In a season that has demanded more time on the road, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team has a second consecutive weekend at home.
The Mocs, who dropped a close match to 19th-ranked Missouri eight days ago, will be at home this afternoon for their biggest meet of the season. They’ll host UNC Greensboro at 2 p.m. at Maclellan Gym.
“It’s a huge match,” UTC coach Heath Eslinger said. “It maybe doesn’t have the flair of the Missouri meet, but it carries a lot more importance.”
The Southern Conference regular-season championship is likely on the line. The meet also carries implications for seeds at the conference’s postseason tournament.
“I don’t know that it’s for the conference championship. We still have two more conference meets after this one,” Eslinger said.
UNCG and UTC sit atop the league standings with 2-0 records. UNCG already has beat Appalachian State, the other team likely to contend for the championship. UTC hosts Appalachian on Feb. 6 and visits VMI on Feb. 19.
The only common opponents to date are Virginia Tech and The Citadel. Virginia Tech defeated the Mocs 21-18 on Nov. 7 and beat the Spartans 29-15 last Sunday. The Citadel lost by 27 to UTC and by 23 to UNCG.
Injuries have forced shifts in the Mocs’ lineup since their meeting with Tech, most noticeably at 141 and 157 pounds, where Cody Cleveland and Joey Knox were the most experienced returners on the team Eslinger inherited from Chris Bono. Replacing them are Ben Johnson and Josh Condon. A redshirt sophomore, Johnson lost his first 2009-10 varsity outing against Missouri, but Condon, who has wrestled at 157 and 165 pounds, beat Missouri’s 16th-ranked Patrick Wright 2-1.
The Spartans’ brightest star so far is 141-pound Ivan Lopouchanski, who is 26-6 this season. They have a returning NCAA qualifier in 174-pound Byron Sigmon, and Eslinger also cited 125-pound Eric Chandler and heavyweight Peter Sturgeon. Sigmon (19-11) will wrestle freshman Jake Young (16-5), who is coming off a loss to Missouri’s 10th-ranked Dorian Henderson. Chandler (19-13) will tackle the Mocs’ Demetrius Johnson (14-8), and Sturgeon (26-11) will probably face Tom Minwell, who was out of the lineup last week in favor of Matt Lettner.
Today’s probable matchups(Mocs listed first)125–Demetrius Johnson (14-8) vs. Eric Chandler (19-13); 133–Josh Statum (10-7) vs. Casey Boyle (6-10); 141–Ben Johnson (0-1) vs. Ivan Lopouchanski (26-6); 149–Dean Pavlou (17-8) vs. Alejandro Soto-Perez (2-15); 157–Josh Condon (10-2) vs. Travis Sheehy (14-4); 165–Brandon Wright (14-4) vs. Victor Hojilla (13-14); 174–Jake Young (16-5) vs. Byron Sigmon (19-11); 184–Jason McCroskeey (11-8) vs. Andrew Saunders (21-11); 197–Niko Brown (8-11) vs. Ryan Sughrue (16-8); 285–Tom Minwell (15-8) vs. Peter Sturgeon (26-11).
“They’re good, top-to-bottom tough. We’re going to have to put 10 really tough guys out there and then wrestle really well,” Eslinger said.
The Spartans’ Casey Boyle (133) is 6-10, while Alejandro Soto-Perez (149) is 2-15 and Victor Hojilla (165) is 13-14. Boyle will wrestle Josh Statum (10-7), Soto-Perez is likely to meet Dean Pavlou (17-8) and Hojilla should catch Brandon Wright (14-4). Wright missed the Missouri meet with an assortment of minor injuries.
“We’re just banged up. It’s that time of year,” Eslinger said. “We have a lot of kids who have been selfless for the team’s sake, and that is a big key to the success we have had or will have.”
The Mocs will be at home on Feb. 6 for their final appearances at Maclellan against Appalachian and Northern Iowa. They’ll wrestle at Oklahoma on Feb. 12 and at VMI on Feb. 18. The conference tournament is March 6 at Davidson.