Mocs Set to Host the Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear

Wednesday, January 1

Chattanooga, Tenn.

All Day

Chattanooga

Southern Scuffle

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Senior Dominic Lampe is making his season debut for the Mocs at the Scuffle.

Photo by: Dale Rutemeyer

12/28/2019 11:07:00 AM | Wrestling, Southern Scuffle

Tickets Match Notes Flo Arena Brackets Watch Live on Flo

This is the ninth year of the prestigious tournament in Chattanooga.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is set to host the 2020 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 tickets are available on TheSouthernScuffle.com.

This is the 17th year of the Southern Scuffle. It was held in Greensboro, N.C. from 2003-10 and moved to Chattanooga in 2012. It is the ninth year of the tournament under its current format at McKenzie Arena.

The field is stacked with representatives from 28 teams, including six of this week's NWCA Top 25. Those currently listed are No. 6 N.C. State, No. 9 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Pittsburgh, No. 11 Iowa State, No. 25 Stanford and No. 25 rider. No. 5 Virginia Tech and No. 17 North Carolina are also sending partial representation to the Scuffle.

Air Force, Appalachian State, Binghamton, Cal State Bakersfield, Cleveland State, Davidson, Drexel, Gardner-Webb, George Mason, Little Rock, Lock Haven, Navy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Oregon State, Rutgers, The Citadel, VMI and West Virginia are also competing with the Mocs this week.

All totaled, there are nine All-Americans, three former Scuffle Champions, 65 currently ranked in the top 25 and 19 ranked in the top 10.

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

SCUFFLE TICKETS ON SALE NOW
The lower bowl is filling up fast so be sure to get your 2020 Southern Scuffle tickets now. Both the Mocs and Virginia Tech are among the teams competing at this year's tournament. To purchase tickets or passes to the VIP room, click the Tickets tab on GoMocs.com.

IT'S ALL IN THE NAME
On first reference, it is acceptable to refer to us as the "University of Tennessee at Chattanooga". After that, we prefer to be called "Chattanooga" or "UTC". Our nickname is "Mocs". Please do not use UT-Chattanooga, Tennessee-Chattanooga or the Moccasins.

#LETSSCUFFLE
Be sure to use the hashtag #LetsScuffle when tweeting about the Southern Scuffle. Follow @LetsScuffle on Twitter and Instagram for the most up-to-date information on the 2020 Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear.

FOLLOW LIVE
Every match of the 2020 Southern Scuffle can be followed live via Flowrestling. Get the FloSports iOS app today in the App Store to watch the event live and on-the-go. Download the FloSports App on iOS, Roku, Fire TV, Android and Apple TV 4 to watch Southern Scuffle across all screens. Live scoring and interactive brackets are also available through FloArena. Links to both are on the TheSouthernScuffle.com and the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.

CHATTANOOGA PROBABLE LINEUP
125: No. 23 Fabian Gutierrez (Jr. – 8-4)
133: Franco Valdes (So. – 3-8)
      Wade Cummings (Jr. – 3-3)
      Colton Landers (So. – 1-2)
141: Mason Wallace (So. – 3-5)
      Aiden Murphy (So. – 1-7)
149: No. 21 Tanner Smith (So. – 8-4)
157: George Carpenter (Sr. – 4-7)
      Tyler Shilson (So. – 3-5)
165: Drew Nicholson (So. – 6-8)
174: Hunter Fortner (So. – 3-8)
      Dominic Lampe (Sr. – 0-0)
      Noah Liles (Fr. – 0-0)
184: No. 20 Matthew Waddell (So. – 8-5)
197: Rodney Jones (Sr. – 7-5)
      Ben Stacey (Sr. – 0-2)
285: Grayson Walthall (So. – 3-10)

WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT NOTES
125: Junior Fabian Gutierrez is 8-4 overall and ranked No. 23 at 125 pounds. He is the reigning SoCon Wrestler of the Week after knocking off Virginia Tech's No. 14 Joey Prata in the dual on Dec. 21.

133: There are three entrants at 133 pounds, including junior Wade Cummings and sophomores Franco Valdes and Colton Landers. Valdes has started the majority of the duals and is 3-8 overall. Cummings is 3-3, including a fourth place showing at the Southeast Open on Nov. 3. Landers went 1-2 at the Southeast Open in his only action of the year.

141: Sophomore Mason Wallace has cut down to 141 after the season-ending injury to senior Chris Debien. He is 0-2 at 141 with losses in duals to Iowa State's No. 5 Ian Parker (10-4) and Virginia Tech's No. 18 Mitch Moore (8-3). Sophomore Aidan Murphy has one win in eight matches this season.

149: Sophomore Tanner Smith is No. 21 in this week's Flo rankings. He is 8-4 overall and the No. 6 seed at the Scuffle. He has won four of his last five matches.

157: Two transfers are going for the Mocs in senior George Carpenter and sophomore Tyler Shilson. Carpenter started the first five duals and was sixth at the Southeast Open. He is 4-7 overall. Shilson has been in the lineup for the last three duals and is 3-5 overall. He was fourth at the Southeast Open.

165: Sophomore Drew Nicholson had a sixth place finish at the Southeast Open and is 6-8 on the year. Of his eight losses, four have been against ranked opponents.

