UTC 31, VMI 6
125 — Dalton Henderson (VMI) dec. Alonzo Allen, 11-9; 133 — Cody Hill (UTC) major dec. Dominick Gallo, 13-2; 141 — Mike Pongracz (UTC) major dec. Hunter Starner, 10-0; 149 — Emmitt Kelly (VMI) dec. Austin Sams, 7-4; 157 — Kamaal Shakur (UTC) dec. Neal Richards 4-2, SV1; 165 — Dominic Lampe (UTC) dec. Shabaka Johns, 4-3; 174 — Justin Lampe (UTC) dec. Mark Darr, 7-6; 184 — John Lampe (UTC) major dec. Derek Thurman, 22-9; 197 — Scottie Boykin (UTC) major dec. Taylor Thomas, 17-4; 285 — Jared Johnson (UTC) pinned Sivaatasi Mathias, 2:35.Records: UTC 3-1, 1-0 SoCon; VMI 1-3, 0-3
The 31-6 cakewalk left UTC coach Heath Eslinger slightly disappointed but also realistic.
"We were a little flat. You could tell we hadn't competed in a while, but winning eight of 10 (matches) was nice," he said.
The Mocs got a pin and four major decisions, two of them within two points of technical falls and another just four points shy.
Asked about maximum effort, he indicated that Cody Hill (133 pounds), Mike Pongracz (141), John Lampe (184) and Scottie Boykin (197) did all they could and never let up in securing the major decisions.
"The guys kept scoring to the very end of their matches, and all of them had at least four minutes of riding time," Eslinger.
It was a positive catapult for the Mocs, who were picked in the preseason to secure their 30th conference title.
The night's highlight had to be heavyweight Jared Johnson's pin in the final bout. Ranked No. 12 in the latest Intermat rankings, Johnson pinned Sivaatasi Matias with 25 seconds left in the first period.
Too, all three of the Lampe brothers secured wins - Dominic (165) and Justin (174) with one-point decisions and John with a 22-9 victory.
Hill apparently has secured the 133-pound slot. It was learned Thursday that true freshman Chris Debien from Cleveland has sustained a torn ACL and in all likelihood is through for 2015-16.
The Mocs, having secured their 13th straight win over VMI, immediately boarded a bus for a trip from Lexington, Va., to Buies Creek, N.C., for a 2 p.m. Saturday meet at Campbell.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.