Penn State wins Southern Scuffle with six champions, with Oklahoma State in second with four champions
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by Roger Moore, Special to TheMat.com
Photo of Jason Nolf at the Southern Scuffle, courtesy of GoPSUSports.com
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Old-time sports fans remember a New York Yankees lineup known as “Murderers’ Row” that included the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Meusel, and Lazzari. Penn State has a modern version in the form of Nolf, Joseph, Hall, Rasheed, and Nickal.
The Nittany Lions, kings of the NCAAs the last three seasons, claimed another Southern Scuffle trophy on Wednesday night, holding off a good Oklahoma State squad.
The Cowboys momentarily took the lead during the semifinals, but PSU’s massive, point-scoring machine got warmed up and took control by pushing eight to the finals – six of them claimed titles as head coach Cael Sanderson’s squad showed once again it is the top dog in Division I wrestling. The previous scoring record for the Scuffle (198) was shattered as PSU totaled 216 ½ points.
“Every coach says the same thing, but there is always something to work on,” Sanderson said. “I think we wrestled really well against good competition; they all saw some contenders here and that is one of the reasons we come (to the Scuffle). A couple of guys dominated, but there were also some really tight, tough matches, too.
“We have to keep improving and focusing on the right things, like these guys have done their whole lives.”
Jason Nolf (157), Shakur Rasheed (184), and Bo Nickal (197) dominated from start to finish, Nickal scoring five pins on his way to another tournament title. Over the two days, Nolf became PSU’s all-time pins leader. He beat teammate Bo Pipher by technical fall on Wednesday night in the finals.
“It doesn’t surprise me because he’s an unbelievable wrestler and one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever met or will ever meet,” Sanderson said of the two-time NCAA champion. “It’s a great honor considering some of the great guys we’ve had come through here.”
Mark Hall, a national champion in 2017, announced his arrival at the 2017 Scuffle, winning a title and eventually coming out of redshirt. The junior won a tough, down-to-the-wire match with Oklahoma State’s Joe Smith, breaking a 1-1 tie late with a takedown into a cradle and a 5-1 victory.
“I really think it is something you are born with,” Hall said. “I know I have that in me, that ability to find a way to score when it counts. Maybe it’s in my genetic make-up or something, just finding ways to win tough matches.
“I could see that (Smith) was kind of bullying guys … he looked good. I tried not to let him push me around, just wrestle hard the entire match.”
PSU also saw Nick Lee (141) win a title, beating Stanford freshman Real Woods in the finals, and Vincenzo Joseph, who edged Lock Haven’s Chance Marsteller, 6-5, in the feature final at 165 pounds.
Lee, Nolf, Joseph, Hall, Rasheed, and Nickal are yet to lose a match in 2018-19. PSU totaled 12 inside the top eight, including rookie 149-pounder Brady Berge, who was third.
“It’s fun to be a part of this group, but it’s also guys like Bo Pipher who make this team what it is,” Hall said. “We have a lot of guys who work hard every day, and when you see a guy like Bo make the finals it shows that the work is paying off for everyone.”
The Cowboys, Scuffle champs in 2017, made a gallant effort over the two days. After the semifinals, OSU had a lofty 165 ½ points with five in the finals. They still trailed by 17 points. When the medal matches began, PSU held a 186-172 ½ margin. But in the end, even with four champions it was not enough.
Rookie Kaden Gfeller, a champion at 141 a year ago, edged Duke’s Mitch Finesilver, 3-2, in a wild, video-review-filled 149-pound final. He was joined by Nick Piccininni (125), Daton Fix (133), and Derek White (285) at the top of the medal stand. Fix edged Iowa State’s Austin Gomez, 6-3, while White took out PSU’s Anthony Cassar, 3-2. Fix (18-0) used a blast double in the first period and a slick counter in the third to beat Gomez in one of the better weight classes in Chattanooga.
“I feel like every time I step out there I should be able to compete,” said Gfeller, now 19-0. “It was a weird match, some questionable calls. But (Coach John Smith) just said to wrestle through it. I love this environment, the fans, it really gets you going a lot like nationals.”
Like everyone else around the country, OSU has been bitten by the injury bug. All-American Kaid Brock defaulted out on Tuesday night and Chandler Rogers, Scuffle champion in 2017, was injured on Wednesday.
All 10 Scuffle champions came from either PSU or OSU. Iowa State (104), Stanford (82 ½), and Navy (75 ½) rounded out the top five.
