Chattanooga 27, The Citadel 12
CHARLESTON, S.C. – On a night when the big guns were quiet, the 22nd-ranked Chattanooga Mocs were still able to score a dominating 27-12 Southern Conference win at The Citadel on Wednesday. UTC dropped four individual matches but scored bonus points in five of its six wins to improve to 12-5 overall and 3-0 in SoCon action.
Despite losses by senior Alex Hudson at 157 and sixth-ranked junior Corey Mock at 165, the Mocs still won their 11th striaght SoCon match and remained in first place in the conference race. UTC improved to 25-1 in league duals under fifth-year head coach Heath Eslinger.
The Citadel fell to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the SoCon.
The evening started with a huge matchup at 165 between Mock and The Citadel’s 16th-ranked senior, Turtogtokh Luvsandorj. Luvsandorj scored a first-period takedown and held a 2-1 lead after three minutes.
Mock chose down in the second period and escaped to tie the match heading into the final frame. Luvsandorj chose neutral to start the third and scored another takedown to go up 4-2. Mock escaped but could not get the go-ahead score. Individually, Mock moved to 23-2 overall, while Luvsandorj improved to 22-5.
Trailing 3-0 just after their best wrestler went down, things could have gone south quickly for the Mocs. However, UTC dominated the next six matches to put the outcome out of reach.
Junior Levi Clemons (174), freshman Scottie Boykin (197) and junior Nick Soto (133) all scored four-point major decisions. Sophomore John Lampe won a 3-2 decision at 184, but the big wins were pins by a pair of freshmen.
Heavyweight Dawson Peck improved to 6-1 overall with a second-period pin against Joe Bexley. That gave the Mocs a 17-3 lead after four matches. The big surprise came next at 125, when freshman Campbell Lewis put Joaquin Marquez on his back in the first period. UTC went up 23-3 after that bout, all but putting the team result out of reach for the Bulldogs.
Lewis snapped a four-match losing streak with just his second win of the season. Marquez was 16-9 coming into Wednesday’s action and had the most wins of any SoCon 125-pounder. Lewis’s other win this season was against Gardner-Webb, giving him a 2-0 mark in SoCon action. Coincidentally, that was also the last win at 125 in dual-match action for the Mocs, snapping a string of seven consecutive losses at that weight.
The Mocs return to Maclellan Gym for the final home match of the season on Sunday, Feb. 2, against Appalachian State. UTC hosts the Mountaineers at 2 p.m.
The Citadel heads to Davidson, N.C., for two matches on Sunday against Davidson at 1 p.m. and Franklin & Marshall at 2:30.
No. 22 Chattanooga 27, The Citadel 12
165: No. 16 Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (The Citadel) – Dec. 4-3 – No. 6 Corey Mock (UTC) – The Citadel 3-0
174: Levi Clemons (UTC) – MD 16-7 - Terrell Forbes (The Citadel) – UTC 4-3
184: John Lampe (UTC) – Dec. 3-2 - Kenneth Radford (The Citadel) – UTC 7-3
197: Scottie Boykin (UTC) – MD 16-5 - Marshall Haas (The Citadel) – UTC 11-3
285: Dawson Peck (UTC) – Fall (4:23) - Joe Bexley (The Citadel) – UTC 17-3
125: Campbell Lewis (UTC) – Fall (2:57) - Joaquin Marquez (The Citadel) – UTC 23-3
133: No. 11 Nick Soto (UTC) – MD 8-0 - Aaron Hansen (The Citadel) – UTC 27-3
141: Ugi Khishignyam (The Citadel) – Dec. 12-5 - Michael Pongracz (UTC) – UTC 27-6
149: Matthew Frisch (The Citadel) – Dec. 7-3 - Austin Sams (UTC) – UTC 27-9
157: Aaron Walker (The Citadel) – Dec. 7-5 (SV1) - Alex Hudson (UTC) – UTC 27-12
Duke 25, Appalachian State 19
BOONE, N.C. – The Appalachian State wrestling team played host to the Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night at Varsity Gym, falling 25-19.
The match began at the 125-pound weight class. Appalachian started strong, picking up three straight wins. Vito Pasone got the first six points of the evening due to a Duke forfeit at the 125-pound weight class.
At the 133-pound weight class, senior Chris Johnson grabbed momentum by earning a first-period fall (1:29) against Duke’s Evan Botwin. The Mountaineers led 12-0.
Jake Smith picked up a 9-3 decision at the 141-pound weight class and got the Apps up with a 15-0 lead.
Duke refocused and began to take the momentum from the Apps. The Blue Devils pick up consecutive decisions at the 149- and 157-pound weight classes, putting them on the board (15-6) and pulling closer to the Mountaineers.
Next at 165, Zack Strickland won convincingly, picking up an 8-0 major decision over Marcus Cain. App led 19-6.
Appalachian State dropped the next four matches. Adrian Soto-Perez gave up a major decision to Trey Adamson and Nick Vetell and Kacee Hutchinson lost by falls in the 184- and 197-pound weight classes, respectively.
With the Mountaineers now losing by a score of 22-19, Denzel Dejournette wrestled a tough match against No. 19 Conner Hartmann. Hartmann picked up the 5-3 decision by last-minute takedown and Duke defeated Appalachian 25-19.
Appalachian was without nationally ranked Dominic Parisi and Dylan Cottrell for the night.
Appalachian will be back in action Saturday in Varsity Gym as it hosts the Appalachian Open starting at 9 a.m. The tournament will feature teams from the ACC and SoCon.
Duke 25, Appalachian State 19
125: Vito Pasone won by forfeit (APP leads 6-0)
133: Chris Johnson (APP) fall Evan Botwin (DUKE), 1:29 (APP leads 12-0)
141: Jake Smith (APP) dec. Xaviel Ramos (DUKE), 9-3 (APP leads 15-0)
149: Jake Faust (DUKE) dec. Aaron Scott (APP), 6-0 (APP leads 15-3)
157: Immanuel Kerr-Brown (DUKE) dec. Nick Hall (APP), 9-7 (APP leads 15-6)
165: Zack Strickland (APP) maj dec. Marcus Cain, 8-0 (APP leads 19-6)
174: Trey Adamson (DUKE) maj dec. Adrian Soto-Perez (APP), 23-9 (APP leads 19-10)
184: Andrew DeHart (DUKE) fall Nick Vetell (APP), 1:35, (APP leads 19-16)
197: Jacob Kasper (DUKE) fall Kacee Hutchinson (APP), 3:37 (DUKE leads 22-19)
HWT: Connor Hartmann (DUKE) dec. Denzel Dejournette (APP), 5-3 (DUKE wins 25-19)