NWCA National Duals 2015 Results: Mat Mayhem Regional Recap

The 2015 National Wrestling Coaches Association kicked off the annual Mat Mayhem Regionals on Saturday. It's a two-day extravaganza featuring the 16 best wrestling programs doing battle across the country in eight different regions. 

As is so often the case in college wrestling, Iowa enters the Mat Mayhem Regionals as the favorite to win the national championship. The Hawkeyes are currently ranked No. 1 in the country by the USA Today/NWCA Coaches with a perfect 13-0 record, but Missouri is right on their heels at 20-0. 

Both Iowa and Missouri have to wait until Sunday, as will 12 other programs, before they can showcase what they are capable of. Saturday was just about letting George Mason and No. 11 Lehigh take the spotlight. 

Full results will be updated as the National Duals are completed. 

Date	Region	Match	Winner	Loser
February 14	Region 3	George Mason at Lehigh	Lehigh (27)	George Mason (9)
February 15 at 1 p.m. ET	Region 7	American at Missouri	Missouri (34)	American (3)
February 15 at 1 p.m. ET	Region 2	Ohio State at Edinboro	Ohio State (30)	Edinboro (7)
February 15 at 2 p.m. ET	Region 5	Kent State at Illinois	Illinois (38)	Kent State (0)
February 15 at 2 p.m.	Region 1	Drexel at Cornell	Cornell (35)	Drexel (6)
February 15 at 2 p.m. ET	Region 6	Virginia at Iowa	Iowa (30)	Virginia (6)
February 15 at 3 p.m. ET	Region 8	Minnesota at North Dakota State	Minnesota (26)	North Dakota State (9)
February 15 at 3 p.m. ET	Region 4	Oklahoma at Chattanooga	Chattanooga (19)	Oklahoma (16)

Day 2 Recap

The final eight heading to Iowa next weekend are set. After Lehigh advanced past George Mason in their matchup Saturday, the seven remaining spots were decided Sunday in a series of matches that were largely blowout wins by favorites.

With, of course, one exception.

Underdog Chattanooga continued its magical run through the NWCA National Duals with a thrilling 19-16 victory over Oklahoma, holding on in a thriller that came down to the wire.

A back-and-forth affair saw the Sooners and Mocs trade off leads before Oklahoma appeared to take control. Down 9-4, 157-pounder Justin DeAngelis started a three-match winning streak that put the Sooners ahead 16-9 with three matches remaining.

All Oklahoma needed was another victory to advance. It wouldn't happen. 

McCoy Newberg's domination of Brooks Climmons at 184 pounds shifted the momentum in Chattanooga's favor and propelled it into the final eight. Scottie Boykin battled his way to a sudden victory with Oklahoma freshman Andrew Dixon at 197 pounds, with neither wrestler scoring a point until the final period. Boykin was able to score a clinching takedown with 47 seconds remaining to set up a do-or-die final.

On paper, Ross Larson appeared to have a massive advantage at heavyweight. The nation's No. 11-ranked wrestler in his weight class, Jared Johnson was fighting an uphill battle. And fight Johnson did.

Larson and Johnson turned in a battle fitting of its stakes, with Johnson taking an early 7-2 lead and desperately holding on as the match went along. Larson was able to get within striking distance at 8-7 heading into the third period, but Johnson pulled off the upset at 12-11 to give Chattanooga the win.

Wrestling fans looking for other thrillers Sunday afternoon were sorely disappointed. The remaining six head-to-head matchups were all decided by double figures, some in embarrassing fashion. North Dakota State, which lost 26-9 to No. 4 Minnesota, was the only loser other than Oklahoma to win so many as three matches.

No. 3 Ohio State earned a 30-7 thumping of Edinboro. David Habat (149) and Victor Avery (184) were the only Edinboro victors.

Drexel and Virginia suffered a similarly dejecting outcome against Cornell and Iowa respectively. Drexel owned a 6-3 lead early following back-to-back wins by Kevin Devoy (133) and David Pearce (141) but then dropped the last seven matches to lose 35-6. Virginia star Nick Herrmann scored a decision victory over Phillip Laux in the day's first match at 125 pounds and then saw his teammates lose eight of their last nine in the 30-6 loss to the Hawkeyes. 

On the bright side, none of these schools were Kent State. The Golden Flashes were shut out entirely in their 38-0 loss to No. 12 Illinois. Only two of the matches were even all that close. 

Day 1 Recap (George Mason at Lehigh)

Lehigh, which is currently ranked 11th in the nation, got off to a slow start against George Mason before turning it on in the five matches after the intermission. The Patriots held a brief 6-3 lead after three matches thanks to consecutive decision wins by Gregory Flournoy and Patrick Davis. 

That would be as good as things got for George Mason, as Lehigh would win six of the next seven matches and 24 of the final 27 points. The turning point in the match came in the 184-pound weight class with Nathaniel Brown defeating Ryan Hembury by pinfall. 

As noted by the Lehigh Wrestling Twitter, Brown was the aggressor early and used his power to secure the fall and six points heading into the break:

Prior to the Mat Mayhem Regionals, Kathryn Philbin of The Brown and White profiled Lehigh wrestling coach Pat Santoro. In the piece, Brown raved about how Santoro has been able to get the most out of this team: "Coach Pat is as fierce of a competitor as they come. He drives us to compete hard and fight for each other...The strategies have been to keep it simple, control your fight and keeping putting yourself in the best opportunity to succeed."

Whatever Santoro has been preaching certainly worked in this match. This was also the kind of match that can carry Lehigh the deeper into the tournament it goes. 

George Mason was an unranked opponent, so the Mountain Hawks may have had a feeling of complacency early. It showed in the early results, but they persevered through it and were able to come back in the second half to make this a one-sided affair. 

Santoro's team won't have a lot of time to celebrate, however, as the competition will only get more difficult with each round. The good news is Lehigh will have all day Sunday to scout the other schools to see what they do well.