LEXINGTON, Va. - Chattanooga won eight matches, including two forfeits, en route to a 31-9 dual win over VMI in Southern Conference wrestling action Friday evening at The Thunderdome.
The Mocs (11-7) capped an undefeated conference season with the victory, improving to 5-0 in the SoCon. The Keydets, meanwhile, end their regular season at 5-9 on the year and 1-4 in the conference.
"We wrestled hard tonight, we were just a couple of bullets short," said VMI head coach John "Rocky" Trudgeon. "We wrestled Appalachian State hard last weekend, and we got another great team effort here tonight. They're the best team in our conference, they beat Northern Iowa earlier this year, and Coach Eslinger does a great job with them. But our kids showed up. Not having Ronnie (Ellsworth) and Josh (Wine) kind of tied our hands. David Yost had a real nice win, and Vinnie Gallo showed that anything can happen out on the mats. We've got some guys that were out there wrestling hurt, so we've got to use these next couple of weeks to get healthy for the Conference Championships."
Chattanooga ran out to an early lead, thanks to wins in the first two matches. At 125 lbs., Demetrius Johnson jumped out to a 7-1 advantage, then held off a late charge by John Pope to win a 9-6 decision. Josh Statum scored the only major decision of the night at 133 lbs., running up a 14-4 win on Luke Todd to put the Mocs up, 7-0.
Yost then scored VMI's first win of the night at 141 lbs. Despite trailing 2-1 entering the second period, Yost not only rode out Ben Johnson the entire two minutes, but also scored a pair of three-point near falls to take control. Yost hung on in the third period for a 9-5 decision to cut the Chattanooga lead to 7-3.
Chattanooga then ran off four straight wins to put the match out of reach. VMI senior Michael Long, who was recognized before the match as the Keydets' lone senior, took an early 3-2 lead at 149, but lost a 7-4 decision to Dean Pavlou. Josh Condon then scored a 9-4 win over Joe Munno at 157, while #19 Brandon Wright followed suit at 165 with a 10-4 decision over Conor Black. The highest-scoring bout of the evening came at 174, where Jake Young led 7-5 through one period, then advanced that margin to a final of 15-9, moving the Mocs out to a 19-3 advantage.
The Keydets then scored their second win of the evening in stunning fashion at 184. Chattanooga's Jason McCroskey scored an early takedown, then allowed an escape and a takedown to Vinnie Gallo. McCroskey countered with a reversal, followed by a two-point near fall and a three-point near fall to take a 9-3 lead into the second period. McCroskey then began the second period in the down position and scored a reversal just 30 seconds in to advance his lead to 11-3. Just 15 seconds later, Gallo notched a reversal and quickly scored his third pin of the season at the 4:44 mark. That result brought a rise out of the near-capacity Thunderdome crowd, and pushed the team score to 19-9.
The Mocs then collected forfeit wins at 197 and 285 lbs., as Keydet juniors Ronnie Ellsworth and Josh Wine were unable to compete due to injuries. Claiming the wins for the Mocs were Niko Brown at 197 and Tom Minwell at 285.
Both teams next return to action Saturday, March 6, competing in the Southern Conference Championships being held at Davidson's Baker Sports Complex.
Chattanooga 31, VMI 9 (Feb. 19, 2010)
125- Demetrius Johnson (UTC) dec. John Pope (VMI) 9-6
133- Josh Statum (UTC) maj. dec. Luke Todd (VMI) 14-4
141- David Yost (VMI) dec. Ben Johnson (UTC) 9-5
149- Dean Pavlou (UTC) dec. Michael Long (VMI) 7-4
157- Josh Condon (UTC) dec. Joe Munno (VMI) 9-4
165- Brandon Wright (UTC) dec. Conor Black (VMI) 10-4
174- Jake Young (UTC) dec. Evan Dill (VMI) 15-9
184- Vinnie Gallo (VMI) pins Jason McCroskey (UTC) 4:44
197- Niko Brown (UTC) wins by forfeit
285- Tom Minwell (UTC) wins by forfeit
Attendance- 1,329
