CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Appalachian State University wrestling finished the first day of action at the Southern Scuffle hosted by Chattanooga. The Mountaineers (6-2, 1-0 SoCon) sit in 14th place of 28 teams with 22.5 points and have one wrestler, Denzel Dejournette, still alive in the heavyweight championship bracket.
Dejournette will face Jared Johnson of Southern Conference rival Chattanooga in the quarterfinal after winning both of his matches on Friday. The Winston-Salem, N.C. native received a first round bye before defeating Navy's Nicholas Mabry by major decision.
In his second match, Dejournette edged Doug Vollaro of Lehigh, 7-1, in sudden victory.
App State has seven wrestlers that will be in action tomorrow in the consolation bracket.
At 125-pounds, Vito Pasone won his first match over Conner Zigler of Army by a 17-0 technical fall. Pasone then dropped a 9-5 decision to Eddie Kilmara of Oklahoma State in his third round match.
Jacob Grigg won his opening match at 133 pounds by decision over P.T. Garcia of Wyoming. George DiCamillo of Virginia knocked Grigg into the consolation bracket with a 17-2 technical fall victory.
Michael Longo dropped his first match of the tournament but rallied in the consolation bracket with two technical fall victories over Cameron Kennedy of Michigan and Jayce Carr of Cleveland State.
Like Longo, Matt Zovistoski also fell in his opening round match up but fought off elimination with back-to-back decision wins over James Dekrone of West Virginia and Jake Elliot of Wyoming.
Forrest Przybysz defeated Andrew Mendel by major decision in his match of the day. Geno Morelli then won a close 6-5 decision in the first overtime period over Przybysz.
Nick Kee was the only Mountaineer to record a pin on day one when he pinned Gabe Stark of Cleveland State three minutes into the bout. Kee fell in to Jadaen Berstein of Navy by sudden victory in his next round match.
Cary Miller dropped his opening round match in the heavyweight division in a 7-3 decision to AJ Vizcarrondo of West Virginia. Miller then won by 20-5 technical fall over Jeffrey Keyton of Campbell in his first consolation match.
The Mountaineers will complete the Southern Scuffle tomorrow.
