Chattanooga 27, Appalachian State 9
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team made the most of its first appearance at home since Dec. 16, defeating Appalachian State 27-9 Sunday in a Southern Conference dual.
The Mocs, ranked 19th nationally, had wrestled five consecutive duals as well as the Midlands Championships away from home since hosting eighth-ranked Missouri in mid-December. Chattanooga, who has not lost to a SoCon foe under Head Coach Chris Bono, won eight of 10 matches to move to 2-0 in the conference standings and 7-5 overall.
The Mocs never trailed, winning the first six weight classes. In fact, other than in the 149- and 165-pound meetings, Chattanooga's individual wrestlers only trailed in two other matches.
“I like the way we wrestled aggressively and came out focused,” Bono said. “This was a great test for us. Appalachian State is a much-improved team, and nearly every match was a battle. It was special being back at home in front of our fans, and the atmosphere certainly helped push us ahead in the close ones.”
Senior Josh Edmondson got the Mocs rolling in the right direction, opening the dual at 184 pounds with a 7-3 win over Austin Trotman. Senior Matt Koz, ranked 16th at 197 pounds, poured on the points against freshman Dylan Temple, scoring a 22-9 major decision and giving Chattanooga a 7-0 lead. Koz led 12-5 after one period and 19-7 after two.
UTC freshman Matt Lettner posted one of his biggest wins of the season, edging ASU junior Jared Campbell 4-1 at the heavyweight spot.
As the weight classes got lighter, the matches seemed to get tighter. Senior Javier Maldonado, ranked 16th at 125, beat Frank Celorrio, 8-3, and senior Steve Hromada needed a third-period takedown to defeat Terreyl Williams, 8-6 at 133.
Sophomore Cody Cleveland, ranked 13th in the nation at 141, recorded his seventh technical fall of the year, a 23-5 win over Marcus Cox which pushed the Mocs' margin to 21-0.
The Mountaineers' top wrestler, sixth-ranked Scott Ervin, was able to get ASU on the scoreboard in the 149-pound match. Ervin pinned freshman C.J. Baron at 1:09 for his 26th victory of the year which trimmed ASU's deficit to 21-6. Baron competed for UTC's 17th-ranked sophomore Joey Knox who was unable to wrestle because of an illness.
Twentieth-ranked Seth Garvin increased the Mocs' lead to 24-6 with a 6-3 win at 157 over Eddie Hutchinson, and 14th-ranked Lloyd Rogers closed out the victory with a 6-2 decision over Neal Martin at 174.
Tommy Hutchinson earned ASU's final three team points, defeating UTC's Nick Davis, 4-3 on a riding-time point after three periods.
Chattanooga returns to the mat Feb. 3 with a SoCon match at Davidson.
No. 19 Chattanooga 27, Appalachian State 9
184 ? Josh Edmondson (UTC) dec. Austin Trotman (ASU), 7-3 3-0
197 ? No. 16 Matt Kox (UTC) maj. dec. Dylan Temple (ASU), 22-9 7-0
285 ? Matt Lettner (UTC) dec. Jared Campbell (ASU), 4-1 10-0
125 ? No. 16 Javier Maldonado (UTC) dec. Frank Celorrio (ASU), 8-3 13-0
133 ? Steve Hromada (UTC) dec. Terreyl Williams (ASU), 8-6 16-0
141 ? No. 13 Cody Cleveland (UTC) tech. fall Marcus Cox (ASU), 23-5 (6:49) 21-0
149 ? No. 6 Scott Ervin (ASU) pinned C.J. Baron (UTC), 1:09 21-6
157 ? No. 20 Seth Garvin (UTC) dec. Eddie Hutchinson (ASU), 6-3 24-6
165 ? Tommy Hutchinson (ASU) dec. Nick Davis (UTC), 4-3 (rt) 24-9
174 ? No. 14 Lloyd Rogers (UTC) dec. Neal Martin (ASU), 6-2 27-9
VMI 28, Davidson 10
LEXINGTON, Va.- Wins by senior Jeremy Adams and freshman Ryan Goodsell against opponents they had lost to earlier this season set the tone early as VMI cruised to a 28-10 Southern Conference victory against Davidson on Friday evening at The Thunderdome. The win improves the Keydets to 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the SoCon, while the Wildcats fall to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Adams (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park), trailing 2-0 entering the third period to the Wildcats’ Ben Altman (Wilmington,Del./Wilmington Friends) at 125, picked up a pair of stalling points issued against Altman to tie the match and send it into overtime. Adams barely avoided Altman’s takedown and posted a takedown of his own only nine seconds into the firstsudden victory period, avenging an 11-2 loss to Altman at the Pembroke Open two months previous.
Goodsell (Rhoadesville, Va./Orange County) followed suit at 133, avenging an early December, 6-3 setback againstDavidson’s Alex Radsky (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) with a 3-1 victory, giving the Keydets a 6-0 advantage.
