With Duke leading 18-16 going into the final bout, redshirt senior Brendan Walsh was poised to send his Blue Devils off with a bang to cap an exciting Senior Night at home.
But a controversial no-call on an escape in the waning seconds of the match cost Walsh a chance at overtime and left Duke searching for an explanation.
“I thought it was an escape [in the final match]. I thought we should have gone into overtime, but it is what it is. Sometimes you don’t get the calls and we didn’t get it tonight,” Duke head coach Glen Lanham said. “There was a loss of control twice during that match, but we just didn’t get the call…. You can’t let it get that close because everybody knows you can’t put it into anybody’s hands but your own.”
The defeat in the final match forced the Blue Devils to stomach a 19-18 heartbreaker against Gardner-Webb at Card Gymnasium Wednesday after a series of questionable calls left the home faithful begging for answers. The Blue Devils honored seven graduating seniors prior to the dual, but were left with a sour taste in their mouths at the end of the night.
Walsh battled Boyce Cornwell down to the wire, but the redshirt senior’s one-point lead disappeared when the Runnin’ Bulldog scored a reversal with just more than 30 seconds remaining. After the two scrambled out of the ring, the referee reset the heavyweights at the center with 18 seconds remaining. Walsh appeared to free himself from his opponent after getting to his feet, but the buzzer sounded and the match was called, despite the protests from the Duke bench.
“You might say, ‘Hey, you’re his coach and you’re biased,’ but [Walsh] won the match,” Lanham said. “He’s turned a corner. You look at the beginning of the year and he struggled getting himself in shape, so he got in shape—he wrestled hard and he wrestled and won the match. That’s the way I’m going to look at it. We came up short on the scoreboard, but he won that match.”
Despite going down to the wire in the final match, the Blue Devils (4-6) left several opportunities on the mat. The team could have scored bonus points to get some breathing room in a dual that featured six lead changes, but in the end, Gardner-Webb (6-5) held strong when it mattered.
No. 10 Mitch Finesilver fell behind 4-3 after one period at 149 pounds, but battled back and scored five points in the final frame—including four near-fall points—to earn an 11-4 victory. Unfortunately for Duke, the sophomore was one point shy of scoring a major decision and a crucial extra team point for his squad.
“I feel like I left some points on the mat, and I was going through the match in my head,” Finesilver said. “I wish I probably would have tried to take him down again or maybe tried to turn him a little harder, but [I] can’t really do anything now.”
In the 165-pound match, more controversy may have kept the Blue Devils off the board. Although redshirt junior Jake Faust won his match 5-2 after an interlocking hands penalty and a reversal with three seconds remaining pushed him ahead, the Bellville, Ohio, native appeared to finish the match in the earlier frames.
On two separate occasions, Faust put Runnin’ Bulldog Austin Trott on his back and appeared to score the fall, but the referee allowed the wrestlers to carry on without calling the match.
“You hate to go back to the calls, but in the Faust match, he had the kid pinned twice,” Lanham said. “We’re looking at it and he’s flat on his back. I don’t know what else you’re looking at. Those are critical calls. Get in position. You’re a professional. Get in position and make the call.”
Despite the controversy, Duke scored falls at 141 and 197 pounds to get bonus points. Zach Finesilver took a 2-0 lead into the second period of his bout at 141 pounds but did not have to worry about the score after turning his opponent and recording the second-period fall at the 4:03 mark.
No. 5 Conner Hartmann did not waste any time scoring the second fall of the night for the Blue Devils. After getting an early takedown, the redshirt senior went to work and pinned his opponent 1:59 into the match. The fall was Hartmann’s sixth of the season, and marks the fourth pin in five matches, including three in the first period.
“I’ve just been trying to just get on and get off the mat really quickly,” Hartmann said. “I’m happy with how I’m doing. I’ve been working on top quite a bit lately and it’s just starting to come together.”
After Winter Storm Jonas swept across the East Coast in late January and prevented Duke from traveling to Virginia Jan. 22 for an ACC matchup, the Blue Devils will have a quick turnaround and will make the rescheduled trip to Charlottesville, Va., Friday to face off against the Cavaliers. The first bout is set for 7 p.m.
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