UTC quad?

[walkenvol]

If you were at the UTC quad on Saturday, how many people would you guess attended? Appeared to have been an excellent gate for the program. Which of the matches/wrestlers did you enjoy most?

[BuckLateral]

I'm not very good at estimating crowds but I would hazard a guess that at its peak, which was probably the UTC-Iowa State match, it might have been in the 1700-2000 range----------might have been more, there were a lot of people standing in the open area behind the UTC bench so it was kind of hard to just look at the stands and guess.

 

Though a loss, I guess the "best match"---------but perhaps not the most enjoyable in terms of the end result--------- might have been Josh Keefe's 8-7 loss to the ISU kid at 133. The results of the UTC-ISU match, which ISU won 27-9, are posted below. As is often the case in wrestling, the final team score does not reflect the actual competiveness of some of the individual matches. In addition to Keefe's loss, Yost and Sioredas each lost by only three points to their opponent. If those three matches had been decisions the other way, that would have given UTC 9 more points and ISU 9 less-----------------my math is pretty poor, but I believe that adds up to 18-18. Brand seems to have that program headed up--------I hope that the school recognizes this, and the fact that this is a sport that UTC could make a name for itself in, and really gets behind that program----------and the Chattanooga area community should too.

 

Iowa State 27, Chattanooga 9

125-No. 8 Grant Nakamura (ISU) dec. No. 17 Matt Pitts (UTC) 6-2 3-0

133-No. 3 Zach Roberson (ISU) dec. Josh Keefe (UTC), 8-7* 5-0

141-No. 8 Nate Gallick (ISU) dec. Michael Keefe (UTC), 10-5 8-0

149-No. 5 Trent Paulson (ISU) tech. fall John Kofer (UTC), 20-4 13-0

157-No. 5 Travis Paulson (ISU) dec. No. 20 Jake Yost (UTC), 5-2 16-0

165-No. 8 Nick Passolano (ISU) dec. Jon Sioredas (UTC), 7-4 19-0

174-Josh Ward (UTC) dec. Nels Matson (ISU), 13-7 19-3

184-No. 6 Kurt Backes (ISU) dec. John Davis (UTC), 8-3 22-3

197-Woodley Milord (ISU) tech. fall Drew Roberts (UTC), 20-4 27-3

285-Jason Pennington (UTC) by forfeit 27-9

(*one team point deducted)

 

 

Walkenvol-------- One thing that did dissapoint me was the lack of local media coverage that this event received. Had to look way back in Saturday morning's Times-Free Press, past a lot of UT and Georgia coverage, to find an article on the match. And, to be honest, the coverage given in Sunday's paper---------under the byline "Staff Reports"--------was pitiful. A small report buried way back in the sports section, while there was almost 1/2 page devoted to the DI-AA football playoffs, including almost 1/3 of a page giving you the stats for each playoff game. I know UTC is DI-AA, but are Chattanooga sports fans that interested in what Wofford is doing now that they want to see how many first downs they made? Hopefully, what I was reading was the early home delivery edition and there was more in a later edition or perhaps more in this morning's paper. Sorry to vent on you---------------maybe this should have been a letter to the editor instead.

[timj]

i have no idea how many were in attendance. it was a great meet.

my favaorite match would probably be josh keefe(UTC) nearly upsetting 3rd ranked zach roberson(Iowa St). but there were several others right up there.

 

i had to leave before the end of UTC-VA tech. what was the team outcome?

 

timj

[walkenvol]

Buck - Ward Gossett typically provides the high school wrestling coverage in the Chattanooga paper. His e-mail is wgossett@timesfreepress.com. Ward knows the sport and does a good job with his coverage. I assume that the paper attempts to provide the information that their customers desire so I try to e-mail him with positive feedback when they provide wrestling coverage. I also enjoyed Keefe's match with Iowa St, lot's of great scrambles. I was surprised that Houston of CN was able to stay that close to Pitts but maybe they had too much history as practice partners in the past. Would love to see their Tri meet with Ohio State but I think its opposite the Greeneville Inv. Coach Brands and staff are fielding a team that is fun to watch.

[timj]

i found my own answer to the outcome of the UTC-VA tech on the hokie website:

 

The Hokies finished the day with a big comeback victory over the host Mocs of UTC. Trailing 4-0, Hoffman came up with a 5-1 win over Josh Keefe. UTC took a 7-3 before Carpenter pinned Josh Cofer at the 2:12 mark to put Tech up 9-7. The Mocs jumped back ahead with a technical fall at 157 pounds and a decision at 165 pounds. Borja brought the Hokies within three, picking up a 6-3 decision over Josh Ward. UTC took an 18-12 lead when John Davis beat Guttridge in overtime. Following the match, Tech was deducted one team point, making it 18-11. But the Hokies weren't done, fighting back to pick up the win. At 197 pounds, Prater picked up a huge pin of Drew Roberts at the 1:15 mark to make it 18-17, Mocs. Needing any type of win, Wiedegreen, a senior from Blacksburg, came up with a 5-2 decision over Jason Pennington to give Tech the 20-18 win.

[Zudjan10]

im not sure how many were there but UTC was destroyed.

[best_of_the_west]

Destroyed? Thanks for supporting Tennessee wrestling.

[silverpie]

Keep in mind that there's a big push to promote the 1-AA championship game to the local fans so that we can keep it. That said, three dual meets deserve at least as much space as they give one women's basketball game...

[walkenvol]

im not sure how many were there but UTC was destroyed.

You sure have a different definition of "destroyed". In both matches there were several swing matches decided by a single takedown that could have changed the outcome. Coach Brands absolutely has that program headed in the right direction and I for one will be surprised if Chattanooga doesn't end up ranked in the top 20 by the end of the 2004/2005 season.

[Xander Zone]

Walkenvol, I definitely agree. It's great to see that program finally coming around. As a former Moc wrestler, I must admit that this program is definitely heading in the right direction. To say that these guys were destroyed, is definitely not watching the same match that you and I both witnessed. The outcome of the match could've been a whole lot different if some calls would have went our way. But as officiating goes in wrestling, it is pure judgement. And I think that both Tater and Heffington did an outstanding job refereeing the matches.

[RMC]

I too was impressed at how improved the UTC team is. I think Brands has them headed in the right direction.

[matfan]

Walkenvol,

 

I thought one of the best matches of the day was at 165 between #8 ranked Nick Passolano of Iowa State & Chris Stith of Virginia Tech. Stith was leading just about the whole match, but Passolano pulled out a reverse with about 3-4 seconds in the match to win 8-7?

 

Stith scored first , and they went back and forth for 6 full minutes. Great scrambles and unbelievable athleticism from both wrestlers. I look for Stith to have a great season, he is quick as a cat, and was able to shoot on Passolano almost at will. Passolano looked like he was in trouble the whole match, but true to his #8 ranking, he never lost his cool and pulled out the win.

 

How about the Paulson twins for Iowa State. Both true freshmen ranked #5 at 149(Trent) and #5 at 157(Travis). I bet these brothers will be NCAA champions!

 

This was a great day for wrestling in Chattanooga! Go Mocs!