Published Feb 28, 2021
Live Blog: NC State Wolfpack wrestling clinches third straight ACC title
Matt Carter  •  TheWolfpackCentral
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UPDATE: Hayden Hidlay's fourth ACC title at 157 pounds officially clinches the team race for the NC State wrestling team, its third straight conference tournament championship. Read our updates for how it came to be below:

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The ACC Wrestling Championships started at 11 a.m. in historic Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

A look at the brackets with a breakdown from NC State's perceptive can be found here.

Fans can discuss the action on the Wolves' Den message board here.

Below are our live updates from the action:

Championship matches

The gold-medal matches begin at 7 p.m. with live coverage from the ACC Network.

The Wolfpack has six in the finals — 125 Jakob Camacho, 141 Tariq Wilson, 157 Hayden Hidlay, 174 Daniel Bullard, 184 Trent Hidlay and heavyweight Deonte Wilson. Camacho will be the final match of the evening.

In terms of team score, NC State enters the final round with a 12.5-point lead on second-place UNC (60.0) and 13-point lead on third-place Virginia Tech. However, with five finalists to the Tar Heels' three, the Hokies are the bigger threat to NC State claiming its third straight conference title.

Without NC State being deducted any team points and no bonus points being scored by the Hokies in the finals, the only chance for Virginia Tech is to win all five of its final matches while NC State would have to be shut out of winning any gold medals — which, to be frank, is not likely from either side (Hayden Hidlay is going for his fourth ACC crown, while Tech's Bryce Andonian has to face Austin O'Connor — a consensus top-two wrestler nationally — of UNC in the finals).

Bonus points could always change things (or team points could be deducted), but that is where things stand right now.

141 pounds — After a scoreless first period, Tariq Wilson breaks things open with a seven-point second period. He added another takedown in the third period and the riding time point for a 10-1 major decision victory. He looked phenomenal en route to winning his first-ever ACC title.

That stretches the Pack lead in team score back up to 14 points, with only 12 more team points possible for the Hokies (without bonus points) if they sweep their remaining finals matches. The title is not officially locked up yet for the Pack, but it's close.

157 pounds — Fifth-year senior Hayden Hidlay officially clinches the Wolfpack's third straight ACC title. With his fourth consecutive individual conference championship, even if NC State is shut out the rest of the way and Virginia Tech pins in each of its three remaining matches, the margin is too great for them to overcome.

Hidlay topped Virginia's Justin McCoy with a 12-3 major decision for his fourth individual ACC gold. Hidlay tallied five takedowns, an escape and the riding time point while giving up only three escapes.

174 pounds — Fifth-year senior Daniel Bullard reverses the championship match result from last year and extends the Wolfpack lead with a dramatic takedown in overtime for a 4-2 victory over UNC's Clay Lautt. It's Bullard's first-ever ACC title.

184 pounds — In another championship rematch from last year, redshirt sophomore Trent Hidlay overcomes Hunter Bolen in sudden victory, 3-1. Both escaped in regulation, but Hidlay was able to secure the match's only takedown in overtime to claim his first-ever victory over Bolen, nationally ranked No. 1 by most, and his first ACC gold.

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285 pounds — Deonte Wilson and Virginia Tech's Hunter Catka exchange escapes to make it 1-1. Wilson nearly got a takedown at the end of regulation, but no points. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Wilson claimed the title — his first — in the tie breakers. Wilson escaped during his 30 seconds on bottom, and held Catka without an escape during his turn on bottom.

125 pounds — Jakob Camacho and Virginia Tech's Sam Latona exchanged escapes in regulation and went to overtime. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Latona got away during his 30 seconds on bottom during the tie breakers while Camacho was not able to do so and fell 2-1 to claim second.

Third place matches

133 pounds — In a rematch of the first round, Virginia's Louie Hayes once again defeated NC State redshirt sophomore Jarrett Trombley, this time by a 3-2 decision after Trombley had several close calls on his takedown attempts.

149 pounds — Needing a win to clinch an automatic bid, freshman Ed Scott fell short in a 10-5 decision to Duke's Josh Finesilver.

165 pounds — Fifth-year senior Thomas Bullard had his own rematch with UNC's Kennedy Monday, only this time there was a reversal of results. Bullard scored a sudden death takedown to prevail 6-4, securing third place and win an automatic spot into the NCAA Championships.

