By: Scott Farrell

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The University of Central Florida rallied twice to overtake Southeastern University and gain its most coveted dual win of the season. The Knights, wrestling its home match Monday at Osceola High School, won the last three matches to come back from a 16-6 deficit to defeat the Fire, 20-16.

The Knights' Tyrell Walker capped off the dual with a dramatic tech fall win, 19-3, in the heavyweight match. Southeastern led 16-15 to that point, even after giving up a forfeited win to UCF at 184. The forfeit proved costly, but only because Chandler Dobler earned a 6-4 decision over Aris Knight at 197 pounds that began the second rally. The first came after Southeastern won the first two matches by decision. But the Knights’ Matthew Seymour (141 lbs.) and Troy Worthen (149) each won decisions to knot the match back at 6-6.

Southeastern took the next three matches, one by major decision, to move ahead 16-6 with four matches remaining. UCF's closing string came thereafter, beginning with the forfeit.

“Coach (Javier) Maldonado and (Brandon) Jorge have done an awesome job developing SEU into a strong NAIA contender in just one year,” UCF assistant coach Jason Balma said. “They are going to be a tough team to beat in the coming seasons."

The win was an important one for UCF for a pair of reasons. One, it avenged a 37-12 dual loss to Southeastern earlier this month at the Cougar Collegiate Duals in Plant City, Fla. Two, it served as a score-settler for the moment during a war-of-words between the two programs.

UCF is a three-time NCWA champion that has placed among the association’s top five teams 12 times since its founding in 2001. Southeastern is a first-year program that became an NAIA member to align with the rest of its athletic department. Southeastern having no history to its program, the Fire is off to a very successful start in its inaugural season.

What has angered UCF is Southeastern’s claim in social media and in other publicity that it is the only collegiate wrestling program in Florida. SEU’s Twitter home page states it plainly: “Proud to be the only collegiate wrestling program in Florida." The claim has helped SEU recruit transfers from other scholarship programs around the country, and has assisted in generating increased recruiting attention among the high school ranks.

Except the claim is false.

Certainly UCF, along with the NCWA’s other three Division I programs in Florida – South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast and North Florida – also qualify to negate Southeastern’s claim. In fact the NCWA has nine programs on Florida college campuses, the most of any state on the NCWA membership map.

Southeastern has also claimed to be the first scholarship program in Florida. And that is also false.

For the record, since the last of Florida’s NCAA-member schools dropped their wrestling programs in the 1980’s, it was former NCWA member Pensacola Christian that was the first to offer scholarships to its wrestling program. Pensacola Christian was an NCWA member from 1999-2003 after its prior athletic association discontinued sponsoring a wrestling championship.

The spread of SEU’s claim has been a nuisance to UCF and the other in-state wrestling schools in the months since the Fire started its program, and has created unnecessary confusion within the state’s wrestling community. Monday’s dual win will dispel some of the misinformation, but the false claim must continue to be discounted.

"It’s amazing that Florida has not recognized the gem of a program they have in their own backyard,” NCWA Executive Director Jim Giunta said. “UCF has top-notch coaching with USA National Coach JD Robbins and two-time NCWA All-American Jason Balma at the helm. Plus great assistant coaches in CJ Cook and David Setner.

“UCF has competed across the country in events such as the Virginia Duals, the Citadel Open and the Desert Duals, and has defeated teams from every other division, including NCAA Division I schools, in its past. Yet they continue to remain an undiscovered asset in their own state.”

It’s worth noting that in the second dual of the tri-meet Monday, UCF defeated NAIA member St. Andrew’s (N.C.), 39-9. UCF got a pin from Timothy Sakow in the 125 match and swept the first three matches for a 12-0 lead. Two forfeited wins and another pin from Geordan Speiller in the 184 match maintained the runaway win. St. Andrew’s is ranked 37th in the latest Intermat NAIA rankings.

Southeastern, which got three forfeited wins to beat St. Andrew’s 29-25 in the day’s final dual, isn’t ranked in the top 40.

“The NCWA is the youngest of the collegiate governing bodies and, as such, will continue to have to earn the respect of the broader wrestling community,” Giunta said.

The misinformation from SEU is regrettable. But it may have spawned a rivalry that Florida’s wrestling community can embrace and support both programs in doing so.

UCF faces Southeastern again in a quad meet Feb. 6 in Lakeland, Fla. Both teams will be prepping for their respective postseasons at that point, but the matchup will certainly brew between now and then as a best-of-three finale with the season series going to the winner.

Let the rivalry begin.

Dual Match Results
UCF 20, Southeastern 16 Score
125 – Olson Delisca, Southeastern, def. Timothy Sakow, UCF, 5-2 0-3
133 – Ethan Owen , Southeastern, def. Justus Griffith, UCF, 7-6 0-6
141 – Matthew Seymour, UCF, def. Aaron Wiechel, Southeastern, 7-3 3-6
149 – Troy Worthen, UCF, def. T.J. Hasz, Southeastern, 7-1 6-6
157 – Tim Dinsdale, Southeastern, def. Austin Bailey, UCF, 8-6 6-9
165 – Zach Wood, Southeastern, def. Mathew Wunderlich, UCF, 12-2 maj. dec. 6-13
174 – Zech Rivas, Southeastern, def. Michael Seymour, UCF, 12-10 6-16
184 – Geordan Speiller, UCF, won by forfeit 12-16
197 – Chandler Dobler, UCF, def. Aris Knight, Southeastern, 6-4 15-16
235 – no contest
285 – Tyrell Walker, UCF, def. Ben Cruz, Southeastern, 19-3 tech fall 20-16

UCF 20, St. Andrew’s Score
125 – Timothy Sakow, UCF, def. Patton, St. Andrew’s, by fall 2:35 6-0
133 – Justus Griffith, UCF, def. Taylor, St. Andrew’s, 3-0 9-0
141 – Matthew Seymour, UCF, def. Eure, St. Andrew’s, 5-4 12-0
149 – Troy Worthen, UCF, won by forfeit 18-0
157 – I. King, St. Andrew’s, def. Austin Bailey, UCF, 15-8 18-3
165 – Perry, St. Andrew’s, def. Tarek Mokhtar, UCF, by fall 4:35 18-9
174 – Michael Seymour, UCF, won by forfeit 24-9
184 – Geordan Speiller, UCF, def. Burnett, St. Andrew’s, by fall 4:35 30-9
197 – Chandler Dobler, UCF, def. Key, St. Andrew’s, 15-10 33-9
235 – Luttere Eglaus, UCF, def. Washington, St. Andrew’s, 5-2 36-9
285 – Tyrell Walker, UCF, def. Evers, St. Andrew’s, 9-2 39-9