University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Southern Scuffle
Four Tar Heels Reach Quarters At Southern Scuffle
December 29, 2009 | Wrestling
Dec. 29, 2009
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Four University of North Carolina wrestlers remain in the hunt for individual titles at the conclusion of day one of the 2009 Southern Scuffle Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. As a team, Carolina stands in a tie for 16th place with 24 points. No. 5-ranked Minnesota leads the event with 50 points.
No. 7 Thomas Scotton (157 pounds), No. 14 Dennis Drury (197), Zac Bennett (197) and Ziad Haddad (heavyweight) each won twice Tuesday to reach the quarterfinal round. Action resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Three Tar Heels - 133-pounder Jeremy Shaw, Kyle Kiss at 165 and Nick Tenpenny at 184 - remain alive in the consolation bracket and also will be in action tomorrow.
Carolina's top-ranked wrestler, Scotton topped Bryce Busler of Bloomsburg with a 3-1 decision before scoring a 5-0 decision against Shaun Smith of Liberty to run his season mark to 18-2. He will face Penn's Matt Dragon when action resumes Wednesday.
A pair of Tar Heels reached the quarters at 197, as Drury and the unattached Bennett both went unbeaten. Drury opened with an 8-0 major decision against NC State's Andrew Tumlin and followed with an 8-3 decision against UNC Greensboro's Caylor Williams. Drury, now 14-4 on the season, meets Riley Orozco of Cal State Bakersfield to open Wednesday.
Bennett began his day with an upset of No. 10 Brent Jones of Virginia, 12-7, and followed with an 8-7 decision against Adam Cogar of Kent State. He will square off against Eric Schuth of Ohio in Wednesday's quarterfinals.
Haddad also won twice at heavyweight to advance to the quarters. He bested Cal State Bakersfield's David Morgan with a 9-4 decision and followed with a 4-3 victory over Gardner-Webb's Dustin Porter in his second bout of the day. Haddad will open with NC State's Eloheim Palma tomorrow.
Players Mentioned
