CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Michael Burchell couldn't just win the final match. Big Mike needed a bonus-point victory to keep App State's conference record unblemished.
In dramatic fashion, Burchell erased a four-point team deficit going into the heavyweight finale and delivered a six-point pin to give the Mountaineers an 18-16 victory at Chattanooga. The result pushed App State's record to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in the SoCon heading into next Sunday's home dual against Campbell (11-4, 6-0 SoCon) in Varsity Gym at 2 p.m.
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There hadn't been a single bonus point recorded Sunday afternoon at Maclellan Gym, with three-point decisions exchanged because of close matches in the first eight of 10 weight classes, until Chattanooga (3-2 SoCon) broke a 12-12 tie with a four-point major decision (11-2 victory by the Mocs) at 197 pounds.
Burchell improved to 5-0 in his career against Chattanooga wrestlers, although this was the first time he had faced Matthias Ervin. An early takedown contributed to a 2-1 lead that Ervin carried into the second period, meaning Burchell had even more work to do to earn a win worth at least four team points — a three-point decision turns into a four-point major decision when the final margin grows from seven to eight points in an individual match, and App State would have claimed a complicated tiebreaker if Burchell had produced four team points with a major decision.
In the final minute of the second period, Burchell got on top of Ervin with a two-point takedown via a double underhook and turned a body lock into a pin 14 seconds later, sending App State's bench into a frenzy.
Burchell stood up, calmly flexed with both arms, circled back toward his bench, clapped his hands seven times and raised his right hand triumphantly.
App State won its seventh straight dual against Chattanooga, with three of those wins coming by two points or less and six of the seven being decided by seven points or less.
The Mountaineers and Mocs split the 10 matches, as App State's other wins came from
Heath Gonyer (4-2 decision at 141),
Jonathan Millner (4-1 decision at 149),
Cody Bond (12-7 decision at 157 after trailing 6-0 in the first period) and
Thomas Flitz (9-3 decision at 174).
Bond cut his deficit to 6-5 by the end of the second period, voluntarily allowed an escape to begin the third, tied the match with a takedown and took control with a four-point near fall.
App State faced plenty of adversity, given that all four extremely close matches ended in Chattanooga's favor.
Both matches that went to overtime — at 165 and 184 pounds — concluded with Sudden Victory takedowns for the Mocs, including one with four seconds left in that two-minute period from reigning SoCon champ Drew Nicholson over
Will Formato, whose ability on top makes him difficult to beat in the matching 30-second Tiebreaker periods that follow Sudden Victory.
There were only four seconds left in regulation when Chattanooga's Brayden Palmer turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory thanks to a takedown of
Codi Russell, and Chattanooga's Fabien Gutierrez rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third to win 5-3 against
Caleb Smith by recording a takedown and finishing on top. Those back-to-back wins in matchups between top-25 wrestlers to open the dual gave Chattanooga a 6-0 lead.
App State moved ahead 9-6 with consecutive wins from Gonyer, Millner and Bond, as Gonyer broke a 2-2 tie against Franco Valdes on a takedown with 1:13 left in the third period.
Flitz's six-point win against Carial Tarter produced a 12-9 lead for App State with three matches to go, but Thomas Sell's overtime takedown of
Barrett Blakely resulted in a 4-2 win and Matthew Waddell posted a major decision against true freshman
Wyatt Miller. Waddell had qualified for the NCAA Championship at 184 pounds each of the last two seasons and just made the move to 197 in late January.
Entering the final match, both teams had totaled 39 points when adding up the individual match scores. A major decision from Burchell would have created ties in the big-picture team score, in matches won by each team (five) and major decisions won by each team (one apiece, with no tech falls or pins to that point) but left the Mountaineers with more points when adding up the individual match scores.
That's how App State won a tiebreaker (by a 55-54 count) when it was tied with Chattanooga at 16-all in 2017, but Burchell eliminated that type of math from the equation with his third career pin against a Chattanooga wrestler.
The 2021-22 wrestling season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station.
App State 18, Chattanooga 16
125: #20 Fabien Gutierrez (UTC) def. #22
Caleb Smith (APP), 5-3 dec.
133: #20 Brayden Palmer def. (UTC) #25
Codi Russell (APP), 2-1 dec.
141:
Heath Gonyer (APP) def. Franco Valdes (UTC), 4-2 dec.
149: #5
Jonathan Millner (APP) def. Noah Castillo (UTC), 4-1 dec.
157: #33
Cody Bond (APP) def. Weston Wichman (UTC), 12-7 dec.
165: Drew Nicholson (UTC) def. #16
Will Formato (APP), 4-2 dec (SV)
174: #26
Thomas Flitz (APP) def. Carial Tarter (UTC), 9-3 dec.
184: Thomas Sell (UTC) def.
Barrett Blakely (APP), 4-2 dec. (SV)
197: Matthew Waddell (UTC) def.
Wyatt Miller (APP), 11-2 maj. dec.
HWT:
Michael Burchell (APP) def. Matthias Ervin (UTC), fall (4:17)
# Rankings from the NCAA Coaches Panel
