ASU slips

by UNCG
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

For a while, it took Appalachian State one individual victory at a time before finally claiming a 22-14 victory over UNC Greensboro at Varsity Gym Sunday. But there were enough Mountaineers, especially in the middle of the match, to overcome the Spartans by the end.

It was the Mountaineers first home match of the season after wrestling in seven different places. Appalachian State is 7-5 in dual matches, 1-0 in the Southern Conference.

UNC Greensboro slipped to 3-4, 1-1. Appalachian State hosts Virginia Saturday at the Holmes Center as part of an afternoon that features a men’s basketball game and a celebration of the Mountaineers’ football team’s national championship.

“We’ve been away for a long time,” Mountaineers coach Paul Mance said. “It was great to be back in Boone and get one of these matches under our belts. We knew that Greensboro was going to be a real tough match to start with because they’ve got a good solid team.”

It didn’t hurt Appalachian Sate that its own Scott Ervin, who is ranked 13th nationally at 149 pounds, provided the match’s only pinfall. Ervin chased Marcus Hannah most of the match before finally catching him with 27.1 seconds left in the third period.

“A lot of the conference teams we face, I get coached against a lot, I guess,” Ervin said. “A lot of the coaches know what I do, so they pretty much try to keep it close and hope that they get a takedown or something.”

That didn’t happen Sunday. After a scoreless first period, Ervin (24-5) took a 2-0 lead in the second after scoring a point on an escape and another point when Hannah was penalized for stalling. A two-point takedown and a three-point near-fall gave Ervin a 7-0 lead before finally getting the pin.

Mance said most of Ervin’s opponents will try to keep the match close and hope that Ervin makes a mistake they can take advantage of.

“That’s the problem Scotty’s got,” Mance said. “Nobody wants to wrestle him straight up and nobody’s going to go underneath him because he’ll turn everybody and get on top of them.”

Ervin’s victory gave the Mountaineers a 15-11 lead after they had trailed for much of the match. Starting at 184 pounds, Appalachian State’s Austin Troutman gave the Mountaineers a 3-0 lead with a 10-5 victory over Nick Clark.

Greensboro’s Darren Banks and Ryan Hue gave the Spartans a 4-3 lead, though Hue needed overtime before his escape gave him a 2-1 victory over Jared Campbell in the heavyweight division.

Frank Celorrio won 5-3 at 125 pounds, but Jeff Hedges beat ASU Terreyl Williams 12-1 to give the Spartans an 11-6 lead. Marcus Cox pulled Appalachian State to within 11-9 with a tough 5-3 win over Ben Wilmore.

Cox took a 4-1 lead in the first period with two takedowns and then survived Wilmore’s comeback attempt. Cox also got an extra point for riding time.

After Ervin’s victory, Eddie Hutchinson (157 pounds) picked up a 4-2 win by scoring two one-point escapes in the third period. Neil Martin (174 pounds) closed out the mach with a 10-2 win after taking a 5-0 first-period lead.