CHAPEL HILL—Welcome to Chapel Thrill, where rankings mean nothing and anything can happen, especially when Duke comes to town.
But someone must have forgotten to inform the Tar Heels, after they decided to reschedule a postponed dual with Navy prior to grappling the Blue Devils in a Tobacco Road showdown.
No. 14 North Carolina seemed to overlook a short-handed Duke squad Wednesday night at Carmichael Arena after toppling the Midshipmen 24-12 in the 5 p.m. match. When the Blue Devils hit the mats two hours later, they outhustled and outgrappled their rivals for a 21-17 victory, upending the Tar Heels for the first time since 2004 and bringing home the largest upset in program history.
“I guarantee they won’t schedule a dual prior to us wrestling them again—they’ll come straight out,” Duke head coach Glen Lanham said. “And that, they deserve it. They did that and thought that we were going to roll over and they had another thing coming tonight.”
Heavyweight Brendan Walsh stepped up in the biggest way possible for Duke (5-7, 1-3 in the ACC) in a do-or-die match in the final dual with the Blue Devils nursing an 18-17 team lead. The redshirt senior lined up against North Carolina’s Cory Daniel with the match riding on his performance. The two grapplers fought to a 2-2 tie entering the final frame, but Daniel gave Walsh the escape, allowing him to carry a 3-2 advantage into the final 30 seconds.
There was a stalemate with 23 seconds remaining. And another with 14 left.
With both benches yelling their respective teammate on, Walsh was called for a stalling penalty in the final seconds, but fortunately for the Blue Devils, he had amassed sufficient riding time—more than two minutes—to give him the decisive point and the 4-3 victory, sealing the Tar Heels’ fate.
“I didn’t even know about [the stall warning] until 10 seconds left, but what’s going through my head is that I have to keep circling and stay aggressive,” Walsh said. “What’s really going through my head is like, ‘For the team, I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to do this for the coaches, for my teammates, the people that came and supported me.’ It’s just great to be able to do it for the team.”
Walsh’s success was set up by his teammates in the lighter weight classes. In the first bout of the night, sophomore Thayer Atkins scored an 11-6 victory, No. 10 Mitch Finesilver recorded an 8-4 decision at 149 pounds and just before intermission, junior Connor Bass sealed six points for Duke with a pin at the 6:00 mark at 157 pounds.
Although North Carolina’s Jack Clark held a 2-1 advantage after the first period, Bass rallied and wore his opponent down methodically in the second and third frames. With the win, the Yorkville, Ill., native snagged his 14th win of the season and gave the Blue Devils a 12-9 lead.
“Bass—he’s been in a slump and we’ve just been telling him that the only way to get through it is to wrestle through it, and you’re going to have your ups and downs,” Lanham said. “He wore that kid down and he got the fall. That kid gave up and that’s Bass’ style, to make him wrestle like that. Obviously, it was exciting for him for sure.”