Davis Has Strong Showing On First Day Of Southern Scuffle
December 29, 2007 | Wrestling
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Chad Davis picked up an opening round win in the 174 lb. weight class on the first day of the Southern Scuffle for Gardner-Webb.
Davis was the only Bulldog to pick up an opening-round win at the prestigious national tournament. Davis grappled Virginia's Mike Grogan, downing him by the narrowest of margins, 4-3.
He then was set to grapple Maryland's Mike Letts, who was the No. 2 seed in the division. Davis was unable to pick up the upset victory as he was pinned by Letts 3:40 into the match. His next opponent, who he will face tomorrow, after heading to the consolation bracket will be George Mason's Zach Ulm.
In the 125 lb. class, rookie Tommy Bennett was matched up against No. 6 seed Justin Staylor of Virginia Tech in his opening-round bout. Bennett was pinned 1:59 into the match. Bennett also fell in the consolation bracket by way of pin 2:18 into the contest to Boise State's Alan Bartelli.
The Bulldogs did not have anyone competing at 133.
In the 141 lb. division, Chas Franz fell 9-2 to Liberty's Scott Clymer. However, Franz rebounded to post a win over Davidson's Ben Thompson. Franz pinned Thompson in 4:28 to advance to the next round against Lock Haven's Clint Shirk. Franz nearly pulled off the win, but dropped a heartbreaker, 5-4, to Shirk.
At 149, Joshua Lowe faced off against Kevin Cristensen of Ohio University in the first round. Lowe fell by an 11-2 count. In the consolation bracket, Lowe dropped an 18-2 match to Daryl Cocozzo of Edinboro.
Austin Reece, competing in the 157 lb. class, was pinned by Eddie Hutchinson of Appalachian State 31 seconds into the match. He then fell by a 21-9 margin to No. 6 seed Johnny Bonilla-Bowman of Hofstra in the consolation bracket. Bonilla-Bowman was upset in his first-round match by Nate Patterson of Binghamton, 12-4.
Brendan Couture dropped his opening-round match to No. 5 seed Jarrod King of Edinboro, 5-1. He then faced Bloomsburg's Rickey Schmelyun in the consolation bracket, but fell by a 21-5 score, eliminating him from the double-elimination tournament.
At 184, Matthias Piasecki dropped his first-round match to John Barone, who pinned Piasecki 4:38 into the match. Piasecki didn't fair well in his consolation-round match as he was pinned in 4:22 by Old Dominion's Scott Cust.
Redshirt-sophomore Dustin Porter was pinned by Kent State's Michael Blackwell at the 5:44 mark in the 197 lb. division. He then squared off against Lock Haven's Ben Helpburn in the consolation bracket. Hepburn was dropped by top-seeded Joseph Rovelli of Hofstra by a 4-0 score in the first round.
Porter, who earned a spot at the NCAA Championships a season ago, rebounded from the defeat by knocking off Rovelli 3-2. His next opponent is slated to be Minnesota's Yura Malamura. Malamura reached the quarterfinals of the winner's bracket before getting knocked off 11-5 by Virginia's Brent Jones. The two will square off tomorrow.
At 285, Evan Rhodes fell to Duke's Mike Tunick 7-1 in his first-round match. He then dropped a 10-0 decision to Old Dominion's Andrew Totusek in the consolation bracket.
The Bulldogs will be back in action tomorrow at the Southern Scuffle.
For full results, go to http://escapesports.com/Results/2007_Southern_Scuffle.pdf?SPID=2641&DB_OEM_ID=5300&SPSID=33238
