Panthers Head to Southern Scuffle

Date: January 1st-2nd, 2017
Time: Sunday Jan. 1st: (All times Central Standard)
9 a.m.: Pigtail Round
9:45 a.m.: Championship Round of 32
12:30 p.m.: 1st Round of Consolations
1:15 p.m.: Championship Round of 16
3:00 p.m.: 2nd Round of Consolations
4:45 p.m.: 3rd Round of Consolations
6:30 p.m.: Championship Quarterfinals & 4th Round of Consolations
Monday Jan. 2nd:
9 a.m.: 5th Round of Consolation
11 a.m.: Championship Semifinals, Consolation Quarterfinals
1 p.m.: Consolation Semifinals
6 p.m.: Championship Finals & Medal Matches
Location: McKenzie Arena, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Video: FloWrestling ($)
Brackets: FloArena
FloWrestling rankings

UNI Panthers 3-2 (1-0 MAC)
125- #3 Dylan Peters, Jay Schwarm, Rudy Yates
133- Josh Alber
141- Jake Hodges
149- #11 Max Thomsen
157- Paden Moore
165- #14 Bryce Steiert, Isiah Patton
174- #10 Taylor Lujan
184- #14 Drew Foster, Jacob Holschlag
285- JJ Everard, Carter Isley

The University of Northern Iowa will head to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the first time as they participate in the Southern Scuffle. One of the premier winter tournaments in the nation, this is the 14th edition of the Scuffle will have 10 of the top 25 teams in the NWCA/USA Today Top 25. The 22nd ranked Panthers join #1 Oklahoma State, #5 Missouri, #8 Cornell, #9 Lehigh, #13 Minnesota, #16 Stanford, #21 Appalachian State, #24 Virginia, and #25 Drexel.

Chattanooga, Air Force, Campbell, The Citadel, Cleveland State, Duke, Edinboro, Gardner-Webb, Navy, North Carolina, Northern Colorado, Penn, and Utah Valley round out the field.

There are 25 returning All-Americans and three returning NCAA Champions in the field, which makes for an exciting competition.

For the Panthers going to this tournament is all about exposing themselves to new opponents and getting their names on the national stage. Head Coach Doug Schwab has talked a few times about why they decided on this tournament, rather than The Midlands.

“It’s as close to our conference tournament,” Schwab said. “Most of our guys are going to have four to five matches to win the title. It’s as close to the national tournament as you’re going to get during the season. I think for us, to put ourselves on the national scene too.”

The Panther most favorited to win his bracket is 125 pounder Dylan Peters. Peters is ranked third in the country, but has seen limited action this season after having surgery to fix a torn ACL over the summer. The two-day tournament will be good test for him, as he has struggled with injuries during winter tournaments in the past – two years ago at the Cliff Keen Invite he also suffered a knee injury and was forced to withdraw. As long as he can stay healthy I think the only other wrestler who will give him problems is Lehigh’s Darian Cruz, and they shouldn’t see each other until the finals.

There are a few other weights that present interesting brackets for the Panthers. At 184 pounds UNI will send two wrestlers, #14 Drew Foster and Jacob Holschlag. Holschlag had been splitting time at 184 during some the first two months of the season and that trend will continue down south. Foster secured the third pre-seed for the tournament, and it will be a great test for him, potentially matching up with Oklahoma State’s Nolan Boyd in the semifinals. This weight is top-heavy with Gabe Dean and Boyd, and really if anybody else could make the finals it would be a big upset.

174 also provides another great opportunity for a Panther. Taylor Lujan earned the 4th pre-seed, potentially matching him up with the top seed in the semifinals, Penn’s Casey Kent. Lujan has made a name for himself nationally, defeating (at the time) #9 Zach Brunson 13-10, and taking #2 Zach Epperly to the wire. This will be his first real exposure to a national stage, and he can really solidify his ranking with a good performance.

The same goes for the freshman Max Thomsen. The former Union prep was 5th in the pre-seeds, and like Lujan this is Thomsen’s first opportunity against not only some of the nations best, but the defending MAC Champion in Lavion Mayes. Thomsen doesn’t have a “signature” win this season but a strong field at 149 will help him boost his resume.

Josh Alber and Bryce Steiert round out the Panther pre-seeded wrestlers at 133 and 165 pounds respectively. Both men are coming off a loss at Wisconsin; Alber lost in an upset to Eli Stickley, and Steiert lost a close decision to #2 Issac Jordan. Both could use a solid showing at the tournament, Alber more so than Steiert.

