The Chattanooga Mocs have introduced two new head coaches in the past week.
Katie Burrows directed her Lady Mocs basketball team to a win over Lee on Tuesday while Kyle Ruschell began a similar journey at Maclellan Gym Sunday afternoon with the UTC wrestling team.
Ruschell’s team didn’t fare as well as they dropped a 23-10 decision to the North Carolina Tar Heels, a team ranked 21st in the latest college poll.
Things started off on a positive note for the Moc matmen as they won the first three matches for an early 10-0, but they weren’t as fortunate at the end as North Carolina came back to win the final seven bouts and the match in the first dual meet of the season for both teams.
Ruschell would have liked better results, but he was pleased with what he saw from his team in a battle with a really good opponent.
“We have a really young team and this was the first match for some of them, but I was happy with the effort,” he began after his post-match talk with his guys.
“We talked about fighting hard for seven minutes and I felt like we did that in most spots, but it’s early and we made some mistakes that we have time to correct. I thought it was a pretty good showing for our first match.
“We got off to a good start with those first three wins and I wish we could have gotten another one or two. I was really proud of Chris Debien, who had lost to that guy by six last week, but he had a nice comeback today,” the first-year coach added.
North Carolina coach Coleman Scott was hesitant to put too much praise on his team, but he too was happy for the most part with the effort they gave.
“I thought we got off to a slow start and I wasn’t real happy about that, but I thought we wrestled pretty tough for the first time out. We were good, but not great,” he admitted.
“We can’t afford to just hang on and expect things to be easy, but I was really happy for Austin O’Connor at 149 as his win sort of set the tone for the rest of the day. We didn’t lose another match after that.
“We just have to have a faster start, but I felt like this might be a tight match. The effort was there, but our energy wasn’t super high the whole way,” he added.
The match began at 125 pounds where Chattanooga sophomore Fabian Gutierrez remained unbeaten after five matches with a 12-2 major decision over Joe Heilmann.
Jake Huffine followed with an 8-6 overtime decision over James Szymanski at 133 in the best match of the day. Debien then overcame a 2-1 deficit after the opening period for a strong second stanza where he took the lead with a takedown and a four-point near-fall at the buzzer.
He added another escape and takedown in the final two minutes for the 10-5 victory as the lead was 10-0 after three matches.
O’Connor put the Tar Heels on the board with his 14-4 major decision at 149 while Kennedy Monday, Josh McClure, Devin Kane, Chip Ness, Chasen Blair and Cory Daniel all added wins by regular decision with Blair’s 13-4 major over Rodney Jones at 197 clinching the victory for North Carolina.
The Mocs return to action next weekend in Raleigh, N.C. at the Wolfpack Open. They will host the Southern Scuffle at McKenzie Arena on Jan. 1-2 before their next dual meet on Jan. 20 against VMI.
NORTH CAROLINA 23, CHATTANOOGA 10
(Match began at 125 pounds)
125 – Fabian Gutierrez (Chat) major dec. Joe Heilmann, 12-2;
133 – Jake Huffine (Chat) dec. James Szymanski, 8-6 in overtime;
141 – Chris Debien (Chat) dec. A.C. Headlee, 10-5;
149 – Austin O’Connor (UNC) major dec. Tanner Smith, 14-4;
157 – Kennedy Monday (UNC) dec. Ryan Resnick, 10-4;
165 – Josh McClure (UNC) dec. Drew Nicholson, 9-4;
174 – Devin Kane (UNC) dec. Hunter Fortner, 4-1;
184 – Chip Ness (UNC) dec. Dominic Lampe, 4-0;
197 – Chasen Blair (UNC) major dec. Rodney Jones, 13-4;
285 – Cory Daniel (UNC) dec. Connor Tolley, 6-1.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)