Wrestling sweeps Northeast Duals for first time

Day after day, the Terrapins wrestling squad has pinned down its competition this season. Thanksgiving weekend was no exception.

The Terps maintained their undefeated record Saturday, overtaking Central Michigan, Bucknell and Northern Iowa at the Northeast Duals in Troy, N.Y.

The No. 12 Terps (6-0) won 25 of their 30 matches in their first undefeated showing at the Northeast Duals competition in program history.

"It's really exciting," coach Kerry McCoy said. "Every time we step on the mat, we want to win, and we're doing the right thing and really showing our competition. We've always had one loss at this event in the past, so it was great to come out undefeated this time. We really dominated the competition and that's what our expectations are."

165-pound Josh Asper and 197-pound Christian Boley kept their individual undefeated records intact with three wins each at the Northeast Duals. No. 2 Asper improved to 10-0 while No. 20 Boley climbed to 9-0.

The team's first contest in New York against Bucknell proved its dominance. The Terps won all 10 matches and defeated the Bison, 40-0 — an indication of how the rest of the day would go.

After back-to-back major decisions for 149-pound Ben Dorsay and 157-pound Kyle John, Asper pinned Bucknell's Doug Kellermeyer to move the Terps' lead to 27-0.

The Terps then took nine of 10 matches against Nothern Iowa, defeating the Panthers, 37-6.

Frank Goodwin, who was injured for the first three matches of the season, earned his first victory at 141 pounds over the Panthers' Seth Noble, and increased the Terps' lead to 12-0.

Dorsay earned a decision and John earned a major decision just before Asper defeated Rile Banach to give the Terps a 24-0 lead. No. 6 heavyweight Spencer Myers closed the competition with a major decision over Panther Ryan Juach.

The Terps took their third competition of the day over No. 21 Central Michigan, 23-15, and won six of their 10 matches.

"[Saturday] was the best we've competed this year as a team," McCoy said. "We definitely had some flashes of brilliance."

And "brilliant" was the only way to describe the conclusion of their dual with Central Michigan.

After back-and-forth matches during which the lead jumped from team to team, Boley clinched a Terps victory with a major decision over Chad Friend.

"I knew that was a solid Central Michigan guy but he wasn't someone that I didn't feel like we couldn't beat," McCoy said of Boley's final win. "[Boley] started a little slow, but then he started to open up. After the first period, he scored some big points. That's the thing with wrestling, anything can happen."

The Terps will have their first home match of the season Friday when they take on No. 14 American at Comcast Center.

"That's going to be a big match," McCoy said of the so-called "Battle of the Beltway." "They're ranked pretty high and they have some nationally ranked guys. We're fired up about it. It's always a battle."

egan@umdbk.com