BOONE, N.C. — As is often the case, App State Wrestling will face longtime rival Chattanooga on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Mountaineers (5-3, 2-1 SoCon) hit the road this weekend for a 2 p.m. dual on Sunday at Maclellan Gym against the Mocs (10-3, 4-1 SoCon).
Chattanooga won six of 10 matches against both VMI and Davidson, then followed a 21-15 loss to The Citadel (which overcame a 12-0 deficit) by taking seven of 10 matches against Gardner-Webb. App State, meanwhile, has lopsided wins against The Citadel and VMI sandwiched around a narrow loss to Campbell.
The Mocs' highest-ranked wrestlers compete at the lighter weights, so the first several matches Sunday could set a tone for the dual, if wrestling begins at 125 pounds.
Against Campbell, App State dropped the 125 match but rattled off five consecutive wins at 133, 141, 149, 157 and 165.
Chattanooga's Brayden Palmer, a two-time NCAA qualifier and reigning SoCon champ at 133, is ranked again after moving down to 125 this season. He is 11-1, with his only loss occurring against App State's
Chad Bellis at the Southern Scuffle.
At 133, where App State's
Ethan Oakley is coming off a 14-8 decision in a ranked showdown with Campbell, Chattanooga's Blake Boarman is 15-3 overall and 12-1 in duals with a top-33 ranking from FloWrestling.
Chattanooga's Isaiah Powe is 17-3 overall and 9-0 in duals at 141. He beat App State's
Riley Edwards in the third-place match at the Southern Scuffle, and
Ike Byers went 2-0 over the weekend after returning to the Mountaineers' lineup at that weight.
At 149, Chattanooga's Noah Castillo and App State's
Cody Bond are both in the top 21 of FloWrestling's rankings at that weight.
Castillo was the SoCon runner-up to
Jon Jon Millner last year and a third-place finisher at that weight as a freshman, when Millner and Josh Heil from Campbell were both ranked in the top 10 nationally. Castillo is 12-2 overall with a 8-0 dual record, although he hasn't competed in the last three duals, while Bond has a 17-6 overall record that included a run to the Southern Scuffle final in Chattanooga.
The Mocs have other stellar dual records down the line, including Lincoln Heck's 6-1 mark at 157, Kamdyn Munro's 9-3 mark at 165 and Sergio Desiante's 9-3 mark at 174, so the entire App State lineup will need to be locked in for the Mountaineers to prevail.
Two years ago, in its last trip to Maclellan Gym, App State fell behind 6-0 by dropping a pair of ranked showdowns at 125 and 133. A final-match pin from heavyweight Michael Burchell turned a 16-12 deficit into an improbable 18-16 victory.
Of the last nine App State-Chattanooga meetings, only two have ended with more than seven points of separation, including the Mountaineers' 25-6 home victory last year. The current eight-match winning streak in the series for App State includes six narrow margins.
The 2023-24 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station.
PROJECTED APP STATE LINEUP
125:
Chad Bellis
133: #23
Ethan Oakley
141:
Ike Byers
149: #18
Cody Bond
157: #21
Tommy Askey
165: #21
Will Miller
174:
Luke Uliano
184:
Tomas Brooker
197:
Carson Floyd
HWT:
Jacob Sartorio
PROJECTED CHATTANOOGA LINEUP
125: #30 Brayden Palmer or Chaz McDonald
133: #31 Blake Boarman
141: Isaiah Powe
149: #21 Noah Castillo or Matthew Williams
157: Lincoln Heck or Austin Paradice
165: Kamdyn Munro
174: Sergio Desiante
184: Ryan Stein or Logan Webster
197: David Harper
285: Kaleb Snodgrass or Ethan Vergara
* Rankings via FloWrestling
