UTC 36, THE CITADEL 11
125 — Alonzo Allen (UTC) pinned Charles Kearney, 6:08; 133 — Chris DeBien (UTC) pinned Andrew Szalwinski, 1:33; 141 — Chase Zemenak (UTC) major dec. Douglas Gudenburr, 13-4; 149 — Tyler Buckiso (Cit) dec. Roman Boylen, 7-5; 157 — Aaron Walker (Cit) major dec. Dylanger Potter, 10-2; 165 — Justin Lampe (UTC) pinned Jason Carr, 4:59; 174 — Sean Mappes (UTC) tech. fall Martin Duane, 3:58; 184 — Bryce Carr (UTC) tech. fall Chandler Sambets, 2:09; 197 — Sawyeer Root (Cit) major dec. Clay Dent, 13-1; 285 — Jared Johnson (UTC) major dec. Joseph Bexley, 9-0. Records: UTC 7-9, 5-2 SoCon; The Citadel 2-10, 1-5.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's victory over The Citadel could have been sputtering rather than sparkling.
It was senior day against a struggling opponent, and the Mocs were heavy favorites going into Sunday afternoon's meet at Maclellan Gym against one of their weaker Southern Conference wrestling brethren.
The Mocs won seven of the 10 matches - perhaps expected - and did so with a fiery exclamation, earning bonus points in each of the wins for a 36-11 team victory.
"We thought we'd get (bonus points), but I'm most proud that we've continued to get better each and every time out," UTC coach Heath Eslinger said. "We're continuing a steady climb when a lot of teams are maybe starting to head downhill."
The Mocs improved to 7-9 and 5-2 in the SoCon while dropping the Bulldogs to 2-10, 1-5.
UTC went up 16-0 with pins by Alonzo Allen (125) and Chris DeBien (133) plus a major decision from Chase Zemenak (141). Allen put on a takedown clinic before sticking Patrick Kearney with his first pinning combination of the match.
DeBien improved to 6-0 in the SoCon and probably locked up a top seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The freshman from Cleveland, Tenn., also had the shortest work day, pinning Andrew Szalwinski in just 93 seconds.
By working over Douglas Gudenburr for a 13-4 win, Zemenak, like Allen, improved to 5-1 in SoCon matches.
"We continue to get better at 125 and 133 - not stale at all - and the same thing at 141," Eslinger said.
The Citadel slowed the rout with back-to-back wins from Ty Buckiso (149) and Aaron Walker (157), but the Bulldogs managed only one more win, a major decision from Sawyer Root (197).
At 165, Justin Lampe's second-period pin halted The Citadel's short streak, and Sean Mappes (174), one of three seniors in UTC's lineup Sunday, added a technical fall just 58 seconds into the second period against Martin Duane.
"I felt like I'd been holding back in going out and having fun, so today I wanted to go out there and have some fun and score a lot of points," said Mappes, who like heavyweight teammate Jared Johnson has already graduated and is taking post-graduate courses.
Mappes was ahead 18-0 when the match was stopped.
Bryce Carr (184), who's ranked 19th nationally, followed with UTC's second technical fall, and his happened even more quickly. The junior's 18-3 win over Chandler Sambets came with 52 seconds remaining in the first period.
Johnson (285), who Eslinger said "will likely come up with a way to carbonate Kool-Aid," finished the steamrolling victory with a major decision, 9-0 over Joe Bexley. Ranked 10th nationally, Johnson dominated the bout and rolled up 4:48 in riding time.
While DeBien is the only Moc who is unbeaten in conference matches, it's likely that Allen, Carr, Lampe and possibly Zemenak will be in line for one of the top two seeds in their weight classes for the conference tournament March 4 in Charleston, S.C.
"We have a couple of weeks before the conference tournament," Eslinger said, "and we still have some things to work out and some decisions to make."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.