call, giving Bonaccorsi and the Panthers the win, 3-2.

Pitt turned to No. 14 184-pounder Max Thomusseit to keep the momentum rolling. With a third-period takedown, he defeated Nick Vetterlein 3-1.

With its best wrestler taking the mat next, Pitt looked to get a bonus point back. No. 2 197-pounder Matt Wilps cruised through Derrick Borlie, but he couldn’t get anything better than an 8-2 victory, leaving it all up to Zac Thomusseit with the Panthers needing a major decision or pin to salvage anything from the tight match.

The Pitt heavyweight didn’t let the team down and came up with the big pin for the Panthers.

With the win, Pitt will look to earn another home victory against a future ACC foe next Friday night when it hosts Maryland at the Fitzgerald Field House.