Back from the dead
Iowa State’s resurgence under head coach Kevin Dresser continues. The Cyclones, who took rival Iowa to the wire to start December, put three in the Scuffle semifinals and had eight wrestlers weighing in on Day 2. After an 8-10 dual campaign and tie for 45th at the 2018 NCAA Championships, Dresser and staff hits January on an upward swing.
“I think the progress has become evident in the last 45 days or so, the hard work is being rewarded,” said ISU boss Kevin Dresser. “As competitive individuals we always want more, but we’ve improved significantly. We’ve competed hard and that was the first step in getting Iowa State where I wanted them to be. Let’s at least be a team that fights hard, and when you have some talent and they fight hard good things are going to happen.
“I remind them quite often that they are wrestling in a very special place. The fan base, the wrestling buzz around the program is storied, so I keep reminding them that they are fortunate. We need to give those fans a reason to jump up and cheer.”
Gomez, among others, looks like a reason to jump up. In Wednesday’s semifinals, the sophomore, down 8-1 to PSU’s talented Roman Bravo-Young, flipped the PSU rookie to his back for a pin and made sure FLO knew about it. Gomez ran into OSU’s Fix a round later, but led the pack for ISU.
Alex Mackall (125), Sam Colbray (184), Jarrett Degen (149), Marcus Coleman (184), Chase Straw (157), Gannon Gremmel (285), and Todd Small (133) all finished among the top eight. All-American Willie Micklus, a top-rated 197-pounder did not compete this week.
The marathon
During Wednesday morning’s session, on an outer mat, Chattanooga’s Anthony Allen and Stanford’s Gabe Townsell showed what wrestling really is all about. It’s never easy to come back on the second day, in consolations, and lay it all on the line the first few days of January. But Allen, a senior from Conyers, Ga., and Townsell, a junior from Oak Park, Ill., went the distance, 12 minutes and two tiebreakers, with Allen pulling out a 9-7 win. It wasn’t quite the Derek White-Sam Stoll 25-minute marathon from Carver-Hawkeye last season … but it was close. Allen eventually finished fifth, beating Mackall in the fifth-place bout.
Rookie scufflers
The annual gathering at McKenzie Arena always brings attention to a few freshmen. Remember Logan Massa-Alex Dieringer? Or Mark Hall, back in 2017, wrestling unattached? This year’s freshman finalist is Stanford’s Real Woods, a redshirting 141-pound rookie from New Mexico. He took out Navy’s Nicolas Gil in the semifinals, then fell to Lee in the 141-pound final.
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE
At Chattanooga, Tenn., Jan. 1-2
125 pounds
1st - Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State) DEC Rico Montoya (Northern Colorado), 7-2
3rd - Jakob Camacho (NC State) DEC Luke Werner (Lock Haven), 10-4
5th - Alonzo Allen (Chattanooga) DEC Alex Mackall (Iowa State), 6-5
7th - Aslan Kilic (United States Naval Academy) M FOR Gabriel Townsell (Stanford)
133 pounds
1st - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) DEC Austin Gomez (Iowa State), 6-3
3rd - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) MD Sean Nickell (Cal State Bakersfield), 10-1
5th - Todd Small (Iowa State) DEC Mason Pengilly (Stanford), 4-2 SV
7th - Collin Gerardi (Virginia Tech) DEC Nick Farro (Lehigh University), 2-0
141 pounds
1st - Nick Lee (Penn State) DEC Real Woods (Stanford), 6-3
3rd - Nick Gil (United States Naval Academy) DEC Cameron Kelly (Ohio University), 3-2
5th - Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) DEC Chris Debien (Chattanooga), 8-3
7th - Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) DEC Dj Fehlman (Lock Haven), 2-0
149 pounds
1st - Kaden Gfeller Edmond, OK (Oklahoma State) DEC Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 3-2
3rd - Brady Berge (Penn State) DEC Requir Van der merwe (Stanford), 5-2
5th - Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) F Russell Rohlfing (Cal State Bakersfield), 4:53
7th - Jared Prince (United States Naval Academy) MD Matt Zovistoski (Appalachian State), 15-3
157 pounds
1st - Jason Nolf (Penn State) TF Bo Pipher (Penn State), 16-1 2:16
3rd - Dom Mandarino (Stanford) DEC Zac Carson (Ohio University), 12-10 SV
5th - Paul Fox (Stanford) DEC Jonce Blaylock (Oklahoma State), 9-4
7th - Chase Straw (Iowa State) M FOR Ben Anderson (Duke)
165 pounds
1st - Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) DEC Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven), 6-5
