Mocs Set to Host Southern Scuffle, Presented by Compound Sportswear

Monday, January 1

Chattanooga, Tenn.

All Day

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Southern Scuffle

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Senior Bryce Carr is No. 12 in this week's Flo rankings at 184.

Photo by: Sam Janicki

12/28/2017 1:30:00 PM | Wrestling, Southern Scuffle

Notes (.pdf)Tickets & Hospitality Passes

Prestigious tournament takes place in McKenzie Arena on Jan. 1-2

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is set to host the 2018 Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear, on Jan. 1-2. Billed as the top in-season collegiate wrestling tournament in the nation, the Southern Scuffle is held in the McKenzie Arena.

Gates open at 9:00 a.m. (E.S.T.) and wrestling starts each day at 10:00 a.m. The full schedule of events and information on tickets and the new hospitality passes are available on TheSouthernScuffle.com.

The field is stacked with representatives from 26 teams, including eight of this week's NWCA/USA Today Top 25. These include No. 1 Penn State, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 5 N.C. State, No. 6 Lehigh, No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 14 Northern Iowa, No. 20 Lock Haven and No. 24 North Carolina. The Wolfpack, Hokies and Tar Heels are all sending partial teams. Navy, Utah Valley and Drexel are also receiving votes in the poll and are in the Scuffle field.

Others participating with Chattanooga include Air Force, Appalachian State, Cal State Bakersfield, Campbell, The Citadel, Cleveland State, Duke, Gardner-Webb, George Mason, Hofstra, Northern Colorado, Stanford and Virginia.

All totaled, there are 20 All-Americans, seven NCAA Champions, 61 currently ranked in the top-20 and 32 ranked in the top 10.

There are four No. 1 wrestlers in the field, according to the Dec. 20 Flo Rankings. These include Penn State's Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157), Vicenzo Joseph (165) and Bo Nickal (184).

For a complete list of teams and #LetsScuffle news, visit www.TheSouthernScuffle.

#LETSSCUFFLE
Be sure to use the hashtag #LetsScuffle when tweeting about the Southern Scuffle. Follow @GoMocs and @UTCWrestling for the most up-to-date information on the 2018 Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear.

FOLLOW LIVE
Every match of the Southern Scuffle can be followed live via Flowresting. Pay-per-view video is available through Flowrestling and live scoring and interactive brackets are available through FloArena. Links to both are on the TheSouthernScuffle.com and the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.

HEAD COACH HEATH ESLINGER
Head Coach Heath Eslinger is in his ninth year at UTC. A two-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year, he owns a 96-57 (.627) career dual record, including a 49-4 (.925) tally in league matches. He has guided the Mocs to six SoCon regular season and six SoCon tournament titles.

MOCS IN THE RANKINGS
Senior Bryce Carr is No. 12 at 184, while senior Scottie Boykin is No. 14 at 197 in this week's Flo Rankings. Both have 10-3 overall records.

MOCS AT THE SCUFFLE
This is the seventh time the Mocs have hosted the Southern Scuffle and the eighth time they have competed in the event. UTC's best showing was a sixth place finish in 2006 in Greensboro, N.C.
2017 - 11th (46.0)
2016 - 20th (31.5)
2015 - 14th (43.5)
2014 - 16th (34.0)
2013 - 14th (31.5)
2012 - 7th (79.0)
2006 - 6th (75.5)
2005 - 13th (48.5)

SCUFFLE NOTES
• This is the 14th year of the Southern Scuffle. It was held in Greensboro, N.C. from 2003-10 and moved to Chattanooga in 2012.

• Appalachian State, Duke, The Citadel and Virginia are the only teams that have competed in the Southern Scuffle every year since it began in 2003.

• Only five different teams have won the Southern Scuffle, including Cornell (2008, 2009 & 2010 (tie)), Minnesota (2004, 2005 & 2007), Missouri (2003 & 2006), Oklahoma State (2017) and Penn State (2010 (tie), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016).

• There are potentially nine former Scuffle Individual Champions in the field, including Duke's Jacob Kasper (285-'17), Lehigh's Jordan Kutler (157-'17), Oklahoma State's Kaid Brock (133-'17), Dean Heil (141-'16, 141-'17) and Chandler Rogers (174-'17) and Penn State's Mark Hall (174-'17), Bo Nickal (174-'16), Jason Nolf (157-'16) and Zain Retherford (149-'16, 149-'14).

• Oklahoma State's Dean Heil and Penn State's Zain Retherford have a chance to join elite company. They have both won two Scuffle titles and only 10 others are three-time champs.

• There are seven NCAA Champions potentially set to compete, including Lehigh's Darian Cruz (125-'17), Oklahoma State's Dean Heil (141-'16, 141-'17), Penn State's Zain Retherford (149-'16, 149-'17), Jason Nolf (157-'17), Vicenzo Joseph (165-'17), Mark Hall (174-'17) and Bo Nickal (184-'17).

• In addition, there are 20 All-Americans, an NCAA runner-up, two former Scuffle finalists, 60 currently ranked and 31 in the top 10.

• Oklahoma State holds the record for points in the tournament with 198 in its win in 2017.

• The Cowboys also hold the largest margin of victory in the event with a 198-126 advantage over second place Missouri in 2017.