Senior Tyler Anthony (Canton, Ohio/Glen Oak), wrestling at less than 100%, improved to 14-7 overall and 2-0 in theSoCon with with his 6-1 decision against Vitali Radsky (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington).
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard at 149, when Carl Sandercock (Quincy, Ill./Hannibal) held on for a 4-2 victory, despitea series of fierce takedown attempts late in the third period by John Held (Williamsburg, Va./Lafayette).Redshirt senior David Metzler (Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) took control of his 157-pound match quickly, earning a takedown in the first ten seconds of his match against Scott Matthews (Lewisville, N.C./West Forsyth). When the final buzzer sounded, Metzler had accrued over four minutes of riding time on his way to a 13-4 major decision, advancing theKeydets’ lead to 13-3 midway through the match.
At 165, freshman Jayme Gordon (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) posted his fourth pin in five matches, needing only 39seconds to depose Joe McGinley (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West). Senior Dustin McCabe (Gloucester Point,Va./Gloucester) ran VMI’s advantage to 22-3 with his decision over Kevin Cook, coming up just short of extra points with his 10-3 win.
The Wildcats posted back-to-back wins at 184 and 197, with senior Trebor Clavette (Fletcher, N.C./A.C. Reynolds)holding off a feisty Curtis Moore (Stafford, Va./Gar-Field) 4-2 before junior Sam O’Hair (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams)posted an 8-0 major decision against Ronnie Ellsworth (Newport News, Va./Menchville).
That set the scene for the night’s final match, as a pair of freshman heavyweights capped the evening. VMI’s Josh Wine(Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) brought the crowd of 623 to their feet with his pin of Charlie Wolff (Rochester,Minn./Century) at the 4:48 mark, as Wine ran his record at The Thunderdome to 2-0 with two pins.
“We’ve been wrestling hard, just not smart in our recent matches, and tonight we were finally able to put the smart withthe hard,” said VMI head coach John “Rocky” Trudgeon after his 143rd career dual victory. “I thought that we stayed inbetter position and wrestled better technically than we have been tonight. Jeremy and Ryan’s wins really turned the entirematch around early. Tyler laid his heart on the line out there, and we really appreciate what he was able to do for us.
Dave came up strong and Dustin put it away for us. We really saw tonight that if Jayme gets into his positions, that hecan finish quickly, and Josh Wine came out and put a great cap on a good overall win for us.”
The Keydets return to action next Saturday, competing at the All-Academy Championships, being hosted by the U.S. Military Academy.
VMI 28, Davidson 10
125- Jeremy Adams (VMI) dec. Ben Altman (DAV) 4-2 (sv1), VMI 3-0
133- Ryan Goodsell (VMI) dec. Alex Radsky (DAV) 3-1, VMI 6-0
141- Tyler Anthony (VMI) dec. Vitali Radsky (DAV) 6-1, VMI 9-0
149- Carl Sandercock (DAV) dec. John Held (VMI) 4-2, VMI 9-3
157- David Metzler (VMI) maj. dec. Scott Matthews (DAV) 13-4, VMI 13-3
165- Jayme Gordon (VMI) pins Joe McGinley (DAV) 0:39, VMI 19-3
174- Dustin McCabe (VMI) dec. Kevin Cook (DAV) 10-3, VMI 22-3
184- Trebor Clavette (DAV) dec. Curtis Moore (VMI) 4-2, VMI 22-6
197- Sam O’Hair (DAV) maj. dec. Ronnie Ellsworth (VMI) 8-0, VMI 22-10
285- Josh Wine (VMI) pins Charlie Wolff (DAV) 4:48, VMI 28-10
Davidson 19, Liberty 25
Davidson 18, Messiah College 28
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Sophomore Ben Altman and senior Trebor Clavette each posted two victories at the Liberty quad meet Saturday, but the Davidson wrestling team suffered two setbacks, falling 25-19 to the host Flames and 28-18 to Messiah College. The Wildcats fall to 1-7 on the season with the two losses.
Altman gave Davidson a 3-0 lead with a 7-1 decision in the first match against the Flames, but the Wildcats were defeated in the next two weight classes. Sophomore Carl Sandercock trimmed the margin to 9-6 with a 4-0 decision at 149.
The ?Cats lost in the next two weight classes, leaving the score at 19-6 heading into the final four matches. Clavette came through with a 14-0 major decision at 174, and Sam O’Hair followed that with 7-0 decision at 184, making the team score 19-13. Davidson was forced to take a forfeit at 197, and heavyweight Charlie Wolff got a forfeit for the ?Cats, making the final 25-19.
Altman and freshman Alex Radsky got Davidson off to a great start against Messiah as each won by fall. But Messiah scored 16 team points with victories in the next four weight classes. Clavette posted an 8-4 victory at 174 to make the team score 16-15 in favor of Messiah, but the Wildcats were forced to forfeit the 184 and 197 weight classes. Wolf earned a 12-8 decision at heavyweight for the final 28-18 margin.
Davidson is back in action at home Sunday, Feb. 3, for a conference match against Chattanooga at 1 p.m.