Dec. 30, 2008

Final Brackets

Final Team Standings

GREENSBORO, N.C. - After two full days of wrestling, the Bobcats placed 22nd with 22 points in the 28-team field at the 2008 Southern Scuffle. Ohio was led by junior Clay Tucker (Martins Ferry, Ohio) and sophomore Chris Iammarino (Lyndhurst, Ohio), who each posted 3-2 records for the tournament. Cornell claimed the team title along with two individual titles, while Edinboro finished second and earned three individual crowns. At 149 pounds, Darrion Caldwell of N.C. State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

The Bobcats had two grapplers advance to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket in Quentin Keyes (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) at 133 pounds and Jacob Ison (Batavia, Ohio) at 174 pounds. In day two of competition, Keyes dropped his final two bouts to finish 2-2. He lost to Mike Grey of third-ranked Cornell 6-5 and fell in a 5-3 decision to Christian Smith of Liberty to move to 10-6 on the year. Ison was forced to forfeit his quarterfinal match due to injury and finished 2-0 for the tournament, improving to 10-1 for the season.

Tucker, wrestling at 157 pounds, lost his opening-round match but came back to win three in a row. In his first consolation bout, he defeated Matt Gittleman of Franklin & Marshall by technical fall, 15-0. His second win came in a 7-0 shutout decision of Binghamton's Jon Kaloust. Tucker then notched a major decision over Ben Mandelbraut of Boston University, 11-3, before falling to Trevor Hall of Cal State-Bakersfield in his final match. He stands at 13-9 for the year.

Iammarino had a similar run at 197 pounds, losing his first-round match to Charles Carafano of Navy, 5-4. He also rebounded by winning three consecutive bouts before falling to 17th-ranked Cam Simaz of Cornell. His three victories came against Parker Burns of Campbell, Travis Porter of Gardner-Webb and Shane Mallory of East Stroudsburg. He is now 10-9 on the season.

"Under the circumstances, I think we wrestled alright overall," commented head coach Joel Greenlee. "I feel we could have definitely had some guys place in this tournament, but we've been dealing with a lot of illness and injury. We had two guys advance to the quarterfinals, so that's always good. Iammarino wrestled better than he has all year, so that's another bright spot. Tucker probably could have placed, but I'm proud of the way he performed despite being sick."

In other Ohio action, true freshman Gabe Ramos (Hopatcong, N.J.) competed unattached at 125 pounds and finished 0-2 for the tournament. Darrin Boing (Northfield Center, Ohio), a redshirt freshman, posted a 2-2 mark at 133 pounds. After winning his first two matches, Boing was pinned by 10th-ranked Lou Ruggirello of No. 19 Hofstra and then dropped an overtime bout to George Ester of Lock Haven.

The 141-pound bracket was plagued by injury for the Bobcats, as both Josh Horne (Pickerington, Ohio) and Germane Lindsey (Cincinnati, Ohio) forfeited their final matches. Horne finished 1-0 for the tournament, while Lindsey was 1-1. Junior Seth Morton (Canal Winchester, Ohio) posted a 1-2 mark, winning his first match and dropping the next two. True freshman Chris Kline (Westerville, Ohio) competed unattached at 157 pounds, posting a 2-2 mark to move to 9-7 on the year. Another true freshman, Steve Wilson (Marion, Ohio), wrestled unattached at 165 pounds but did not earn a win at the event.

Along with Ison at 174 pounds, redshirt freshman Nick Purdue (Genoa, Ohio), the reigning co-Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week, went 1-2 to drop his record to 13-7 overall. He is tied with Tucker for the most wins on the team so far this season. True freshman standout Dylan Wrage (Janesville, Iowa) had a tough day in the 197-pound bracket, going 0-2 on day one to fall from the competition. Wrage is now 10-3 in his freshman campaign with the Bobcats.

Ohio had three representatives at heavyweight, with both Andy Hartshorn (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) and Justin Powell (Youngstown, Ohio) notching 2-2 marks, while Tim Samson (Toledo, Ohio) finished 0-2 for the tournament. Hartshorn moved to 8-9 on the year, as Samson fell to 3-4. For Powell, a redshirt freshman, this was his first official competition of the season.

For complete results, visit www.SouthernScuffle.com. The final brackets and team standings are posted at the top of this page, as well.

The Bobcats will return in 2009 for the Virginia Duals Jan. 9-10 in Hampton, Va. Check OhioBobcats.com for the latest news on Ohio wrestling.