The 39-match winning streak for the Chattanooga Mocs in Southern Conference wrestling is history.

So is the string of seven consecutive SoCon regular-season championships.

The Appalachian State Mountaineers had so much confidence in their team they sponsored a bus trip from Boone for Sunday's match.

The 100 or so Mountaineer fans were rewarded in a big way after their team posted a 21-17 victory over the Mocs at Maclellan Gym.

It was a spirited crowd, perhaps the biggest ever for a Southern Conference dual meet, with an announced attendance of 938.

  It looked and sounded a lot bigger.

Those folks dressed in black and gold had the most to cheer about after Mountaineers won three of the last four matches to prevail by four points.

Both teams won five matches, but the difference came in bonus points.  Each team had three wins by regular decision.  The Mocs had two others by major decision while the Mountaineers claimed their other two by pins.

"This is a big day for our program," said Appy State coach John Mark Bentley after his team had improved to 10-3 overall and 4-0 in conference action.

"I knew we'd have to wrestle hard, but what a great way to send our seniors out.  They've invested so much in our program and four of our five wins today were by seniors.

"We now have the monkey off our back regarding Chattanooga, but we'll have to continue to get better because I'm sure Chattanooga will be waiting for us at the tournament.

"We knew we needed to win two of the last three matches and that ;pin at 149 made all the difference.  That was a nice reward for Savva.  I was also real happy with our fan support.  For more than 100 of our fans to make the trip here on Super Bowl Sunday says a lot about their support for our program," Bentley added.

The Mountaineers won two of the first three matches to take an early 9-3 lead following a 6-3 decision by Paul Weiss at 197.

Chattanooga responded with three straight wins, including a 6-4 decision by Kevin Malone at 285 and major decisions from Manny Ramirez and Nick Soto at 125 and 133 to take the lead at 14-9.

Mike Kessler's 8-2 decision at 141 got Appy within 14-12 with three matches remaining.

Savva Kostis then gave the Mountaineers the spark they needed to claim the win when he got an overtime pin over Kelly Felix at 149.  The match was tied at 1-1 after regulation, but Kostis got the takedown and pin 46 seconds into the overtime period.

Dan Waddell's 5-2 decision at 157 got the Mocs to within 18-17, but Kyle Blevins improved to 29-5 with a 6-3 decision at 165 to clinch the win for the Mountaineers.

Chattanooga coach Heath Eslinger knows that Sunday's loss is not the end of the world.

"We want to win every match, but this is the start of a new era.  We're on track to compete at a national level.  Today's match just shows that the level of competition in our conference has gotten better," Eslinger began.

"We needed a win from Kelly at 149, but it didn't happen.  I hate it for Kelly, but he's got to figure some stuff out.  We got pinned in that match and that's part of it.

"Waddell, Soto and Ramirez all looked good, but it came down to us having to win two of the last three and we didn't get it done.  Our hat's off to them because they did a great job today.

"We had a great atmosphere here today with so many fans. That's good for the sport of wrestling, but we'll take two buses to Boone next year," Eslinger promised.

While Kostis had the second pin for Appalachian State, Austin Trotman had the other when he needed just 1:35 to get the call at 184.

Chattanooga is now 11-4 overall and 4-1 in conference action.

Sunday's match was the final home meet for the Mocs, but there's still one more dual meet on the road at VMI on Feb. 20. 

This year's Southern Conference tournament will be at McKenzie Arena on March 3.

APPALACHIAN ST. 21, CHATTANOOGA 17

174 -- Levi Clemons (UTC) dec. Carter Downs, 8-3;

184 -- Austin Trotman (Appy) pinned Cory Canada, 1:35;

197 -- Paul Weiss (Appy) dec. Robert Prigmore, 6-3;

285 -- Kevin Malone (UTC) dec. Joe Cummings, 6-4;

125 -- Manny Ramirez (UTC) major dec. Tony Gravely, 13-1;

133 -- Nick Soto (UTC) major dec. Brett Boston, 14-3;

141 -- Mike Kessler (Appy) dec. Shawn Greevy, 8-2;

149 -- Savva Kostis (Appy) pinned Kelly Felix, 7:46;

157 -- Dan Waddell (UTC) dec. Chip Powell, 5-2;

165 -- Kyle Blevins (Appy) dec. Brandon Wright, 6-3.

 

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)