Southern Scuffle

Monday, January 1st

8:00 a.m. Doors Open for Spectators
9:00 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

Tuesday, January 2nd

9:00 a.m. 5th Round of Consolation
11:00 a.m. Championship Semifinals
Consolation Quarterfinals
1:00 p.m.* Consolation Semifinals
6:00 p.m. Championship Finals & Medal Matches

Brackets can be found on FloArena

* Denotes approximate start times.
We will have hard start times for the opening matches each day, Championship Round of 32, Championship Quarterfinals and Consolation Round 4, Championship Semifinals & Consolation Quarterfinals and Championship Finals & Medal Matches.

Live Stream is available through Flowrestling

The Southern Scuffle is back for New Year’s day action and for the second year in a row Northern Iowa will send wrestlers down to Chattanooga for action. This years field features two of the top five teams in the country: #2 Penn State  and #5 Lehigh. #12 UNI rounds out the top 15 list of teams going, as #4 Oklahoma State and #9 North Carolina State are both bringing backups to the tournament.

The pre-seeds were released  on Saturday, and can be found below. UNI has seven men listed among the pre-seeds, including #1 Josh Alber at 141 pounds. Bryce Steiert is listed at #3, but the 165 pounder will be wrestling unattached for the Panthers.

Jay Scharm, Max Thomsen, and Drew Foster all received the second pre-seed at their respective weights. Taylor Lujan and the aformated Steiert take the third pre-seed. Jacob Holschlag closes out UNI’s pre-seeded wrestlers with the fifth spot at 197 pounds.

Generally I think the coaching staff wants to see what the squad can do with a two-day tournament against top competition. As Doug Schwab has talked about numerous times throughout the season this is the last tournament they’ll have with a two-day weigh in before the Big 12 Tournament.

I think what’s more important is that the Panthers get quality matches against top opponents. UNI’s schedule is so limiting this season that they need to take advantage of the opportunities to boost their NCAA resumes as much as possible. All of the Panthers can use more big wins, but Schwarm, Alber, Foster, and Lujan all could use another top win to really solidify their spots come March.

One other note about matches against top competition: it gives the UNI wrestler the chance to show how close they are to the top nationally. Even if they drop a match against a higher-ranked opponent the chance to actually wrestle against the best is a big deal for them.

Without some of the heavy hitters at the tournament, UNI has a chance to finish very high in the team race. As far as I can see Penn State is the big favorite (I know, that’s probably an understatement), but UNI should be battling with Lehigh for the second spot. I fully expect them finish in the top five, and would probably pick them to finish third if you made me put out a prediction.

We’ll have result posts on Monday and Tuesday, as well as updates via our Twitter page, @IAwrestle, during both days of action.

2018 Southern Scuffle Pre-Seeds

125
1. Darian Cruz – Lehigh
2. Jay Schwarm – Northern Iowa
3. Daton Fix – Oklahoma State (UNA)
4. Louie Hayes – Virginia
5. Gabe Townsell – Stanford
6. Sergio Mendez – Cal State Bakersfield
7. Alonzo Allen – Chattanooga
8. Thayer Atkins – Duke

133
1. Scott Parker – Lehigh
2. Jack Mueller – Virginia
3. Austin DeSanto – Drexel
4. Corey Keener – Penn State
5. Rico Montoya – Northern Colorado
6. Cole Manley – Virginia Tech (UNA)
7. Josh Finesilver – Duke
8. Colby Smith – (UNA)

141
1. Josh Alber – Northern Iowa
2. Luke Karam – Lehigh
3. Jared Cortez – Penn State
4. Russell Rohlfing – Cal State Bakersfield
5. Nick Lee – Penn State (UNA)
6. Kaden Gfeller – Oklahoma State (UNA)
7. Nic Gil – Navy
8. Kyle Shoop – Lock Haven

149
1. Zain Retherford – Penn State
2. Max Thomsen – Northern Iowa
3. Jared Prince – Navy
4. Ronnie Perry – Lock Haven
5. Sam Krivus – Virginia
6. Matt Zovistoski – Appalachian St. (UNA)
7. Tristan Moran – Oklahoma State
8. Jamal Morris – North Carolina State

157
1. Jason Nolf – Penn State
2. Mitch Finesliver – Duke
3. Ian Brown – Lehigh
4. Alex Mossing – Air Force
5. Paul Fox – Stanford
6. Coleman Hammond – Cal State Bakersfield
7. Zack Davis – Navy
8. Tyler Marinelli – Gardner Webb

165
1. Vincenzo Joseph – Penn State
2. Joe Smith – Oklahoma State (UNA)
3. Bryce Steiert – Northern Iowa (UNA)
4. Chance Marsteller – Lock Haven
5. Drew Daniels – Navy
6. Andrew Atkinson – Virginia
7. Mekhi Lewis – Virginia Tech (UNA)
8. Drew Longo – Lehigh

174
1. Mark Hall- Penn State
2. Jordan Kutler- Lehigh
3. Taylor Lujan- Northern Iowa
4. Jadaen Bernstein- Navy
5. Keaton Subjeck- Stanford
6. Will Schany- Virginia
7. Forest Przybysz- Appalachian State
8. Matt Finesilver- Duke

184
1. Bo Nickal – Penn State
2. Drew Foster – Nothern Iowa
3. Bryce Carr – Chattanooga
4. Michael Coleman – Navy
5. Nick Reenan – North Carolina State (UNA)
6. Dylan Gabel – Northern Colorado
7. Nick Corba – Cleveland State
8. Alan Clothier – Appalachian State

197
1. Anthony Cassar – Penn State
2. Matt Williams – Cal State Bakersfield
3. Scottie Boykin – Chattanooga
4. Nathan Traxler – Stanford
5. Jacob Holschlag – Northern Iowa
6. Jacob Seely – Northern Colorado
7. Chris Weiler – Lehigh
8. Stephen Loiseau – Drexel

285
1. Nick Nevills – Penn State
2. Jacob Kasper – Duke
3. Mike Hughes – Hofstra
4. Jordan Wood – Lehigh
5. Nathan Butler – Stanford
6. Thomas Haines – Lock Haven
7. Demetrius Thomas – (UNA)
8. Michael Boykin – North Carolina State