174: Sophomore Hunter Fortner is looking to snap a four-match slide. None of his last three losses have been by more than three points. He is 3-9 overall. Senior Dominic Lampe and freshman Noah Liles are both making their season debuts at the Scuffle.

184: Sophomore Matthew Waddell is No. 20 in this week's Flo rankings and the No. 4 seed for the tournament. He is 8-4 overall but looking to snap a two-match slump. He was runner-up at the Southeast Open earlier in the year.

197: Senior Rodney Jones has a 7-5 mark that includes a fourth place finish at the Southeast Open. He has won four of his last five. Senior Ben Stacey is looking for his first win of the season at the Scuffle.
285: Sophomore Grayson Walthall rounds out the Mocs lineup with a 3-10 record at heavyweight. He was fourth at the Southeast Open but has lost four in a row.

MOCS AS A TEAM IN 2019-20
UTC is 3-6 in dual matches this season against a very tough schedule. UTC has definitely scheduled up in non-conference action this season. The Mocs have already taken on Army (L, 18-12) and Illinois (L, 22-10). The Black Knights are off to a 4-1 start and sit at No. 21 this week. UTC also traveled to No. 2 Iowa (L, 39-0), No. 19 North Carolina (L, 22-15), No. 11 Iowa State (L, 7-26) and No. 5 Virginia Tech (L, 3-28). The Mocs also face No. 23 Virginia on Jan. 17 and close out the season with the third Big 10 opponent Indiana on Feb. 21. The wins came against SIU-Edwardsville (29-14), at Davidson (47-0) and Ohio (19-15).

Chattanooga was picked to finish third in the Southern Conference race with 39 points, including one first-place vote. The Mocs also went 5-1 in the conference last year, finishing with a 7-7 record overall. Campbell received seven first-place votes and 49 points to top the 2019-20 preseason poll. Last season, the Camels went 5-1 in conference matchups, sharing the regular season title with the Mocs and Appalachian State. The Mountaineers were second with 41 votes. The Citadel (28), Gardner-Webb (26), VMI (20), Davidson (14) and Presbyterian (7) rounded out the listings.

HEAD COACH KYLE RUSCHELL
Kyle Ruschell was named head coach of the Mocs on Aug. 10, 2018, and is in his second season guiding the UTC program. He has an 10-13 dual record overall that includes sharing the SoCon Regular Season Title last season with a 7-7 mark and a 5-1 league tally. He spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin. A former member of the U.S. National Team (2014-15), he was a two-time All-American for the Badgers (2007-10).

MOCS AT THE SCUFFLE
This is the ninth time the Mocs have hosted the Southern Scuffle and the 11th time they have competed in the event. UTC's best showing was a sixth place finish in 2006 in Greensboro, N.C.
2019 – 14th (37.5)
2018 - 11th (51.0)
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 17th year of the Southern Scuffle. It was held in Greensboro, N.C. from 2003-10 and moved to Chattanooga in 2012.
• Appalachian State, Navy, North Carolina and The Citadel are the only teams that have been represented at 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, 2018 and 2019).
• There are three former Scuffle Individual Champions in the field, including Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni (125 - '19), Daton Fix (133 - '19) and Kaden Gfeller (141 - '18, '19).
• Oklahoma State's Kaden Gfeller has a chance to join elite company as a three-time Scuffle Champion. To-date, only 13 others have accomplished that feat. • There are nine All-Americans, three former Scuffle champions, 65 currently ranked and 19 in the top 10.
• Penn State holds the record for points in the tournament with 218.5 in its 2019 win.
• Oklahoma State holds the largest margin of victory in the event with a 198-126 advantage over second place Missouri in 2017.
• Missouri's J'Den Cox is the lone Scuffle alum to win an Olympic medal. He won the Scuffle at 197 in 2015 and 2017. He also took the Bronze Medal at 86kg at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
• 13 times a match at the Scuffle was repeated at the NCAA finals later that same year. The last time is happened was last year's heavyweight match. Oklahoma State's Derek White defeated Penn State's Anthony Cassar 3-2 at the Scuffle, but Cassar won 10-1 at the NCAA Finals.

SMITH & JONES MAKE PRESEASON ALL-SOCON TEAM
The Mocs were represented by sophomore Tanner Smith at 149 and senior Rodney Jones at 197 on the preseason All-SoCon team. Smith was the 2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year after posting a 12-9 record and qualifying for the NCAA Championships. He was also a member of the SoCon All-Freshman team and was runner-up at the SoCon Tournament. Jones qualified for the NCAAs at 197 pounds last year by taking the SoCon's second automatic bid at that weight. He defeated The Citadel's Sawyer Root on a last second reversal in the second place match to secure his first trip to the national tournament.

MOCS GETTING THE JOB DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
UTC topped the 3.0 mark as a team for the fourth and fifth times in 2018-19. The Mocs had a 3.02 GPA in the fall and a 3.1 in the spring. The Mocs put 13 on the Dean's List and 16 on the A.D. Honor Roll in the fall. There were 14 on the Dean's List and 17 on the A.D. Honor Roll in the spring. Huffine, Jacob Murphy and Chris Debien all had 4.0s in the spring.

ATTENTION ALL WRESTLING ALUMNI
We need all UTC wrestling alumni to take the C Club Challenge for $100. Joining the C Club directly benefits Mocs wrestling, and the program with the highest percentage of alumni who join get an extra $5,000 added to their budget. Visit www.gomocs.com/cclub to join.