Takedown Report

Penn State collects Southern Scuffle title with five individual champions

Jan 4, 2026, 7:32 PM EST
by Brian Reinhardt
Individual champions from the 2026 Southern Scuffle.
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee – Penn State only sent two of its starters, Aaron Nagao at 141 pounds and Josh Barr at 197 pounds, but just like at the last four NCAA Championships, the Nittany Lions came away with the team title at the 2026 Southern Scuffle.
Penn State captured five of the 10 individual championships and cleared second-place Penn by 20 points, 143.5-123.5. Picking up titles for the Nittany Lions were Barr, Connor Pierce (149), Joe Sealey (157), Will Henckel (174) and Asher Cunningham (184).
Little Rock had four wrestlers advance into the finals and finished in third place, with Matty Bianchi taking the 165-pound crown. Virginia Tech was the only other school outside of Penn State with multiple individual titles—bookends Eddie Ventresca at 125 pounds and Jimmy Mullen at heavyweight.
Also standing atop the podium of one of the toughest in-season tournaments were Dom Serrano of Northern Colorado at 133 pounds and Vince Cornella of Cornell at 141 pounds. Serrano was named the Outstanding Wrestler award recipient.
Complete results and archived matches from the Southern Scuffle are available at FloWrestling.com.

2026 Southern Scuffle 
At Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jan. 3-4 

Finals Summary 
125: #3 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) dec. #20 Zeke Witt (North Dakota State), 4-1 (SV1) 

A two-time All-American, Ventresca cruised to the title, not conceding a single takedown in any of his six matches. In the semifinals, he scored an 8-3 win over former Virginia Tech teammate #26 Cooper Flynn (now at Chattanooga). In the final, he notched the lone takedown of the bout 1:22 into extra time for a 4-1 win. Ranked #3 nationally and doubling his season match total this weekend, he is a perfect 3-0 all-time, including 1-0 this year, against the defending national champion Vince Robinson of NC State.

133: #16 Dom Serrano (Northern Colorado) dec. #10 Braxton Brown (Maryland), 5-4 

In one of the most exciting finals matches, Serrano scored the last-second win. Tied 1-1 late in the third, Brown scored the first takedown with around 30 seconds left. After an escape, Serrano went to work and was awarded the takedown right before the final whistle. Before this weekend, Serrano had only wrestled one match. He got in five matches over the last two days, capped with … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2026/january/04/penn-state-collects-southern-scuffle-title-with-five-individual-champions

January 8, 2026 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | sports