Thursday, January 2
Chatanooga, Tenn.
All Day
West Virginia University
at
Southern Scuffle
Photo by: Dale Rutemeyer (UTC Athletics)
Adams Captures Southern Scuffle Title
January 02, 2020 08:56 PM | Wrestling
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Redshirt sophomore Noah Adams captured his third tournament title of the season at 197 pounds as the West Virginia University wrestling team wrapped up the 2020 Southern Scuffle, hosted by UT-Chattanooga, in McKenzie Arena, on Thursday.
West Virginia finished 12th out of 27 teams with 47 team points. No. 9 Oklahoma State won the team title (116), followed by No. 6 NC State (109) in second, while No. 25 Stanford finished third with 99.5 team points. A total of 14 Mountaineers combined to go 24-26 in the two-day event.
The No. 4 seed at 197, No. 13/14/9 Adams opened the day with a semifinal match against No. 18/12/18 Ethan Laird (Rider). After a scoreless first period, Adams chose to start the second on the bottom, where he earned a quick reversal and stayed in the top position for the remainder of the period to gain 1:49 of riding time heading into the third.
Looking for an equalizer, Laird chose to start the third period on the bottom. Adams countered each of Laird's attempts to escape and secured the riding time point to earn a 3-0 decision. The win extended Adams' win streak to 20 matches and moved him into the Southern Scuffle Finals, marking the first time WVU has had a finalist in the event.
In the championship bout, Adams faced No. 2-seeded Nathan Traxler of Stanford. After fighting off a pair of early takedown attempts, Adams earned a takedown and two nearfall points halfway through the first period. Following an out of bounds stoppage, Adams rolled Traxler and secured the pin at the 2:22 mark in the first period to become WVU's first Southern Scuffle Champion.
"That was a great win," second-year coach Tim Flynn said. "Congratulations to Noah, he has wrestled as well as I have seen him over the last two days. He has worked so hard this season and winning a tournament as prestigious as the Southern Scuffle proves that his hard work is starting to pay off."
Adams earned the event's Most Outstanding Wrestler award after going 5-0 with three wins over ranked opponents in the tournament. The win gave Adams his third tournament title of the season after winning the Southeast Open and the Mountaineer Invitational on Nov. 3 and Nov. 9, respectively. The Coal City, West Virginia, native is now 21-0 this season.
No. 24 Brandon Ngati (HWT) was the only other Mountaineer to see action on the second day of competition as he suffered a 10-0 defeat to Lewis Fernandes (Finger Lakes RTC) in the Consolation Round of 8.
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
West Virginia finished 12th out of 27 teams with 47 team points. No. 9 Oklahoma State won the team title (116), followed by No. 6 NC State (109) in second, while No. 25 Stanford finished third with 99.5 team points. A total of 14 Mountaineers combined to go 24-26 in the two-day event.
The No. 4 seed at 197, No. 13/14/9 Adams opened the day with a semifinal match against No. 18/12/18 Ethan Laird (Rider). After a scoreless first period, Adams chose to start the second on the bottom, where he earned a quick reversal and stayed in the top position for the remainder of the period to gain 1:49 of riding time heading into the third.
Looking for an equalizer, Laird chose to start the third period on the bottom. Adams countered each of Laird's attempts to escape and secured the riding time point to earn a 3-0 decision. The win extended Adams' win streak to 20 matches and moved him into the Southern Scuffle Finals, marking the first time WVU has had a finalist in the event.
In the championship bout, Adams faced No. 2-seeded Nathan Traxler of Stanford. After fighting off a pair of early takedown attempts, Adams earned a takedown and two nearfall points halfway through the first period. Following an out of bounds stoppage, Adams rolled Traxler and secured the pin at the 2:22 mark in the first period to become WVU's first Southern Scuffle Champion.
"That was a great win," second-year coach Tim Flynn said. "Congratulations to Noah, he has wrestled as well as I have seen him over the last two days. He has worked so hard this season and winning a tournament as prestigious as the Southern Scuffle proves that his hard work is starting to pay off."
Adams earned the event's Most Outstanding Wrestler award after going 5-0 with three wins over ranked opponents in the tournament. The win gave Adams his third tournament title of the season after winning the Southeast Open and the Mountaineer Invitational on Nov. 3 and Nov. 9, respectively. The Coal City, West Virginia, native is now 21-0 this season.
No. 24 Brandon Ngati (HWT) was the only other Mountaineer to see action on the second day of competition as he suffered a 10-0 defeat to Lewis Fernandes (Finger Lakes RTC) in the Consolation Round of 8.
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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