197 pounds — Reenan falls in a tough 5-3 decision to UNC's Max Shaw, which means he finished one spot shy of an automatic bid and will have to rely on securing one of the NCAA's wilddcards to wrestle at NCAAs.

Consolation

133 pounds — NC State redshirt sophomore Jarrett Trombley used a first period takedown and third period ride out to secure a 3-1 win over UNC's Joe Heilmann, which moved him to the third place match and locked in an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships.

149 pounds — Despite giving up a riding point, freshman Ed Scott scored a comfortable 10-4 win to advance to the third-place match against Duke's Josh Finesilver. The winner will have an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.

197 pounds — Fifth-year senior Nick Reenan used a big first period with 10 points to get home with a 13-8 win over Duke's Kaden Russell and make it to the third-place matchup with UNC's Travis Shaw.

Reenan's win keeps all nine Pack wrestlers alive with seven having achieved automatic bids to the NCAA. Only Reenan and Scott (149 pounds) will have to win their third-place matches to get the automatic spot.

Semifinals

125 pounds — Redshirt sophomore Jakob Camacho scored NC State's first bonus points of the ACC Championships with a 10-1 major decision over Duke's sixth-seeded Logan Agin. Camacho will face Virginia Tech's top-seeded Sam Latona, who defeated Camacho in a thrilling finish earlier in the season.

Camacho also clinches a spot into the NCAA Championships at 125 pounds.

141 pounds — NC State fifth-year senior Tariq Wilson wins 7-2 over Pittsburgh's Cole Matthews, an opponent who typically has given Wilson more competitive matches. With the win, Wilson will face one of his top rivals — UNC's Zach Sherman — in the finals. Like Camacho, Wilson also clinches a spot into the NCAA Championships.

149 pounds — NC State freshman Ed Scott nearly made a late rally on Virginia Tech second-seed Bryce Andonian but ultimately fell short 11-6 after giving up a late takedown at the end of the match.

Scott goes back to the consolation brackets.

157 pounds — NC State star fifth-year senior Hayden Hidlay wasted no time dominating UNC's Josh McClure and quickly piled up the points on his way to a 21-6 tech fall, adding more bonus points to the Wolfpack's tally and giving the Pack a third finalist.

Hidlay remains undefeated in ACC play.

175 pounds — NC State fifth-year senior Daniel Bullard used his impressive defensive skills to fight off a couple of takedowns from Virginia Tech's Dakota Howard and advanced to the championship match with a 5-0 win.

Bullard will face UNC's Cole Lautt in the title bout.

184 pounds — Redshirt sophomore Trent Hidlay picked up a scare from UNC's Devin Kane, but Hidlay had piled up the riding time to offset a third period takedown by Kane and pull out a 5-4 decision.

Hidlay will face Virginia Tech's top-seeded Hunter Bolen, who has had Hidlay's number with a series of close wins in their showdowns.

197 pounds — Fifth-year senior Nick Reenan fell to top-seeded Nick Bonaccorsi in the semis by a 7-1 decision, sending Bonaccorsi to the consolation bracket, where he will need to win twice to secure an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships.

Heavyweight — Junior Deonte Wilson survived a late takedown from UNC's Andrew Gunning to pull out a 3-2 win and advance to the finals. Wilson was able to get a couple of stall calls for a point and escape twice to pull out the win.

First round

133 pounds — NC State's fifth-seeded redshirt sophomore Jarrett Trombley and Virginia's fourth-seeded Louie Hayes went without a takedown until less than a minute left in the third period, when Hayes was able to score two points on Trombley, who was unable to escape and fell 3-1.

149 pounds — Freshman Ed Scott for NC State, the third seed, gave up a takedown to Pittsburgh's Mick Burnett in the opening seconds of the match, but Scott quickly escaped. After getting an escape to start the second period and evening the match, Scott rode out Burnett in the third period for a 3-2 victory.

Scott moves onto the semifinals where he faces Virginia Tech's Bryce Andonian, who defeated Scott by a 9-5 decision in the regular season.

165 pounds — NC State fifth-year senior Thomas Bullard gave up a takedown with a little over a minute left to UNC's Kennedy Monday, the difference in a 6-5 setback for the fifth-seeded Bullard.

197 pounds — Wolfpack fifth-year senior Nick Reenan scored an early takedown in his match with fifth-seeded Andy Smith of Virginia Tech, and then used his defense to have it hold up. Reenan prevailed 3-2 to move to the semifinals, where he will face top-seeded Nick Bonaccorsi of Pittsburgh.