UTC 46, CAMPBELL 0
(Meet started at 125 pounds) 125–Double forfeit; 133–Jared Browing (C) won by forfeit; 141–Cody Hill (C) won by forfeit; 149–Tyler Haskins (C) won by forfeit; 157–Austin Sams (C) dec. Daniel Luty, 4-3; 165–Justin Lampe (C) major dec. Garrison Matthews, 20-6; 174–Sean Mappes (C) pinned Monte Britton, 3:26; 184–McCoy Newberg (C) dec. Ville Heino, 7-5 SV1; 197–Scottie Boykin (C) won by forfeit; 285–Jared Johnson (C) pinned Cody Ryba, 1:42. Records: UTC 7-5, 2-0 SoCon; Campbell 0-5, 0-3).
Despite calling on some youngsters the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga had no problem extending its win streak to four Sunday.
The Mocs wrestlers won four matches by forfeit, two with pins and another by major decision in a 46-0 win over undermanned Campbell University. The win improved UTC’s record to 7-5 overall and 2-0 in the Southern Conference.
First-year Campbell coach Cary Kolat inherited something of a mess — an academic issue that caused some wrestlers to leave and excluded the Camels from postseason competition — so he is making do with what he has on hand while redshirting some of his wrestlers to allow them the opportunity to clear up academic deficiencies.
Knowing what his team would face, Mocs coach Heath Eslinger took the opportunity to give a handful of starters a needed off day. It’s a group that included his nationally-ranked duo of Sean Boyle (125) and Nick Soto (133). Other starters that were held out included Michael Pongracz (141), Shawn Greevy (149), Levi Clemons (174) and John Lampe (184).
“We needed a couple of days for some of the guys to recover. Hopefully with some time off the guys will come back excited and ready to go against The Citadel on Friday,” Eslinger said.
Clemons would likely have been held out regardless after suffering an injury in UTC’s Friday victory at Gardner-Webb. He was moving Sunday but was walking quite gingerly.
Sophomore heavyweight Jared Johnson improved to 21-6 and extended his personal win streak to six with a pin and the other pin went to sophomore Sean Mappes at 174.
The major decision came from freshman Justin Lampe, who joined the Mocs this semester in time for his first collegiate matches at the power-laden Southern Scuffle. The 20-6 decision over Garrison Matthews was his first collegiate win.
Lampe was pleased after getting seven takedowns and a two-point near fall against Matthews.
“It’s been rough so this one feels good,” Lampe said. “I’ve been getting whipped and I finally won one. I’ll remember it for a while but hopefully I’ll forget it by winning a bunch more.”
The victory improved his record to 1-7.
“We threw him to the wolves, so it hasn’t been an easy road. This was a great win for Lampe. You want kids to reap rewards from hard work and this kid works hard and has great wrestling skills,” Eslinger said. “It was a good win for him and hopefully he can get on a roll.”
Newberg showed some tenacity and is making a serious push to join the starting 10. He did so Sunday on the heels of a 5-0 run to the championship at the Cumberland Open, not finding out until after that tournament that he had to make weight and would wrestle against Campbell.
“He got back about 1 this morning, but McCoy’s just a winner,” Eslinger said. “In sports, the objective at the end of the day is to win. He did a great job. That was a pretty good kid he beat.”
Newberg is making a push for the starter’s role at 184, coming back from a 5-0 deficit to tie the match at 5-5 on a takedown out of a scramble with 0:12 left. He then won it with a takedown in the first overtime period.
“He’s obviously showing that he’s the mix,” Eslinger said.
The Mocs will remain at home for a Friday meet against the Citadel. It will be their third straight conference outing.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.