PHOTOS
 
CHATTANOOGA---Saturday night under the spotlight in McKenzie Arena saw a spirited bout between the Chattanooga Mocs and No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes. It was a see-sea affair through seven matches before the Hwakeyes claimed a 27-12 win. The matchup drew nearly 2,800 to the renovating Roundhouse despite the evening's inclement weather.
 
Chattanooga took three of the first four matches en route to a 9-5 lead. The Hawkeyes took the lead back after intermission and never let it go to claim the win. The Mocs are now 2-5. The Hawkeyes are the second ranked team (Wisconsin) the squad has squared off against with four total receiving votes at the time of the match (Purdue, Illinois). Iowa is 7-0.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Logan Ashton grinded out a 1-0 decision over Charles Matthews to start the proceedings. The lone point came on his escape seven seconds into the third period. That set the tone going into 133.
 
Brayden Palmer's matchup with Cullen Schriever was a major case of point/counterpoint. They both scored on escapes with Palmer fighting off takedown attempts at the end of the final two periods. Schriever was not as fortunate as Palmer took full advantage of his opportunity in overtime.
 
Real Woods earned a tech fall over Dayne Dalrymple at 141 before another dramatic matchup ending a Mocs win. Noah Castillo and Joel Jesuroga not only went three periods but also three overtimes with Castillo prevailing 3-2.
 
Lincoln Heck battled No. 24 Cobe Siebrecht at 157. Siebrecht led 3-2 with a healthy advantage in riding time deep into third. Working for the takedown, Siebrecht got the better opportunity and got another late two in a 6-2 decision.
 
A tech fall at 165 gave the Hawkeyes their first lead of the match. Rocky Jordan came up big in the night's marquee matchup of top 20 combatants. The 16th-ranked Jordan used a third period takedown to secure a 3-1 decision over No. 14 Nelson Brands cutting the team score to a 1-point deficit, 13-12.
 
The trio of top 10 Hawkeyes closed it out with major decisions at 184 and 197 and a fall at 285 for the 27-12 final.
 
(2) Iowa 27, Chattanooga 12
125: Logan Ashton (UTC) 1-0 dec. over Charles Matthews (Iowa) – 3-0
133: #27 Brayden Palmer (UTC) 3-1 SV-1 dec. over Cullan Schriever (Iowa) – 6-0
141: #2 Real Woods (Iowa) 16-0 tech fall (2:58) over Dayne Dalrymple (UTC) – 6-5
149: #27 Noah Castillo (UTC) 3-2 dec. TB-1 over Joel Jesuroga (Iowa) – 9-5
157: #24 Cobe Siebrecht (Iowa) 5-2 dec. over Lincoln Heck (UTC) – 9-8
165: #14 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 23-8 tech fall (5:45) over Jackson Hurst (UTC) – 9-13
174: #16 Rocky Jordan (UTC) 3-1 dec. over #14 Nelson Brands (Iowa) – 12-13
184: #8 Abe Assad (Iowa) 14-4 maj. dec. over #31 Matthew Waddell (UTC) – 12-17
197: #6 Jacob Warner (Iowa) 10-1 maj. dec. over Jake Boyd (UTC) – 12-21
285: #3 Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) fall (1:16) over Logan Andrew (UTC) – 12-27
 
SERIES
0-5 vs. Iowa | 0-2 in Chattanooga
 
QUOTABLE
"We've been training hand fighting...standing in the middle of that mat and wrestling, and It's finally coming. It's finally shown itself. We knew Iowa was gonna do the same thing. They weren't gonna back up. And so we had to be ready to not back up and stay in there. It was good to see our guys stay in there." – Kyle Ruschell on the matchup
 
"This is the best performance we had, but we can't wrestler to our competition. We have to wrestle our best every single time. We wrestled really well. Next weekend, we have to wrestle like we did tonight." - Ruschell
 
"I was exhausted to be honest. Before overtime started, I just looked at Kyle. He's like, yeah, dig deep. I knew i had it. Just staying poised, I knew I was gonna pull it out." - Brayden Palmer on his sudden victory at 133
 
"I loved it. This (crowd) was awesome. It was so much fun, I'd love to do it every time which obviously we won't, but it was awesome of the great atmosphere." – Palmer on the atmosphere tonight wrestling under the spotlights in the Roundhouse.
 
NEXT 3 MATCHES
Dec. 16: SIUE, 11 a.m. (at Gardner-Webb)
Dec. 16: Clarion, 1 p.m. (at Gardner-Webb)
Jan. 1-2: Southern Scuffle
 
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Wrestling season tickets are on sale now here on GoMocs.com or call (423) 266-MOCS (6627).
 
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE PARKING
Parking is charged for events at McKenzie Arena. There is a 2-day parking pass at $20 for the Southern Scuffle. That will allow patrons to enter and depart at their leisure without being recharged for the 2-day event on Jan. 1-2. Click here for the Scuffle parking.
 
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