Jan. 2, 2016

• 2016 Southern Scuffle Results

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Fifteenth-ranked Mathew Miller (Edgewood, Md.) beat three nationally-ranked foes to place third at 184 pounds while helping lead the Navy wrestling team to a 17th-place finish at the 2016 Defense Soap & Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle on Saturday evening at McKenzie Arena in Chattagnooga, Tenn. Miller was the only wrestler among the Mids' 14 competitors to place in a tournament that featured 10 of the top 25 teams in the country, as well as nearly 60 nationally-ranked wrestlers including seven #1-ranked competitors.

Top-ranked Penn State came into the final day of competition with just a three-point advantage over #7 Oklahoma State, but easily cruised to its sixth Southern Scuffle title, including its fifth in a row, behind a 25-point cushion over the Cowboys (183.0 - 158.0). Tenth-ranked Lehigh, who Navy will face in Bethlehem, Pa. next Saturday, took third with 104.5 points, followed by #14 Cornell in fourth (98.5) and #15 North Carolina in fifth (97.5).

Navy (35.5) finished 1.5 points behind Service Academy rival Air Force and 2.0 points short of 15th-place Edinboro. Meanwhile, the Mids owned a 3.0 advantage over 18th-place Army West Point and 3.5 points over 19th-place Drexel.

Billed as the top regular-season tournament in the country, the Southern Scuffle provided Miller, a two-time NCAA qualifier, a glimpse of the competition he will see in a few short months at the NCAA Championship. Miller, who stands 18-6 this season and 66-19 over his career, put back-to-back wins together on Friday over Chattanooga's McCoy Newberg (Fall, 1:33) and Gardner Webb's Hunter Gamble (7-3) to set up a quarterfinal battle against Penn State's Matt McCutcheon, ranked 13th, on Saturday morning.

That match, however, would not take place after McCutcheon bowed out of the tournament with a medical forfeit. Miller, though, would fall short in his hopes of capturing a championship in his final appearance at the Southern Scuffle, dropping a hard-fought 10-5 decision to #1-ranked Gabe Dean of Cornell in the semis.

Miller worked his way back through the consolation bracket, scoring a 15-2 major decision over #18 Nolan Boyd of Oklahoma State to set up the third-place bout against Penn's Lorenzo Thomas. The two wrestlers traded points with Thomas holding a 7-6 advantage over Miller with less than a minute to go in the match. Miller put together a fast and furious rally to take down Thomas for the go-ahead points (8-7) and went on to not only take away Thomas' riding time, but also score back points at the end of the match to earn the 10-7 victory over the sixth-ranked wrestler in the country.

Sophomores Jadaen Bernstein (Glen Gardner, N.J.) and Zack Davis (Granger, Ind.) also advanced to the second day of competition at the Southern Scuffle among the championship bracket. Following wins over Campbell's Drew Walker (Fall, 4:59) and Drexel's David Pearce (2-0, sv1), Davis drew a quarterfinals matchup at 133 pounds against #4 George DiCamillo of Virginia in his first bout on Saturday morning. DiCamillo posted a 13-1 victory over Davis, who was unable to rally in the consolation bracket and fell for a second time to Michigan State's Garth Yenter, 4-2.

Bernstein, meanwhile, also won a pair of matches on Friday - 19-7 vs. Brett Stein (Gardner Webb) and 10-8 sv1 vs. Nick Kee (Appalachian State) - to set up a quarterfinals battle against North Carolina's Ethan Ramos. Just over three minutes into the match, Bernstein, ranked 14th nationally at 174 pounds, would be forced to concede after suffering an injury that would eliminate him from the tournament.

Freshman Nicholas Gil (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and senior Michael Woulfe (Oak Park, Ill.) competed on Saturday among the consolation bracket of their respective weight classes. Gil won his first two matches of the tournament at 141 pounds before a 4-2 loss to #11 Tommy Thorn of Minnesota in the round of 16 sent the newcomer to the consolation bracket. Gil's second day was short-lived, however, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Naval Academy Prep School's Connor Prince, whose twin, Jared, placed fourth in the same weight class.

Woulfe went 1-1 on Friday's opening day of competition at 197 pounds and began Saturday on a high note, pinning Northern Colorado's Jacob Seely in 6:30. The second-year starter's tournament ended the following bout when Oklahoma State's Preston Weigel scored a 13-10 decision over Woulfe.

The Mids (5-0, 1-0 EIWA) will be back in action next Saturday when they face EIWA rival Lehigh at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall beginning at 2:00 pm. The match will be streamed live via Patriot League TV. Lehigh owns a 7-1 dual meet record, winning five straight duals.


### Go Navy ###