Over the last five years, five Southern Scuffle champions have gone on to win at least one NCAA title while 18 additional winners have earned All-American honors.
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s victors, how they won their bracket and what to expect from them for the rest of the season.
No. 4 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech (125 pounds)
The Hokies are rolling, and Eddie Ventresca’s Southern Scuffle win is the latest example of that.
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The two-time All-American shot off to a hot start in the first tournament of the year, outsourcing his opening opponents Jack Bergmann of Navy and Brady Pruett of Penn by a combined 29-4. He then teched Tyson Roach of Little Rock 17-2 before battling Cornell’s Marcello Milani to a 4-1 decision, a win that earned him a bout against former teammate Cooper Flynn who is now wrestling for Chattanooga. Ventresca topped Flynn 8-3 to move his overall record against the Mocs to 5-0, though this was the largest margin of victory across any of their matches. Ventresca has jumped levels. He wrapped up his tournament with a 4-1 sudden victory win over North Dakota State redshirt freshman Ezekiel Witt for his first title at this tournament.
𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝐼𝑐𝑒 🧊🥶 🦃
— Virginia Tech Wrestling (@HokiesWrestling)
The 125-pound weight is the only weight over the last five years where every champion has earned All-American honors, and while Ventresca kept that streak alive, he’ll now look to become the first Scuffle champ at the weight to win an NCAA championship since Darian Cruz in 2018. The Hokie sophomore was two overtime matches away from competing for a national title last year, but he’ll have his chance against the returning champion Vincent Robinson on Jan. 30 when Virginia Tech wrestles NC State in one of the best rivalry duals of the year.
No. 9 Dom Serrano, Northern Colorado (133 pounds)
Dom Serrano continued Northern Colorado’s streak of having at least one champion at the Southern Scuffle, joining the rank of NCAA champion Andrew Alirez, and now transfers Stevo Poulin and Vinny Zerban with this honor. His toughest match came in the quarterfinals against American’s Max Leete, but he squeezed out the win 8-5 in sudden victory before topping NCAA qualifier Braxton Brown of Maryland and Joseph Fischer of Clarion by scores of 5-4 and 5-1 respectively.
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Serrano is now 7-0 on the year with only two dual wins on his record thus far against Zach Redding of NC State and Richard Murillo of California Baptist in addition to his Scuffle results. He’ll chase a second Big 12 title and look to crack on to the podium for the first time in career after going 0-2 and 1-2 in his previous two appearances.
No. 13 Vince Cornella, Cornell (141 pounds)
Cornell’s Vince Cornella had one of the deeper, more interesting Southern Scuffle brackets to navigate at 141 pounds, but he stepped up and walked away a champion after notable wins over two-time NCAA qualifier Tom Crook in the semifinals 7-3 and All-American CJ Composto 7-2 in the finals. Cornella now moves to 7-0 on the year and will enter the regular season ranked No. 13 in the country as he chases his first All-American honor. The win over Composto though should elevate Cornella into the top-ten of the rankings, given that Composto came into the Scuffle ranked No. 5.
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— Cornell Wrestling (@BigRedWrestling)
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Cornella already has a conference title to his name after winning the EIWA championships in 2023; that performance qualified for the NCAA tournament before finishing 1-2 with losses to eventual All-Americans Lachlan McNeil and Casey Swiderski. He then recorded a 13-7 regular season record the following year and finished 1-2 in the Ivy League tournament but missed out on the NCAA tournament due to injury. Following a year off of collegiate competition last season, Cornella looks to be back to full form this season. His next ranked opponent will be No. 16 Braden Basile of Army, an athlete he teched back in 2022.
Connor Pierce, Penn State (149 pounds)
Junior Connor Pierce kicked off Penn State’s championship run at the Southern Scuffle, winning his bracket via victories against Luca Felix of NC State, Anderson Heap of Davidson, Brock Herman and Carter McCallister of Little Rock, Cutter Sheets of Oklahoma State and Max Peterson of North Dakota State. His lone bonus point win came against Sheets in the second round 14-3, but Pierce stayed on offense across all six of his matches, averaging 10.3 points per match.
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Pierce has been with the Nittany Lions since 2022 and has put together a solid 35-12 career record including an 11-1 record this season. Wrestling behind All-Americans Shayne Van Ness and Tyler Kasak though has meant that his starting opportunities are limited, but a Scuffle title is certainly an impressive resume point and further representation of Penn State’s depth at 149 pounds.
Joe Sealey, Penn State (157 pounds)
Penn State showcased its talents again at 157 pounds when redshirt freshman Joe Sealey rolled to his first Southern Scuffle title. While the wins Sealey picked up in his bracket, much like Pierce’s, did not include any former NCAA qualifiers, Sealey did earn an 11-8 win in the finals against NC State star freshman Daniel Zepeda who came into college as a top-ten recruit in his class.
Joe Sealey wins the 157-pound title at the Southern Scuffle!
— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST)
Sealey downs NC State's Daniel Zapeda 11-8 in finals.
He goes 6-0 with a major and two techs at the event!
Sealey’s only loss this year came against his teammate and U20 World Champion PJ Duke 2-1 in the Black Knight Invite, suggesting that if Sealey were to get the nod, he’s capable of competing for All-American honors in March. Duke, though, came into the season as the expected starter and has wrestled all five of his “free” varsity duals while still preserving the potential for a redshirt. If he takes the mat against Rutgers on Jan. 10, he’ll be the guy for Penn State. Every match carries more weight for rankings purposes now heading into the Big Ten regular season schedule, and while this could still be Duke’s year, Sealey did what he needed to do to keep himself in the conversation and give the Penn State coaching staff confidence that he too is capable of making noise on the national stage.