3rd - Shane Griffith (Stanford) DEC Jesse Dellavecchia (Rider), 7-2
5th - Zach Finesilver (Duke) M FOR Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State)
7th - Mason Manville (Penn State) DEC Tanner Skidgel (United States Naval Academy), 8-4
174 pounds
1st - Mark Hall (Penn State) DEC Joe Smith (Oklahoma State), 5-1
3rd - David McFadden (Virginia Tech) DEC Trent Hidlay (NC State), 3-2 TB2
5th - Matt Finesilver (Duke) MD Marcus Coleman (Iowa State), 10-2
7th - Michael O'Malley (Drexel) DEC Vincent Deprez (Binghamton), 5-3
184 pounds
1st - Shakur Rasheed (Penn State) DEC Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech), 4-1
3rd - Lou Deprez (Binghamton) DEC Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State), 6-2
5th - Sam Colbray (Iowa State) F Dom Ducharme (Cal State Bakersfield), 6:04
7th - Alan Clothier (Appalachian State) DEC Chris Weiler (Lehigh University), 8-5
197 pounds
1st - Bo Nickal (Penn State) F Nathan Traxler (Stanford), 2:09
3rd - Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) DEC Dakota Geer Edinboro, PA (Oklahoma State), 9-3
5th - Jacob Seely (Northern Colorado) MD Dylan Reynolds (Edinboro), 9-0
7th - Randall Diabe (Appalachian State) DEC Josh Roetman (United States Naval Academy), 3-1
285 pounds
1st - Derek White (Oklahoma State) DEC Anthony Cassar (Penn State), 3-2
3rd - Nick Nevills (Penn State) DEC Matt Voss (George Mason), 2-1
5th - Joey Goodhart (Drexel) DEC Billy Miller (Virginia Tech), 4-3
7th - Haydn Maley (Stanford) DEC Gannon Gremmel (Iowa State), 7-3
Top 20 teams at the Southern Scuffle
1 Penn State 216.5
2 Oklahoma State 188.5
3 Iowa State 104
4 Stanford 82.5
5 United States Naval Academy 75.5
6 Lock Haven 71.5
7 Duke 70
8 Ohio University 54.5
9 Virginia Tech 48.5
10 Cal State Bakersfield 46.5
11 Northern Colorado 45.5
12 Appalachian State 43
13 Rider 41
14 Binghamton 37.5
14 Chattanooga 37.5
16 George Mason 27.5
17 Drexel 26
18 Air Force 24.5
18 Edinboro 24.5
20 The Citadel 21
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Old-time sports fans remember a New York Yankees lineup known as “Murderers’ Row” that included the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Meusel, and Lazzari. Penn State has a modern version in the form of Nolf, Joseph, Hall, Rasheed, and Nickal.
The Nittany Lions, kings of the NCAAs the last three seasons, claimed another Southern Scuffle trophy on Wednesday night, holding off a good Oklahoma State squad.
The Cowboys momentarily took the lead during the semifinals, but PSU’s massive, point-scoring machine got warmed up and took control by pushing eight to the finals – six of them claimed titles as head coach Cael Sanderson’s squad showed once again it is the top dog in Division I wrestling. The previous scoring record for the Scuffle (198) was shattered as PSU totaled 216 ½ points.
“Every coach says the same thing, but there is always something to work on,” Sanderson said. “I think we wrestled really well against good competition; they all saw some contenders here and that is one of the reasons we come (to the Scuffle). A couple of guys dominated, but there were also some really tight, tough matches, too.
“We have to keep improving and focusing on the right things, like these guys have done their whole lives.”
Jason Nolf (157), Shakur Rasheed (184), and Bo Nickal (197) dominated from start to finish, Nickal scoring five pins on his way to another tournament title. Over the two days, Nolf became PSU’s all-time pins leader. He beat teammate Bo Pipher by technical fall on Wednesday night in the finals.
“It doesn’t surprise me because he’s an unbelievable wrestler and one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever met or will ever meet,” Sanderson said of the two-time NCAA champion. “It’s a great honor considering some of the great guys we’ve had come through here.”
Mark Hall, a national champion in 2017, announced his arrival at the 2017 Scuffle, winning a title and eventually coming out of redshirt. The junior won a tough, down-to-the-wire match with Oklahoma State’s Joe Smith, breaking a 1-1 tie late with a takedown into a cradle and a 5-1 victory.
“I really think it is something you are born with,” Hall said. “I know I have that in me, that ability to find a way to score when it counts. Maybe it’s in my genetic make-up or something, just finding ways to win tough matches.
“I could see that (Smith) was kind of bullying guys … he looked good. I tried not to let him push me around, just wrestle hard the entire match.”
