Week 10 Roundup: Freshmen Impress At Southern Scuffle

The 2020 Southern Scuffle belonged to the freshmen. Check out that story along with all the best action from week 10 of NCAA wrestling.

Jan 6, 2020 by David Bray

Week 10 Roundup: Freshmen Impress At Southern Scuffle

Week 10 of NCAA wrestling consisted of a few duals and one of the biggest in-season wrestling tournaments in the country, the Southern Scuffle. Check out all the week 10 dual meet box scores and the complete Southern Scuffle results. Here are the biggest stories from week 10 of NCAA wrestling.

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5 Freshmen Win Scuffle Crowns

Half of the weight classes at the 2020 Southern Scuffle were won by freshmen, and three of those were true freshmen. This year's Southern Scuffle wasn't as deep as Scuffles gone by, but it's still remarkable to see five freshmen as champions of this event.

The Scuffle finals started at 149 where we knew we'd see a true freshman champ as Stanford's redshirt Jaden Abas took on Northern Colorado starter Andrew Alirez. The UNC Bear, Alirez, was undefeated on the year while Abas came into the event with four losses on his record. That didn't matter as Abas earned the victory with a third period takedown.

Abas owns a win over Alirez in high school, Alirez's only loss in high school, as a matter of fact. Abas was able to repeat the feat in a match that could be a preview of a rivalry we'll see for years to come.

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At 165, another Stanford Cardinal took home a title when #7 Shane Griffith won a hard-fought battle in the finals over Navy's #8 Tanner Skidgel. Griffith walked off the mat bloodied but with his hand raised, proving that he's for real in his freshman year.

At 174, Penn State true freshman Carter Starocci went 6-0 to capture the title. His six bouts included four bonus-point victories, and his narrowest win was an 11-6 decision in the finals over Gregg Harvey of Pitt. Starocci appropriately wore teammate Mark Hall's singlets throughout the event and credited Penn State upper-classmen with carving the path he'd like to follow throughout his NCAA career.

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Another true freshman, Sammy Alvarez of Rutgers, took home the title at 133. Alvarez is part of a young, developing Rutgers squad, and he took a leadership role this weekend as he beat #5 Micki Phillippi in the semis before knocking off #8 Cam Sykora in the finals. Alvarez has been developing throughout the season and proved that he's ready to make an impact at this weight this year.

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The final freshman champion won the last bout of the night as Stanford's Real Woods took out Oklahoma State's Kaden Gfeller 6-1. Woods fell in the finals of this tournament last year but completed the challenge in 2020 with his dominant win over Gfeller. Woods has been a bit under the radar since dropping a wild match to #1 Luke Pletcher several weeks ago, but he's clearly one of the best 141-pounders in the country.

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Oklahoma State Wins Scuffle, Lineup Taking Shape

For the first time this season, Oklahoma State's lineup included both Joe Smith at 174 and Kaden Gfeller at 141. While the Cowboys' performance wasn't as good as they would have hoped, it was good enough to win the Scuffle by a seven-point margin over second-place NC State.

Oklahoma State placed seven of its 10 starters. Nick Piccininni led the charge by taking the title at 125. Kaden Gfeller was next, taking second at 141. The Cowboys had a trio of third-place finishers in Dusty Hone at 141, Wyatt Sheets at 157, and Travis Witflake at 165.

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Of that group, Wittlake's performance was most interesting. He entered this tournament undefeated but with only one match against a ranked opponent. He finished the Scuffle 6-1 including wins over #10 Thomas Bullard of NC State and #9 Jake Wentzell of Pitt. His one loss came to #7 Shane Griffith of Stanford.

Other Cowboys who placed were All-American Dakota Geer, who was fifth at 197, and freshman Anthony Montalvo, who was sixth at 184. The Cowboys demonstrated that, while they have work to do, they're still one of the top teams in the country.

One interesting development on the weekend came at 174 where All-American Joe Smith made his season debut but did not place. Smith forfeited out of the back side of the bracket after falling to NDSU's Lorenzo De La Riva in the round of 16. It will be fascinating to see if Joe Smith returns to form throughout this season.

Stanford Shines at Scuffle

Seven teams had one champion at the 2020 Southern Scuffle. Stanford had three. Those champions, in addition to another finalist and a sixth-place finisher, earned them 99 points and were enough to lift Stanford to a third-place finish. It's worth noting that Stanford true freshman Jaden Abas, who captured the crown at 149, wrestled unattached in this event.

Stanford's three champions were freshmen and thus mentioned in the section above. Their fourth finalist was #6 Nathan Traxler who finished second at 197. Cardinal 149-pounder #19 Requir Van der Merwe finished sixth at 149.

This group effort by Stanford was outstanding. They are certainly a team to watch for the second half of the season and heading into the postseason. Listen to 141-pounder Real Woods talk about his performance and the strength of this group.

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Penn State's Future in Good Hands, Three Redshirts Earn Ranked Wins

A trio of Nittany Lion true freshmen made the most of their trip to Chattanooga. While 174-pounder Carter Starocci was the only Penn State wrestler to win a Southern Scuffle title, he, Joe Lee, and Michael Beard all earned ranked wins and proved that the future is in good hands for Penn State.

The aforementioned Starocci won the title at 174. Along the way, he beat #25 Spencer Carey of Navy and took out a surging Gregg Harvey of Pitt in the finals.

At 165, Joe Lee finished fifth overall but had wins over #23 Connor Flynn of Missouri and #9 Jake Wentzel of Pitt.

Despite dropping a couple matches and finishing 4th, Michael Beard may have had the best wins at 197. He knocked off #17 Jordan Pagano of Rutgers, #13 Nick Reenan of NC State, and #7 Dakota Geer, an All-American from Oklahoma State.