Liberty wins NCWA National Duals

DALTON, Ga. -- Liberty University took advantage of a forfeit
late in its championship match and converted wins in the final
three bouts into a national title as it topped Lindenwood-St.
Charles, 25-15, to clinch the NCWA National Duals in its first
year of eligibility. The teams jockeyed through four lead changes
in the first seven matches before Lindenwood's forfeit and
six-point gift at 184 pounds gave Liberty the lead for good at
16-15. It also allowed Liberty to bump its 197-pounder, Nick
Knowles, to 235 to take on Lindenwood's Spencer Daniels. Aaron
Thompson of Liberty set up what would become the decisive match
with a close 3-2 win at 197, then Knowles beat Daniels 7-2 to
clinch the title for Liberty.

Liberty's Andrew Wilson won the heavyweight match 4-2 for the
final 25-15 count.

Lindenwood-St. Charles, undefeated in its other matches, had to
forfeit the 184 class throughout the two-day tournament due to
injury.

"We had scouted them and saw that they had been giving up that
weight," said Liberty coach Jesse Castro. "We felt it was our
best bet tactically."

Liberty won seven of the 11 matches in the final, held at the
Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.

Liberty, the top seed in the tournament, had been an NCAA
Division I program before the school discontinued the
scholarship program last year. The NCWA provided a home for the
Flames' program and allowed them to keep their program alive
and its wrestlers on campus.

The Flames withstood a stiff challenge from Maryland-Baltimore
County in the semifinals, taking a 25-21 win.

"My hat's off to the UMBC team," Castro said. "They made us
compete with everything we were worth, and we did not
anticipate that. It's a testament to this association, and the
vision the NCWA has is real encouraging and inspiring."

It was the first NCWA competition of the season for
Lindenwood-St. Charles, which was seeded No. 2. LSC is a former
NAIA program competing within the NCWA during its transition
seasons toward future NCAA Division II membership. Prior to the
final the Lions stormed past the rest of the competition, with
its closest match being a 29-point win over Grand Valley State
(Mich.) in the semifinals.

LSC's Blayne Shockley opened the championship match with a 16-0
technical fall over Liberty's Jeremy Beale. The Flames' Scott
Clymer responded two bouts later with a 9-0 major decision over
Jacob Janes that put Liberty back in front, 7-5. But LSC's
Craig Chiles topped Peter Crawford, 3-0, to put the Lions back
in the lead at 8-7 four matches in. There were no pins in the
match.

"I was impressed with the level of competition here," said LSC
coach Chad Smith. "We knew we were going to have to give up
that weight due to injury, so it was up to the rest of them to
pick up the scoring. I couldn't be prouder of how our guys
wrestled here."

UMBC, seeded fifth, jumped ahead of Grand Valley State with a
fall and a major decision in the first three matches, and beat
the Lakers 31-10 in the third-place match. Kriss Dutt opened
the match with a fall in 1:49 at 125 pounds, and Brian Samuels
topped MattMorrill 8-0 at 141 for a 13-0 lead that wouldn't be
challenged.

Lindenwood-Belleville edged The Apprentice School 27-22 for
fifth place. Lindenwood-Belleville is also in its first year of
NCWA membership. The teams scored back-and-forth victories
early on before Lindenwood-Belleville stretched its lead to
21-10 in the middle weights. But it took a 5-2 decision at
heavyweight by Jacob Gregg to seal the win.

In the inaugural high school division, Alabama's top-ranked
team, Thompson, swept two duals from Bradley Central (Tenn.)
and Grissom (Ala.). Thompson and Grissom are 1-2 in the most
recent Alabama state poll. Grissom topped Bradley Central 42-21
in the other dual in the round-robin format.

The multi-state high school division served as a springboard
toward a vision of having an NCWA-sponsored high school
national duals tournament in the future in which every state
would send a duals champion to the event.

Liberty and Lindenwood-St. Charles are among the favorites at
the 2012 NCWA Championships, set for March 8-10 in Daytona
Beach, Fla.

