SoCon Weekly Recap (1/24/2024)

Ladies and gents, we’re back and we’re rocking and rolling with the SoCon regular season schedule - the weekend began on Friday, with Bellarmine hosting Presbyterian  College, besting the Blue Hose 40-9. The dual weighed heavily in the Knights’ favor,  winning eight out of the ten bouts. Key moments in the match for Presbyterian were at 141  and 184 - Rey Ortiz (141, PC) secured 6 team points after pinning Shay Korhorn (BU),  followed by 184 lber Caleb Roe (PC), clinching a 9-3 victory over Sam Schroeder (BU).  

Bellarmine had one pin, four technical falls, two major decisions, received a forfeit, and a partridge in a pear tree. Wait - that was last month… But back to the action - the  Knights had a stellar showing, pushing forward with an undefeated 11-0 season.  

Chattanooga traveled to Durham to face off against the ACC’s Duke University, picking up the first of two wins of their weekend on the road. This was the Mocs’ first ACC  victory since a 2016 victory over UVA, winning 8 out of 10 bouts. #23 Brayden Palmer  (125), whose redshirt was pulled in December, kicked off the dual with a 9-0 decision over Logan Agin (Duke). The Mocs were set up to win the following six matches - and one last win at 197. It was a bonus-point bonanza - Boarman (133), Powe (141), and  Desiante (174) served up technical falls; while #25 Noah Castillo (149), Heck (157), and  Harper (197) followed suit with major decision victories.  

The action picked back up on Sunday - with four duals on the calendar. Chattanooga was yet again victorious over VMI, winning the dual 31-13. We saw an upset at 133 -  sophomore Dyson Dunham (VMI) snagged a 7-4 decision over #28 Blake Boarman (UTC),  scoring a takedown in the last minute of the third period. The tide turned back in the  Mocs’ favor at 141, where Isaiah Powe (UTC) pinned Patrick Jordon (VMI), followed by another at  165 where Kamdyn Munro (UTC) pinned Caleb Chandler (VMI) in the first period. The Keydets had back-to-back victories at 174 and 184, with a final slim victory of 1-0 at heavyweight. 

The Fighting Camels were ready to rumble at Davidson, besting the Wildcats 31-9. The match started off at heavyweight, where #10 Taye Ghadiali set the tone with a second-period tech fall, #26 Anthony Molton (125) and #22 Domenic Zaccone (133) followed suit with tech falls as well. #19 Levi Hopkins delivered a first-period fall to finish off the evening. Notable Wildcat wins were welcomed at 149, 157, and 184. Tanner Peake  (157), a member of Puerto Rico’s World Team, defeated Chris Earnest 6-1. A matchup to watch out for again this season? 165: #33 Dom Baker (CAM) bested Bryce Sanderlin  (DC) in sudden-victory overtime. This will be a fun rematch to watch in March.  

Presbyterian hosted Queens University of Charlotte, downing the Royals 30-15.  Recovering from their Friday night loss, the Blue Hose won seven out of ten bouts.  Bonus points were scored via a tech fall at 141, falls at 149 and 174, and a major decision at 184. We haven’t seen Dom Chavez hit the mat for the past two duals.  Chavez had a historic conference tournament last season, being the program’s first-ever finalist in the conference tournament. Hopefully, we can see that 125lb slot filled by their next competition against VMI. 

I traveled to Boone this past Sunday, where the temps were cold but Varsity Gym was hot hot hot! (If you know, you know.) App State hosted a doubleheader against The 

Citadel and Greensboro College, moving forward with two more dual victories under their belt. The Mountaineers took on the Bulldogs first, closing the dual with a 33-4  victory. The lone win for The Citadel came in at 141 - Jacob Silka scored an 11-2 major decision over Riley Edwards. 

“I felt good out there, rode him on top and scored in neutral…it was probably one of the better matches I had this year,” said Silka in some post-match remarks. His mindset for the remainder of the season is to “just keep wrestling hard, it’s [this win] is a good way to start things off, and I’ll just keep rolling on. It was really cool to see how we stack up against them [App State], our guys up against their ranked guys. Some really close matches we could’ve won, so it’s cool to  see how much we’ve improved over the years - being a newer team with a bunch of new guys, we’re looking really good this year.” 

There were two nail-biting, barn-burner,  back-to-back matchups at 149 and 157: #24 Cody Bond (APP) beat Jeff Boyd (CIT),  going into overtime, settling the score at 2-1. After Bond’s victory via rideout, #20  Tommy Askey (APP) was able to score a takedown in sudden-victory over Hayden Watson (CIT). 

Leading up to the overtime period, Askey said “It wasn’t pretty, but got to go to overtime and got it done. I knew I had to keep attacking because I could tell he was fading.” 

High-pressure situations come easy to Askey. “Drilling every day helps a lot in the mat room, we get in these situations all the time where we’re down by 4, 5, 6, and have to score with short time left. Just practicing in these positions really helped  me out.” The Mountaineers recorded bonus-point wins at 125, 165, 174, 184, and heavyweight.  

To close out the weekend, App State wrestled Division III’s own Greensboro College.  With the lone loss at 141 lbs, #2-ranked Josh Wilson (GC) won via 4-1 decision over Ike Byers (APP). #25 Ethan Oakley (APP) was the only wrestler to compete in both duals,  while the other 9 weights debuted fresh talent on the Mountaineer’s mat.  

Rankings Updates:  

125 

#23 Brayden Palmer - UTC 

#26 Anthony Molton - CAMP 

133 

#22 Dom Zaccone - CAMP 

#25 Ethan Oakley - APP 

141 

#34 Isaiah Powe - UTC 

149 

#30 Cody Bond - APP 

#31 Noah Castillo - UTC 

157 

#22 Tommy Askey - APP

165 

#31 Will Miller - APP 

#32 Dom Baker - CAMP 

174 

#26 Austin Murphy - CAMP 

184 

#28 Jha-Quan Anderson - GWU 

197 

#20 Levi Hopkins - CAMP 

HWT 

#10 Taye Ghadiali - CAMP

Dual 

#27 App State 

#29 Campbell