PSU also saw Nick Lee (141) win a title, beating Stanford freshman Real Woods in the finals, and Vincenzo Joseph, who edged Lock Haven’s Chance Marsteller, 6-5, in the feature final at 165 pounds.
Lee, Nolf, Joseph, Hall, Rasheed, and Nickal are yet to lose a match in 2018-19. PSU totaled 12 inside the top eight, including rookie 149-pounder Brady Berge, who was third.
“It’s fun to be a part of this group, but it’s also guys like Bo Pipher who make this team what it is,” Hall said. “We have a lot of guys who work hard every day, and when you see a guy like Bo make the finals it shows that the work is paying off for everyone.”
The Cowboys, Scuffle champs in 2017, made a gallant effort over the two days. After the semifinals, OSU had a lofty 165 ½ points with five in the finals. They still trailed by 17 points. When the medal matches began, PSU held a 186-172 ½ margin. But in the end, even with four champions it was not enough.
Rookie Kaden Gfeller, a champion at 141 a year ago, edged Duke’s Mitch Finesilver, 3-2, in a wild, video-review-filled 149-pound final. He was joined by Nick Piccininni (125), Daton Fix (133), and Derek White (285) at the top of the medal stand. Fix edged Iowa State’s Austin Gomez, 6-3, while White took out PSU’s Anthony Cassar, 3-2. Fix (18-0) used a blast double in the first period and a slick counter in the third to beat Gomez in one of the better weight classes in Chattanooga.
“I feel like every time I step out there I should be able to compete,” said Gfeller, now 19-0. “It was a weird match, some questionable calls. But (Coach John Smith) just said to wrestle through it. I love this environment, the fans, it really gets you going a lot like nationals.”
Like everyone else around the country, OSU has been bitten by the injury bug. All-American Kaid Brock defaulted out on Tuesday night and Chandler Rogers, Scuffle champion in 2017, was injured on Wednesday.
All 10 Scuffle champions came from either PSU or OSU. Iowa State (104), Stanford (82 ½), and Navy (75 ½) rounded out the top five.
Back from the dead
Iowa State’s resurgence under head coach Kevin Dresser continues. The Cyclones, who took rival Iowa to the wire to start December, put three in the Scuffle semifinals and had eight wrestlers weighing in on Day 2. After an 8-10 dual campaign and tie for 45th at the 2018 NCAA Championships, Dresser and staff hits January on an upward swing.
“I think the progress has become evident in the last 45 days or so, the hard work is being rewarded,” said ISU boss Kevin Dresser. “As competitive individuals we always want more, but we’ve improved significantly. We’ve competed hard and that was the first step in getting Iowa State where I wanted them to be. Let’s at least be a team that fights hard, and when you have some talent and they fight hard good things are going to happen.
“I remind them quite often that they are wrestling in a very special place. The fan base, the wrestling buzz around the program is storied, so I keep reminding them that they are fortunate. We need to give those fans a reason to jump up and cheer.”
Gomez, among others, looks like a reason to jump up. In Wednesday’s semifinals, the sophomore, down 8-1 to PSU’s talented Roman Bravo-Young, flipped the PSU rookie to his back for a pin and made sure FLO knew about it. Gomez ran into OSU’s Fix a round later, but led the pack for ISU.
Alex Mackall (125), Sam Colbray (184), Jarrett Degen (149), Marcus Coleman (184), Chase Straw (157), Gannon Gremmel (285), and Todd Small (133) all finished among the top eight. All-American Willie Micklus, a top-rated 197-pounder did not compete this week.
The marathon
During Wednesday morning’s session, on an outer mat, Chattanooga’s Anthony Allen and Stanford’s Gabe Townsell showed what wrestling really is all about. It’s never easy to come back on the second day, in consolations, and lay it all on the line the first few days of January. But Allen, a senior from Conyers, Ga., and Townsell, a junior from Oak Park, Ill., went the distance, 12 minutes and two tiebreakers, with Allen pulling out a 9-7 win. It wasn’t quite the Derek White-Sam Stoll 25-minute marathon from Carver-Hawkeye last season … but it was close. Allen eventually finished fifth, beating Mackall in the fifth-place bout.
Rookie scufflers
The annual gathering at McKenzie Arena always brings attention to a few freshmen. Remember Logan Massa-Alex Dieringer? Or Mark Hall, back in 2017, wrestling unattached? This year’s freshman finalist is Stanford’s Real Woods, a redshirting 141-pound rookie from New Mexico. He took out Navy’s Nicolas Gil in the semifinals, then fell to Lee in the 141-pound final.