CHATTANOOGA PROBABLE LINEUP
125: Alonzo Allen (Jr. – 8-3)
      Fabian Gutierrez (Fr. - 2-4)
133: Jake Huffine (Jr. – 0-3)
      Wade Cummings (So. – 2-6)
141: Michael Pongracz (Sr. – 8-6)
      Chris Debien (Jr. – 5-7)
149: Roman Boylen (Jr. - 5-4)
      Zach Shareef (Jr. - 2-2)
157: Dylan Forzani (Jr. – 3-6)
      Jake Adcock (Fr. - 3-4)
165: Chad Pyke (Sr. – 10-5)
      Drew Nicholson (Fr. - 0-0)
174: Justin Lampe (Sr. – 9-6)
184: No. 12 Bryce Carr (Sr. – 10-3)
      Rodney Jones (Jr. - 3-5)
197: No. 14 Scottie Boykin (Sr. – 10-3)
      Ben Stacey (So. – 1-4)
      Jared Walker (Fr. - 0-2)
285: Connor Tolley (Jr. - 7-5)

UTC is coming off a 7-9 record last season. The Mocs return five starters to a team that finished 5-2 in SoCon regular season duals and fourth in the league tournament.

Senior Scottie Boykin is back in the lineup at 197 after redshirting last season. He won the league as a junior in 2016, when he was ranked as high as No. 9 in the country. He is off to a 10-3 start after winning the Hokie Open and Black Knight Invite.

Also coming off a redshirt year is senior Michael Pongracz. He is a two-time NCAA qualifier who was 22-6 at 141 in 2015-16. He is 8-6 overall and finished third at the Hokie Open.

WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT NOTES
125: Junior Alonzo Allen is 8-3 overall, with a fourth place finish at the Hokie Open and a runner-up showing at the Black Knight Invite. He went 3-2 at last year's Scuffle.

Freshman Fabian Gutierrez went 2-2 in the freshman/sophomore bracket at the Hokie Open and also competed in the Black Knight Invite.

133: Sophomore transfer Wade Cummings and junior Jake Huffine are both in the 133 bracket. Huffine is looking for his first win after three duals, while Cummings holds a 2-6 record.

141: Senior Michael Pongracz is off to an 8-6 start, placing at both the Hokie Open and the Black Knight Invite. Pongracz won his first two matches at the 2016 Scuffle, before losing 6-5 to current No. 1 Bryce Meredith of Wyoming.

Also in the lineup at 141 is junior Chris Debien. He is 5-7 overall, but three of those losses were in duals where he moved up to 149.

149: Juniors Roman Boylen and Zach Shareef are in the 149 bracket. Boylen is 5-4 overall, while Shareef went 2-2 at the Hokie Open.

157: Junior Dylan Forzani is coming off a redshirt season and has won the 157 slot. He spent his first two years at Sacramento (Calif.) City College, where he won a state title. He is 3-5 after placing fourth at the Black Knight Invite. Freshman Jake Adcock is also in the lineup with a 3-6 mark.

165: Senior transfer Chad Pyke brings a 10-5 record into the weekend. He finished second at the Hokie Open and third at the Black Knight Invite. He was also seventh at last year's Scuffle, competing unattached for N.C. State. Also seeing his first action of the season is freshman Drew Nicholson.

174: Senior Justin Lampe is 9-6 overall, including a 3-2 mark at the Hokie Open. He also placed third at the Black Knight Invite.

184: Senior Bryce Carr is 10-3 overall and ranked No. 12 by Flowrestling this week. His only losses are to Virginia Tech's No. 7 Zach Zavatsky (3-1) on Nov. 17, N.C. State's No. 3 Pete Renda (2-1) on Dec. 2 and Ohio State's No. 2 Myles Martin (10-4) on Dec. 17. Carr won both the Hokie Open and the Black Knight Invite. He placed third at last year's Scuffle. Junior Rodney Jones is also in at 184. He is 3-5 with a sixth place finish at the Black Knight Invite.

197: Senior Scottie Boykin is 10-32 with titles at both the Hokie Open and the Black Knight Invite. He was ranked as high as No. 9 in the country in 2015-16 before redshirting last season and is up to No. 14 this week. His only losses are to top-10 opponents in Virginia Tech's No. 2 Jared Haught (10-6), N.C. State's No. 8 Michael Macchiavello (8-2) and Ohio State's No. 1 Kollin Moore (18-8). Sophomore Ben Stacey (1-4) and freshman Jared Walker (0-2) are also competing.

285: Junior Connor Tolley is back in action with a 7- 5 record. He placed fourth at the Black Knight Invite and went 4-2 at the Hokie Open.

MOCS VS. RANKED TEAMS
The last time the Mocs beat a ranked team was a 19-18 win at No. 19 Virginia on Feb. 14, 2016. Chattanooga is 3-36 against ranked teams under head coach Heath Eslinger. The other two wins include a 23-15 victory against No. 25 Kent State in Ypsilanti, Mich., on Nov. 15, 2014 and 22-15 over No. 12 Stanford in Maclellan Gym on Nov. 20, 2011.

CARR NAMED SOCON WRESTLER OF THE MONTH
Senior Bryce Carr was the SoCon Wrestler of the Month for November 2017. He earned the honor after going 8-1, winning both the Hokie Open and the Black Knight Invite at 184 pounds. This is his second career monthly award from the SoCon after winning the award in January of last season. A senior from Dublin, Georgia, Carr had three major decisions, one technical fall and one pin. His only loss in the opening month was to No. 7 Zach Zavatsky of Virginia Tech in sudden victory.