It was only fitting that the Terrapin wrestling team’s night at North Carolina on Friday ended without a match.

Terp heavyweight Pat Gilmore got the night off because his Tar Heel opponent forfeited. But with the way the rest of the night had gone for North Carolina (2-4-1, 0-1 ACC) the Tar Heels might as well have raised the white flag anyway.

The No. 7 Terps (6-1, 1-0) shut out the Tar Heels, 41-0. At 125 pounds, James Knox set the tone with a dominant 13-3 major decision, and at 197 pounds, Hudson Taylor capped off the performance with his 69th career pin, tying a school record he went on to break yesterday at Penn State.

“I think for how early it is in the season, we are a little ahead of schedule,” coach Kerry McCoy said. “I don’t think the guys wrestled their best. … But it shows our potential the way in which we were able to win.”

The Terps had been expected to dominate D-III York College when they beat them 57-0 in the season’s first dual meet. But the Tar Heels are perennial contenders in the ACC and the Terps’ shutout speaks volumes about their potential when all 10 starters are wrestling well. 

The Terps were heavily favored to win the match, but North Carolina had some perceived advantages. At 149 and 157 pounds, the Tar Heels had two wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally. Meanwhile, their Terp counterparts were considered  McCoy’s weak links.

Jon Kohler (149 pounds) had gotten off to a slow start this season as he adjusted to moving up a weight class, and 157-pounder Kyle John started the season as the backup — experienced, but certainly not highly touted.

Once again, McCoy’s admittedly cliché mantra, “Anything can happen in wrestling,” became reality in his wrestlers’ matches. Kohler outlasted Stabile, 10-8, and John shocked Scotton, staying aggressive throughout on his way to a 9-0 major decision.

“You could tell Jon [Kohler] was on the edge of breaking through last week,” McCoy said. “He was really close and I thought he should have won the match last week, but it’s great for him to be performing this way now.”

Then Taylor tied Jake Stork for most career pins in program history when he tied up No. 18 Dennis Drury midway through the second period. Drury couldn’t find an answer for Taylor, despite his familiarity with Taylor’s style well having wrestled him four times in the last two seasons.

Taylor broke the record yesterday at the Penn State Open. Taylor improved his season record to 17-0 with 13 pins.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for him,” McCoy said. “He’s had this goal since the beginning of the season, and for him to break the record against quality competition is a special moment for our program.”

Taylor has made pinning opponents a personal mission, and it showed with a relatively easy match against an experienced, nationally ranked wrestler.

Now, as Friday’s match showed, the rest of the Terps are improving in time to compliment Taylor’s dominance. 

lemaire@umdbk.com