Maryland wrestling dominated by No. 16 Pittsburgh, loses 35-3

Photo courtesy of Grayson Belanger/Maryland Athletics.

On Saturday, Maryland wrestling faced its first big test – a dance with the No. 16 Pittsburgh Panthers in the Schanwald Pavilion for the Terps’ first home dual of the 2025-26 season. 

Maryland (4-1, 0-0 B1G) was coming off a 27-9 win over American, while Pitt (6-1, 0-0 ACC)  picked up a hard-fought 18-13 win against Bucknell. The last time these two met was in 2023, where the Panthers took a 21-16 victory in College Park. Pitt continued their dominance over the Terps and handed Maryland their first loss, coming out of Prince George’s County with a dominant 35-3 win. 

As soon as the whistle blew, Pitt’s Tyler Chappell was ready to roll, picking up a dominant win 8-0 over Abram Cline at 125 pounds. The Terps bounced back at 133 pounds, with No. 12 Braxton Brown taking down No. 30 Evan Tallmadge in a 4-1 decision victory. 

The Panthers took control at the middle weights. They rattled off 3 straight decision victories at 141, 149 and 157 pounds, giving them a 15-3 advantage over Maryland as the dual headed into intermission. Pitt continued this form into the 165 pound bout, as Jared Keslar got the 9-7 decision win over Alex Uryniak to put the Panthers up 18-3.

By then, the Xfinity Center was silent, and that wouldn’t change anytime soon. 

No. 25 Luca Augustine picked up another three points for Pitt at 174 pounds, putting them up 21-3 overall.  The Panthers won again at 184 pounds – their sixth straight bout won in the dual meet –  giving them a 25-3 lead. 

The 197-pound bout was between two top-15 ranked wrestlers – the Terps’ No.15 Branson John and Pitt’s eleventh-ranked Mac Stout.  This match would be intense, with it being 4-4 heading into the final period. However, Stout would get the upper hand on John, landing two takedowns in the final period and taking an 11-6 decision to give the Panthers a resounding 29-3 advantage.  

In the final bout of the dual at heavyweight, Pitt would put an exclamation point on its victory with a pin from No.17 Dayton Pitzer over Oscar Williams to give the Panthers a 35-3 win.

Maryland head coach Alex Clemsen was blunt after the game. “We stunk,” Clemsen said.   “We have to wrestle for all seven minutes, not five or six.”  

Maryland will move into the holiday break sitting at 4-1. The Terps will be back in action after the turn of the year on Jan. 3, 2026 at the Southern Scuffle.