CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.  – Led by No. 11/12 Zeke Moisey’s third-place finish, four members of the No. 25 West Virginia University wrestling team earned spots on the podium at the 2016 Defense Soaps and Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle on Saturday evening at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga.

 

The Mountaineers finished seventh as a team with 76.9 team points. No. 1 Penn State won the team title (183.0), followed by No. 7 Oklahoma State in second (158.0) and No. 10 Lehigh in third (104.5).

 

“I’m so proud of how the men fought today,” said WVU coach Sammie Henson. “We had a really good morning round and finished strong with four guys placing. We need to believe in our training and this team do some damage come March.”

 

No. 2 seed Moisey earned a 7-5 decision over No. 10 seed Brent Fleetwood of Central Michigan for his third place finish, while No. 8 Jacob A. Smith dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 3 Connor Hartmann of Duke to take fourth at 197 pounds. Tony DeAngelo upset No. 9 seed Kade Moss of Penn State in a 9-6 decision for

 

Moisey won a 7-5 decision over Fleetwood to earn his spot on the podium. Moisey struck first with a takedown, but Fleetwood escaped and returned the favor for a 3-2 lead. Moisey tied the score on an escape to cap the first period with a 5-3 on a late takedown. Fleetwood registered an escape in the second to come within one, down 5-4, but Moisey started the first with a reversal for a 7-4 advantage. Fleetwood escaped, but couldn’t score the takedown as Moisey took the 7-5 win.

 

In the seventh-place match, DeAngelo found himself trailing Moss early but recovered with a reversal to knot the score, 2-2. Moss escaped for a 3-2 lead to close the first, but DeAngelo countered with an early escape in the second to tie the score 3-3. Another takedown for Moss put him ahead 5-3 before DeAngelo escaped and took Moss down to start the third period with a 6-5 advantage. After the two went neutral to start the third, DeAngelo scored another takedown for an 8-5 lead. Moss escaped to make it 8-6, but DeAngelo secured the riding time point to win the 9-6 decision.

 

Facing Ottinger for the second time with seventh place on the line, Renzi scored an escape in regulation to end the bout tied 1-1. Neither scored in sudden victory, but both escaped in the tiebreaker to force another sudden victory period. Ottinger scored the takedown as Renzi took eighth and the hard-fought 4-2 loss.

 

After battling through a scoreless first period, Smith yielded an escape to Hartmann who took a 1-0 lead. However, Smith countered with a takedown to take a 2-1 advantage in the second. Hartmann escaped to tie the score 2-2 before earning the win on riding time as Smith claimed fourth place at 197.

 

One of three Mountaineers to enter the day in the championship round, Smith faced No.10 Zach Nye of Virginia in the championship quarterfinals, taking the bout into overtime as they two did in the 2015 NCAA Championships. After a scoreless sudden victory, he escaped in the tiebreaker for a 2-1 win. Smith fell to No.1 Morgan McIntosh in the second period but rebounded with a 5-0 decision over Virginia’s John Bolich to earn his spot in the third-place match.

 

Moisey rolled his way through the consolation bracket, winning seven straight, including five on Saturday, to earn a spot in the third place match. He won a 5-2 decision over Wyoming’s Drew Templeton in the fourth round of wrestlebacks before taking a 3-1 decision over Lehigh’s Dalton Macri, who is ranked No. 19 at 125. After trailing most of the bout, Moisey came from behind in the third for an 8-6 victory over Minnesota’s Ethan Lizak to advance to the seventh round of consolation finals. Tying the match 1-1 with an escape in the third, he took a 2-1 decision in sudden victory with a stalling call on Stanford’s Connor Schram.

 

Renzi won three in a row to make it to the afternoon’s consolation matches. He started with a 3-2 decision over Edinboro’s Patrick Jennings before taking a 5-3 win from Fox Baldwin of Virginia. A medical forfeit by Jadaen Bernstein of Navy allowed Renzi to advance in the consolation rounds. He would drop an 18-0 tech. fall to Penn’s Casey Kent for a spot in the seventh-place match.

 

The Mountaineers will return home to open Big 12 action at the WVU Coliseum. They’ll host No. 7 Oklahoma State on Friday, Jan. 15, at 8 p.m.