No. 5 Matty Bianchi, Little Rock (165 pounds)
Little Rock’s Matt Bianchi is one of just three Southern Scuffle winners who have earned All-American honors this far in their career, and he’s also the only Trojan to leave Chattanooga on top of the podium, making his performance an anomaly in the field but not an unexpected one.
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Bianchi has been a leader for this Little Rock program since he arrived on campus in 2021, compiling a 64-31 career record thus far with a definitive trajectory of improvement every season. This year, the senior is undefeated on the season with five Division I dual wins over e'Than Birden of Ohio State, Tyler Lillard of Indiana, Blaine Brenner of Minnesota, Joel Mylin of Missouri and Braeden Scoles of Minnesota in addition to his Scuffle victories.
His biggest win in his bracket over the weekend came against two-time NCAA qualifier Gunner Filipowicz of Navy whom he beat 5-1 in the finals while his closest bout came in his semifinal match versus Thomas Snipes of The Citadel where he pulled out the 4-1 W in sudden victory.
165 – Championship
— Little Rock Wrestling (@LittleRockWRES)
#6 Matty Bianchi vs #22 Gunner Filipowicz (Army)
Matty scores five points in the final period for a 5-1 win and the 165 title at !!
Bianchi will have his chance against No. 2 Ladarion Lockett of Oklahoma State on Feb. 6 in the next biggest match of his season as he chases another conference title and NCAA podium finish in his last run with Little Rock.
Will Henckel, Penn State (174 pounds)
The Penn State wrestling room is an embarrassment of riches. The Nittany Lions have so much starpower that they can field a true freshman upperweight — who is currently redshirting and wrestling behind senior NCAA champion Levi Haines — and have that rookie tear through the Southern Scuffle and add to an undefeated official college record. Henckel does have a 4-0 loss to Haines at the Black Knight Invite, but losses to teammates do not count on the official records. Losing 4-0 to a former veteran champ is also not a bad reflection on Henckel. He's ready to be a college star.
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Expectations became higher for Penn State's Will Henckel after he took silver at the U20 World Championships this summer too, but Henckel is living up to those expectations without a problem. He bonused half of his Scuffle competition including teching Hudson Rogers of Utah Valley and majoring Liam Carlin of Penn and Josh Lange of Davidson. His 5-0 finals win over Caden Bellis of Penn was solid as well. Henckle has not faced an All-American outside of his own team yet this year, and, with Big Ten competition coming up, that opportunity might be harder to find. Penn State, though, has a solid history of turning redshirt Scuffle champs into legends regardless of their strength of schedule as freshmen, and Henckle will look to add to that legacy as he continues to develop alongside teammates and fellow tournament champs Connor Pierce, Joe Sealey and Asher Cunningham as well as 2025 NCAA finalist Josh Barr.
Asher Cunningham, Penn State (184 pounds)
Despite being seeded seventh in his bracket at the Southern Scuffle, Penn State redshirt freshman Asher Cunningham dominated his competition, earning a major decision or a pin against all but one of his opponents. Cunningham's best wins came against NCAA qualifier Tomas Brooker by fall in the semifinals and a red-hot Caleb Campos of American 12-9 in the finals.
Champions
— Southern Scuffle (@LetsScuffle)
Much like Henckle, Cunningham is "officially" undefeated after the Scuffle, with the only loss on the year came against an NCAA finalist teammate in Rocco Welsh in a match that won't count because it came against a teammate.
No. 1 Josh Barr, Penn State (197 pounds)
Penn State's historic success and dominance at the upperweights was on full display at the Southern Scuffle as returning NCAA finalist Josh Barr became the fifth Nittany Lion, and the third in weight order, to capture a tournament title. Barr's win is particularly notable given that he has not seen a ton of action this fall following his injury at U23s and only wrestled in two duals prior to the Scuffle. But when Barr is on he's on. He dominated all five of his opponents over the weekend, pinning Kendrick Curtis of Chattanooga and NCAA qualifier Branson John of Maryland, teching NCAA qualifier Payton Thomas of Navy and Adam Ortega of The Citadel and majoring All-American Stephen Little of Little Rock.
Ranked No. 1 in the country, Barr is expected to roll through most of his competition this year, though the win of Little is a nice boost to his resume heading into the Big Ten schedule. His toughest competition will likely be No. 4 Massoma Endene of Iowa on January 16 — Endene is the only other Big Ten athlete ranked in the 11 in the country. Barr teched No. 12 Camden McDanel of Nebraska in 2025.
Josh Barr is in a class of his own. The Southern Scuffle champ will now look to follow in the footsteps of Iowa's Stephen Buchanan and become the second 197-pounder in the last five years to win both the Scuffle and NCAAs in his career.
No. 14 Jimmy Mullen, Virginia Tech (285 pounds)
Virginia Tech sophomore Jimmy Mullen bookended the championship performances for the Hokies at the Scuffle when he beat Michael Gasper of Little Rock 9-5 in the finals at 285 pounds. Gasper is not currently ranked and has not yet qualified for NCAAs, but Mullen did pick up wins over NCAA qualifier Connor Barket, Lucas Stoddard and Ashton Davis during the tournament as well.
The Hokie big man is now 15-3 on the year now with a 50% rate and he sits second in his own conference at the weight behind All-American Isaac Trumble. Mullen will get to face off against Trumble on the 30th in the same dual that his teammate and fellow Scuffle champ Ventresca wrestles NC State NCAA champion Vincent Robinson. Mullen's resume shows that he's been battle tested: in addition to his Scuffle wins, he's also beaten Wyoming's No. 10 Christian Carroll and Illinois' No. 15 Luke Luffman. After finishing 1-2 at NCAAs last year, Mullen has put himself in the All-American conversation in 2026. He'll need to keep stringing together these kinds of wins, but a winter tournament title is a great confidence boost heading into the conference season.
