CHAPEL HILL — Matthew Foil was willing to give up his wrestling career to enroll in the Honors College at the University of North Carolina.

As it turns out, he won’t have to.

Foil will walk on the Tar Heels wrestling team, joining the ACC program to continue in the sport after a prolific high school career at Lumberton.

“That’s the best part, because I was afraid that I was going to have to let go of my passion going into college, but with this opportunity to continue my wrestling career at the highest level,” Foil said. “It’s been different meeting all the people from all over the country; they’re all the best guys out of high school, so seeing those guys, the way they practice, the way they do things inspired me to try to be better myself.”

Foil planned all along to attend UNC, where he plans to major in biology/pre-med, and did not shop himself as a potential college recruit despite winning over 150 matches over the last four years in the Pirates program.

But when the chance to join the Tar Heels as a walk-on presented itself, Foil jumped at the opportunity.

“I just emailed the coach. I’ve been doing good around here in North Carolina, and my academics are really well, so I went and met him at the ACC Tournament for wrestling back in March,” Foil said. “I talked to him then and he said that I could walk on … so that’s really how that came to be. And I’ve been training with them over the summer too, so I got to meet the guys and check out the wrestling room and the atmosphere and stuff like that.”

Foil finished third at the NCHSAA State Championships in February in the 4A 157-pound classification, helping the Pirates to a second-place team finish. He is a four-time state championship qualifier, placing fourth in 2023 before this year’s third-place result. He was 53-6 in his senior season and won the 157-pound 4A Mideast Regional championship, as well as his fourth-straight conference championship.

He also finished as the No. 1 student in Lumberton’s class of 2024 and was the recipient of the NCHSAA’s Charlie Adams Endowed Scholarship, awarded earlier this year.

“(UNC is getting) persistence, consistency,” Lumberton coach James Bell said. “Matt’s always been very self-motivated, always pushing himself. If you look at his high school career, he was always getting one step better every single year. Being No. 1 in your class also shows a lot of persistence, determination.”

Foil being studious is also what’s helped him continue getting better on the mat.

“Especially in his last two years, he started to become more and more a student of wrestling, learning more and more, soaking in a lot of knowledge,” Bell said. “He’s going to go in there and work hard, he’s going to be in the room, even if he’s not a scholarship guy. He’ll get in there, he’ll put the work in and if he gets a shot he’s going to take it.”

In Chapel Hill, he’ll now be able to study by watching some of the very best college wrestling has to offer.

“To be able to go out there and wrestle with the best guys, the best room, the best coaching, it’s a real joy for me,” Foil said. “I’m really excited to see what the future holds for me and my wrestling career; I wonder if I’ll improve being around these next-level coaches and with the best guys in the country.”

Bell believes Foil is the Lumberton program’s first Division-I wrestler since Marcus Williams, who also wrestled at UNC in the mid-1970s.

The academic opportunities Foil has received — which in turn opened up this wrestling opportunity — underscores the type of student-athlete the Lumberton program desires to produce, Bell said.

“He went to Carolina on his academic prowess, he’s going in the Honors College and that shows the type of athletes we’re trying to create at Lumberton,” Bell said. “We don’t just crank out guys that are getting scholarships or going just for athletics; we’re also helping kids get to places academically. The big thing, we want to push that these kids are going to these universities and colleges to get an education first, and that’s what we’re trying to show, that sports like wrestling can help open up a lot of those avenues as well.”

Foil hopes that his opportunities can show others in Lumberton and beyond that it can happen for them too if they put in the hard work.

“I hope it sparks wrestlers in young wrestlers, or just people in general, to go out and try something new,” Foil said. “Because wrestling is not really your traditional sport, so I hope people can see that it’s possible a little town or county like Robeson County that you can do something, practice it all the time and be successful and compete with anybody else in the country.”