Maryland wrestling needed to pull off an upset or two and win the bonus points battle to beat No. 12 Rutgers on Friday.
The Terps got one of those. They won five out of 10 matches against the Scarlet Knights, but lost three by technical fall. Those points were the difference in Maryland’s 21-20 dual meet loss in College Park, its third consecutive defeat.
Rutgers got off to an early lead that swelled to 16-7 at one point, but back-to-back victories from the Terps brought the score to 16-14 with two matches to go. Maryland appeared to have the momentum, but a tech fall loss from Chase Mielnik ended all hopes of a comeback.
Three tech fall losses doom Maryland
Maryland has a formula to pull off upsets — find at least five wins and don’t give up bonus points in the losses. The strategy trusts that the top wrestlers will pick up enough bonus points to flip the match.
Tyler Garvin, Alex Uryniak and Chase Mielnik couldn’t hold up. All three faced constant pressure and were unable to keep their opponents from advancing. They each suffered tech fall losses, which gave Rutgers a 9-4 bonus point advantage — the Scarlet Knights ended up winning by one.
Brown picks up a top-10 win
Braxton Brown’s beaten a lot of opponents this season — 16 heading into Friday’s dual — but he didn’t have a top-10 win. The redshirt junior had a chance to change that on Sunday, taking on No. 9 Dylan Shawver, a 2024 All-American and Big Ten Champion at 133 pounds.
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Both wrestlers came close to finishing takedowns in the first round. Shawver got quite close on a double leg, but Brown fought him off with a well-executed defensive scramble, keeping things scoreless.
Brown was on the bottom to start the second. Shawver’s top pressure was heavy, but Brown got a point when Shawver got called twice for stalling. Then he got too high on Brown’s back, and the redshirt junior shook him off and took him down to get a reversal and a 3-0 lead.
Shawver picked up an escape before the period ended to make it 3-1. The third period started in neutral, with Shawver looking for a takedown. But Brown was able to use his aggression against him, beautifully timing a single leg and powering through Shawver for the takedown.
Shawver escaped, drawing two stalling calls and picking up a point, but Brown held him off in the final seconds for the 6-3 victory.
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“I’d like to put more points on the board, hopefully to swing the duel. He has beat me the past two times, and I knew that coming in here,” Brown said. “But the game plan is still to go out there and give it my all and to win the match.”
John gets a ranked victory at a pivotal point
Freshman 174-pounder Branson John walked to the mat at a pivotal point for the Terps. They trailed, 16-7, and a loss to No. 23 Jackson Turley would limit any realistic chance of a comeback.
Turley got on the board quickly, picking up a solid amount of riding time before John was able to escape. He stayed on the offensive, but John held strong, keeping Turley off of him for the remainder of the period.
John started the second from the bottom. Turley tried everything to put John on his back, but the freshman’s defense helped him escape and trim the deficit to 3-2. Turley’s offensive attempts appeared to take a lot out of him, and John came into the third as the fresher fighter.
Down a point, John went after a gassed Turley, keeping him on his back foot and throwing offense at him. He got deep on a shot and finished it, holding Turley down for the remainder of the period for a 5-4 win.
“I felt him – he was tired, he didn’t really want to wrestle,” John said. “So I started slowly, staying smart, staying in good position, and just getting to my position.”
