Maryland wrestling falls to Rutgers, 30-9

Photo courtesy of Grayson Belanger/Maryland Athletics.

Maryland wrestling, currently on a six-match skid, traveled to Piscataway for its final road dual of the season against No. 16 Rutgers on Friday night. 

The Terps were shutout in their last game — top-ranked Penn State — where they lost 51-0. Adversity has been a theme for Maryland this year, dealing with streaky play and injuries, but coach Alex Clemsen has emphasized the closeness amongst his group of wrestlers.

The Terps (4-7, 0-6 B1G) suffered their seventh straight loss, falling against the Scarlet Knights (9-5, 3-3 B1G) 30-9. Maryland has two more opportunities to pick up a conference win on the season – both involve matchups against ranked programs. 

An amped-up crowd at Jersey Mike’s Arena made for a good environment in the opening match, with sophomore Abram Cline stepping up for the Terps against No. 28 Ayden Smith at 125 pounds. Two competitive periods left the bout at a rare 0-0 going into the third, where Smith was able to earn a getup point late in the period – and that would prove to be all he needed. 

133 pounds was a ranked matchup between No. 17 Braxton Brown and No. 27 Dylan Shawver. Themes of these lightweight matchups were caged and competitive, as three periods were not enough to separate the two veteran wrestlers. Brown showed tremendous heart late, coming away with a takedown in overtime for three points and the win, leveling the match at three. 

The tentative offensive start ended at 141 pounds in Dario Lemus’s matchup with Mason Gibson — it was 4-4 after one period. The second period stayed action-packed, with Lemus finding a takedown for a 7-6 advantage going into the final frame. He held Gibson off in the third, and was able to land a takedown in the final seconds, securing the 11-6 win.

149 pounds gave us another ranked matchup – this one between No. 7 Carter Young and No. 29 Andrew Clark. Young took an early 3-1 lead in the first, then expanded with two more takedowns for a 9-2 lead. He eventually secured a 9-4 win, giving the Terps a six point lead after four bouts. 

At 157 pounds, Garrett Reece faced off against No. 29 Anthony White, and White dominated. The Rutgers wrestler pulled away with a 19-1 win via tech fall and cut Maryland’s lead to one, 9-8.

At 165 lbs, AJ Rodriguez stepped up against Andrew Barbosa. Barbosa was dominant, taking a victory by technical fall relatively easily, which reignited the crowd and gave the Scarlet Knights a 13-9 lead.

The Terps needed a win at 174 pounds. Seth Digby entered the mat against Ryan Ford. After back-and-forth first two periods, with both men trading get ups and takedowns, Ford was able to pull away late, landing multiple takedowns late in the third for an 18-8 win and 17-9 Rutgers lead. . 

Maryland looked to swing the momentum back with Sepanta Ahang-Elias due next at 184 pounds. No 21 Shane Cartegena-Walsh stepped onto the mat for the Scarlet Knights, looking to silence any chances of a Terps comeback. 

Walsh did just that early on, taking a 7-1 lead into the second and a 10-2 lead into the final period. Despite relentless effort from Ahang-Elias in the third, Walsh was able to work for a tech fall win, taking Rutgers to a 22-9 lead with 2 matches to play.

197 pounds saw a ranked matchup between No. 13 Branson John and No. 17 Remy Cotton.  John struggled to find his offense early and went down 3-1 after one. He continued to struggle against Cotton, failing to generate offense in a 10-2 defeat. 

The heavyweight duel pitted Joey Schneck against Brandon Toranzo. With the match all wrapped up, Toranzo was able to land two takedowns, taking a decision victory. 

Maryland is back at Xfinity Center on Feb. 8 against Minnesota. The Terps have three more duals left before the Big Ten Championships on March 7.