Boston University
Southern Scuffle
Taffur Places Third at Southern Scuffle
January 2, 2014 | Men's Wrestling
Jan. 2, 2014
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Senior Nestor Taffur reeled off four straight wins, including three over top-15 opponents, to earn a third-place finish in the 157-pound bracket on Thursday at the 2014 Southern Scuffle, hosted by the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
Although he was the only Terrier to place, Taffur's efforts helped BU earn 37.5 points to finish tied for 14th among the 34 participating schools in what has become one of the premier national tournaments.
Sophomore Dane Harlowe (133), senior Nick Tourville (149) and junior Mitchell Wightman (165) were all eliminated in the first session on Thursday after suffering their second losses of the tournament.
Taffur dropped a hard-fought 6-4 decision to third-ranked Dylan Ness of Minnesota in the quarterfinals, but rebounded with his run of four consecutive victories to finish in the top three at 157.
After a commanding 16-4 major decision against Duke's Immanuel Kerr-Brown in his first bout in the wrestlebacks, Taffur pulled off his biggest win of the season with a 9-5 sudden-victory triumph over sixth-ranked Kyle Bradley of Missouri.
Taffur followed with a 5-3 win over No. 11 Brian Realbuto of Cornell to reach the third-place match, where he took down No. 13 R.J. Pena of Oregon State by a score of 13-10.
The Terriers will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 12, when they host the Boston Duals at Case Gym. American, Army, Binghamton, Brown and Harvard will all participate. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. and BU will take the mat at noon when it takes on American. The Terriers will face Army at 2 p.m.
125 Bubba McGinley Defeated Patrick Rollins (Oregon State), TF: 16-0 Pinned by Eddie Klimara (Oklahoma State), 6:46 Defeated Alex Elsea (Duke), 11-3 (md) Pinned by Kevon Powell (Ohio), 6:08133 Dane Harlowe Defeated Eric Wilson (Missouri), 5-2 Lost to Joe Roth (Central Michigan), 6-1 Lost to Troy Heilmann (North Carolina), 6-2
141 Tyler Scotton Lost to Zach Horan (Central Michigan), 3-0 Lost to Kyle Bauer (Kent State), 3-2
Peter Ishiguro Pinned by Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State), 4:33 Defeated Matt Cimato (Drexel) by forfeit Pinned by Gabe Moreno (Iowa State), 1:24
149 Nick Tourville Pinned Alex Kocer (South Dakota), 1:02 Lost to Drake Houdashelt (Missouri), 2-1 Lost to Scott Sakaguchi (Oregon State), 3-2
157 Nestor Taffur Pinned LaTrell Davis (Cleveland State), 2:52 Pinned Aaron Scott (Appalachian State), 1:26 Defeated Thomas Gantt (North Carolina), 9-0 (md) Lost to Dylan Ness (Minnesota), 6-4 Defeated Immanuel Kerr-Brown (Duke), 16-4 (md) Defeated Kyle Bradley (Missouri), 9-5 (sv1) Defeated Brian Realbuto (Cornell), 5-3 Third-Place Match: Defeated R.J. Pena (Oregon State), 13-10
165 Mitchell Wightman Defeated Andrew DeHart (Duke), 6-1 Lost to David Taylor (Penn State), TF: 21-5 Defeated Matt Donohoe (Cleveland State), 8-6 Defeated Nick Rex (Arizona State), 3-1 (sv1) Lost to Jim Wilson (Stanford), 3-1
174 Eric Des Lauriers Lost to Brady Ayers (South Dakota), TF: 18-0 Defeated Joey Krulock (Bucknell), 9-7 Lost to Levi Clemons (Chattanooga), 8-1
285 Kevin Innis Defeated Mike Kosoy (NC State), 4-3 Pinned by P.J. Tasser (Pittsburgh), 6:54 Pinned by Mimmo Lytle (Kent State), 2:28