Off the mat, the NCWA assisted the Dalton community with its
6:12 Project, in which the association's wrestlers perform
service projects in the cities that host its championship
events. NCWA wrestlers and staff served meals at Dalton's City
of Refuge homeless shelter on Friday, and conducted a canned
food drive on Saturday that brought in more than $1,000 worth
of food for the shelter.

"The community involvement of the NCWA was something new to
us," Smith said. "It's impressive, and they did a great job of
drumming up community support for this event."

FINAL RESULTS
(Jan. 28 at Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center)

Championship Match results
Liberty 25, Lindenwood-St. Charles 15
125 - Blayne Shockley, LSC, def. Jeremy Beale, tech fall
16-0
133 - Ryan Miller, Liberty, def. Michael Caldwell, 14-13
141 - Scott Clymer, Liberty, def. Jacob Janes, major dec.
9-0
149 - Craig Childes, LSC, def. Peter Crawford, 2-0
157 - Chase Boontjer, Liberty, def. Cullen Halpin, 2-11
165 - Daniel Breit, LSC, def. Mark Busse, major dec. 10-1
174 - Clayton McFarlane, LSC, def. Keshaun Ward, 5-0
184 - Royal Brettrager, Liberty, wins by forfeit
197 - Aaron Thompson, Liberty, def. Jed Mamie, 1-0
235 - Nick Knowles, Liberty, def. Spencer Daniels, 7-2
285 - Andrew Wilson, Liberty, def. Austin Garza, 1-0

Finals Matches
Championship - Liberty 25, Lindenwood-St. Charles 15
3rd place - UMBC 31, Grand Valley State 10
5th place - Lindenwood-Belleville 27, Apprentice 22
7th place - Mercer 1, Middle Tennessee State 0 (forfeit)
9th place - Marion Military 51, North Florida 6
11th place - Central Florida 44, Georgia Southern 9
13th place - Wichita State 38, East Tennessee State 24
15th place - Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. 1, Southern Virginia
0 (forfeit)
17th place - Carroll 33, Auburn 14
19th place - Georgia 25, Cincinnati 15
21st place - Tennessee 39, Connecticut 3
23rd place - Bowling Green 27, Toledo 24

Semifinals
Liberty 25, Md.-Baltimore County 21
Lindenwood-St. Charles 41, Grand Valley State 12

Quarterfinals
Liberty 43, Mercer 10
Md.-Baltimore County 22, Apprentice 21
Grand Valley State 24, Lindenwood-Belleville 23
Lindenwood-St. Charles 57, Middle Tennessee State 6

Round of 16
Liberty 39, Southern Virginia 18
Mercer 29, Marion Military 16
Md.-Baltimore County 56, East Tennessee State 3
Apprentice 27, Central Florida 16
Lindenwood-Belleville 47, Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. 17
Grand Valley State 44, North Florida 6
Middle Tennessee State 32, Georgia Southern 25
Lindenwood-St. Charles 47, Wichita State 14

Consolation First Rounds
(for 5th place)
Apprentice 26, Mercer 19
Lindenwood-Belleville 34, Middle Tennessee State 15
(for 9th place)
Marion Military 51, Southern Virginia 3
Central Florida 51, East Tennessee State 4
North Florida 31, Mass. Inst. of Tech. 24
Georgia Southern 28, Wichita State 27
(for 17th place)
Carroll 47, Tennessee 18
Georgia 45, Bowling Green 6
Auburn 36, Toledo 10
Cincinnati 29, Connecticut 5

Consolation Second Rounds
(for 9th place)
Marion Military 28, Central Florida 24
North Florida 30, Georgia Southern 20
(for 17th place)
Carroll 38, Georgia 7
Auburn 31, Cincinnati 21
(for 21st place)
Tennessee 33, Bowling Green 24
Connecticut 19, Toledo 18

Consolation Third Round
(for 13th place)
East Tennessee State 42, Southern Virginia 16
Wichita State 22, Mass. Inst. of Tech. 15

HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
(round-robin format)
Grissom (Ala.) 42, Bradley Central (Tenn.) 21
Thompson (Ala.) 56, Bradley Central (Tenn.) 15
Thompson (Ala.) 1, Grissom (Ala.) 0 (forfeit)

Excerpt from:
Liberty wins NCWA National Duals