The tournament schedule can be found above, and we’ll have live results coming in for most of the two days. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it down to Chattanooga, but we’ll post results throughout the two days both here and on our Twitter. Be sure to give them us a follow @IAwreslte and I’ll probably have some results up on mine as well, you can follow me @nic_ryder.

Southern Scuffle Pre-Seeds:
125
1. Dylan Peters- Northern Iowa
2. Darian Cruz- Lehigh
3. Barlow McGhee- Missouri
4. Sean Russell- Edinboro
5. Jack Mueller- Virginia
6. Nick Piccininni- Oklahoma State
7. Ethan Lizak- Minnesota
8. Vito Pasone- Appalachian State
9. Nathan Kraisser- Campbell
10. Noah Baughman- Cornell

133
1. Kaid Brock- Oklahoma State
2. Connor Schram- Stanford
3. Scott Parker- Lehigh
4. Kevin Devoy- Drexel
5. Mark Grey- Cornell
6. Mitchell McKee- Minnesota
7. Josh Alber- Northern Iowa
8. Colby Smith- Appalachian State
9. Nathan Boston- Campbell
10. Korbin Myers- Edinboro

141
1. Dean Heil- Oklahoma State
2. Joey McKenna- Stanford
3. Joey Ward- North Carolina
4. Randy Cruz- Lehigh
5. George DiCamillo- Virginia
6. Matt Manley- Missouri
7. Jared Prince- Navy
8. Thomas Thorn- Minnesota
9. Zach Synon- Missouri
10. Kade Moss- Penn State

149
1. Lavion Mayes- Missouri
2. Anthony Collica- Oklahoma State
3. Patricio Lugo- Edinboro
4. Laike Gardner- Lehigh
5. Max Thomsen- Northern Iowa
6. Matt Cimato- Drexel
7. Matthew Zovistoski- Appalachian State
8. Christopher Vassar- Gardner Webb
9. Joe Galasso- Cornell
10. Gary Dinsmore- Penn State

157
1. Dylan Palacio- Cornell
2. Joe Smith- Oklahoma State
3. Joey Lavallee- Missouri
4. Jordan Kutler- Lehigh
5. Jake Short- Minnesota
6. Andrew Atkinson- Virginia
7. May Bathea- Penn
8. Aaron Walker- The Citadel
9. Mitch Finesilver- Duke
10. Joey Moon- North Carolina

165
1. Daniel Lewis- Missouri
2. Mitch Minotti- Lehigh
3. Chandler Rogers- Oklahoma State
4. Nick Wanzek- Minnesota
5. Jake Faust- Duke
6. Bryce Steiert- Northern Iowa
7. Austin Matthews- Edinboro
8. Brandon Womack- Cornell
9. Drew Longo- Lehigh
10. Keaton Subjeck- Stanford

174
1. Casey Kent- Penn
2. Kyle Crutchmer- Oklahoma State
3. Ethan Ramos- North Carolina
4. Taylor Lujan- Northern Iowa
5. Ryan Preisch- Lehigh
6. Jim Wilson- Stanford
7. Jadaen Bernstein- Navy
8. Jordan Rogers- Oklahoma State
9. Austin Trott- Gardner Webb
10. Mark Hall- Penn State

184
1. Gabe Dean- Cornell
2. Nolan Boyd- Oklahoma State
3. Drew Foster- Northern Iowa
4. Chip Ness- North Carolina
5. Hunter Gamble- Gardner Webb
6. Bryce Carr- Chattanooga
7. Dylan Gabel- Northern Colorado
8. Dakota Geer- Edinboro
9. Jacob Holschlag- Northern Iowa
10. Max Dean- Finger Lakes Prep

197
1. J’den Cox- Missouri
2. Brett Pfarr- Minnesota
3. Preston Weigel- Oklahoma State
4. Frank Mattice- Penn
5. Parker Hines- Air Force
6. Ben Haas- Lehigh
7. Derek White- Oklahoma State
8. Owen Scott- Cornell
9. Anthony McLaughlin- Air Force
10. Tanner Orndorff- Utah Valley

285
1. Austin Schafer- Oklahoma State
2. Michael Kroells- Minnesota
3. Nathan Butler- Stanford
4. Denzel Dejournette- Appalachian State
5. Jacob Kasper- Duke
6. Jared Johnson- Chattanooga
7. Billy Miller- Edinboro
8. Joey Goodhart- Drexel
9. Doug Vollaro- Lehigh
10. Mike Hughes- Hofstra