It didn't take long for Sergio Desiante to realize he was on his game at this year's Southern Scuffle.

"It was my first match when I started believing in myself," the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga redshirt freshman said after the two-day wrestling tournament wrapped up Sunday evening at UTC's McKenzie Arena.

With each victory, the 174-pounder from Tampa, Florida, gained more confidence, and by the end he was a champion — the first for the Mocs in the history of the Southern Scuffle, which annually brings some of the country's top college wrestlers to Chattanooga. The event was held in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 2003-10 and moved to Chattanooga in 2012 (it did not take place in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic).

Included in Desiante's wins was a 7-6 decision over top-seeded and fourth-ranked Lennox Wolak of Virginia Tech in the semifinals, which set up the championship win, a 3-2 triumph over Oklahoma's Gaven Sax, who was the second seed. Desiante built a 3-0 lead in the finals before a pair of escapes allowed Sax to trim his deficit to a point, but the UTC standout didn't allow his opponent to score as they wrestled from the neutral position in the final period.

"I have to give all glory to God," said Desiante, who was named the 22-team tournament's most outstanding wrestler. "I wouldn't be able to do this without my coaches and everything, but this isn't my end goal. I'm going to be a national champ, and this is just another step in the way that I've finally overcome, so I'm happy."

Desiante started the tournament with a 14-4 major decision over Duke's Gaetano Console on Saturday, when he also beat North Dakota State's Devin Wasley, 8-1, and Clarion's John Worthing, 7-3, to reach Sunday's semifinals. Back-to-back one-point wins then took him somewhere no other UTC wrestler had ever been at the Southern Scuffle: the top of the medal stand.

"Sergio is a guy that listens, pays attention to detail, and today you saw him execute a game plan and he's up to it," UTC head coach Kyle Ruschell said. "That comes with the assistants, like Devin Skatzka, coach (Kyle) Massey, guys that are around the program and in the room, they do a great job doing that type of stuff, and so with great people around him, you see great results like that."

The Mocs totaled 57.5 points as a team and finished 12th in the standings, with three other medalists besides Desiante: redshirt junior Blake Boarman was fifth at 133 pounds, redshirt junior Jackson Hurst took sixth at 166 and freshman Bryce Luna was eighth at 133. The four medalists matched the program's second most at a single Southern Scuffle — the Mocs had that many in 2012 and 2024 — and trails only the seven they had in 2006.

Army won the team championship with 132.5 points, six points ahead of Oklahoma and Penn State as those programs tied for runner-up. UTC finished third out of the Southern Conference programs present, behind Campbell (sixth, 86.5 points) and The Citadel (seventh, 80 points).

The Mocs are 1-6 in dual meets so far this season, with their next competition set for Jan. 19 at home against preseason league favorite Campbell. It will be UTC's SoCon opener and start the two-month march toward the league championship tournament in early March.

UTC won its most recent of 17 SoCon regular-season championships in 2019. The Mocs haven't won the SoCon tournament title since 2015, when they earned their 29th such championship. That was three years before Ruschell took over the program, and he is eager for a breakthrough.

"I think at the beginning of the year, it was tough," Ruschell said. "We wrestled a lot of ranked teams, but I think we've seen our guys really bond together as a group, and now they're wrestling for each other. We're an individual sport, but I think why football's cool is you get to hang out with the guys and you really get to cheer on each other, and we're bringing that in there (with wrestling).

"I think the guys are wrestling for each other, and that's why you're seeing better results because they're wrestling harder and not just for themselves, so it's great. I'm excited for the second half of the season; we've wrestled some great teams, some high-ranked guys, and now we know we can compete with them and beat them.

"We need to bring that in the SoCon, and we've got to win a Southern Conference title. It's unacceptable, and I take full responsibility of it. We're going to get there."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.