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE
At Chattanooga, Tenn., Jan. 1-2
125 pounds
1st - Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State) DEC Rico Montoya (Northern Colorado), 7-2
3rd - Jakob Camacho (NC State) DEC Luke Werner (Lock Haven), 10-4
5th - Alonzo Allen (Chattanooga) DEC Alex Mackall (Iowa State), 6-5
7th - Aslan Kilic (United States Naval Academy) M FOR Gabriel Townsell (Stanford)
133 pounds
1st - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) DEC Austin Gomez (Iowa State), 6-3
3rd - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) MD Sean Nickell (Cal State Bakersfield), 10-1
5th - Todd Small (Iowa State) DEC Mason Pengilly (Stanford), 4-2 SV
7th - Collin Gerardi (Virginia Tech) DEC Nick Farro (Lehigh University), 2-0
141 pounds
1st - Nick Lee (Penn State) DEC Real Woods (Stanford), 6-3
3rd - Nick Gil (United States Naval Academy) DEC Cameron Kelly (Ohio University), 3-2
5th - Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) DEC Chris Debien (Chattanooga), 8-3
7th - Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) DEC Dj Fehlman (Lock Haven), 2-0
149 pounds
1st - Kaden Gfeller Edmond, OK (Oklahoma State) DEC Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 3-2
3rd - Brady Berge (Penn State) DEC Requir Van der merwe (Stanford), 5-2
5th - Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) F Russell Rohlfing (Cal State Bakersfield), 4:53
7th - Jared Prince (United States Naval Academy) MD Matt Zovistoski (Appalachian State), 15-3
157 pounds
1st - Jason Nolf (Penn State) TF Bo Pipher (Penn State), 16-1 2:16
3rd - Dom Mandarino (Stanford) DEC Zac Carson (Ohio University), 12-10 SV
5th - Paul Fox (Stanford) DEC Jonce Blaylock (Oklahoma State), 9-4
7th - Chase Straw (Iowa State) M FOR Ben Anderson (Duke)
165 pounds
1st - Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) DEC Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven), 6-5
3rd - Shane Griffith (Stanford) DEC Jesse Dellavecchia (Rider), 7-2
5th - Zach Finesilver (Duke) M FOR Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State)
7th - Mason Manville (Penn State) DEC Tanner Skidgel (United States Naval Academy), 8-4
174 pounds
1st - Mark Hall (Penn State) DEC Joe Smith (Oklahoma State), 5-1
3rd - David McFadden (Virginia Tech) DEC Trent Hidlay (NC State), 3-2 TB2
5th - Matt Finesilver (Duke) MD Marcus Coleman (Iowa State), 10-2
7th - Michael O'Malley (Drexel) DEC Vincent Deprez (Binghamton), 5-3
184 pounds
1st - Shakur Rasheed (Penn State) DEC Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech), 4-1
3rd - Lou Deprez (Binghamton) DEC Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State), 6-2
5th - Sam Colbray (Iowa State) F Dom Ducharme (Cal State Bakersfield), 6:04
7th - Alan Clothier (Appalachian State) DEC Chris Weiler (Lehigh University), 8-5
197 pounds
1st - Bo Nickal (Penn State) F Nathan Traxler (Stanford), 2:09
3rd - Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) DEC Dakota Geer Edinboro, PA (Oklahoma State), 9-3
5th - Jacob Seely (Northern Colorado) MD Dylan Reynolds (Edinboro), 9-0
7th - Randall Diabe (Appalachian State) DEC Josh Roetman (United States Naval Academy), 3-1
285 pounds
1st - Derek White (Oklahoma State) DEC Anthony Cassar (Penn State), 3-2
3rd - Nick Nevills (Penn State) DEC Matt Voss (George Mason), 2-1
5th - Joey Goodhart (Drexel) DEC Billy Miller (Virginia Tech), 4-3
7th - Haydn Maley (Stanford) DEC Gannon Gremmel (Iowa State), 7-3
Top 20 teams at the Southern Scuffle
1 Penn State 216.5
2 Oklahoma State 188.5
3 Iowa State 104
4 Stanford 82.5
5 United States Naval Academy 75.5
6 Lock Haven 71.5
7 Duke 70
8 Ohio University 54.5
9 Virginia Tech 48.5
10 Cal State Bakersfield 46.5
11 Northern Colorado 45.5
12 Appalachian State 43
13 Rider 41
14 Binghamton 37.5
14 Chattanooga 37.5
16 George Mason 27.5
17 Drexel 26
18 Air Force 24.5
18 Edinboro 24.5
20 The Citadel 21
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