Men’s wrestling tests underclassmen at Cougar Open, rises to challenges at King Open

Sunday, November 16

Bristol, TN

9:00 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

King University

Liberty wrestlers (top row from left) Braden Ewing, Josiah Foss, Matox Allen, and Paul Brown and (bottom row from left) Christian Knuckles, Brodie Altman, Anthony Saget, and Jordan Scott had strong showings at the Cougar Open and King Open the past two Sundays. (Photos by Travis Clayton)

Men’s wrestling tests underclassmen at Cougar Open, rises to challenges at King Open

11/17/2025 3:02:00 PM | Men's Wrestling

Early-season open competitions have provided mat time and opportunity for Liberty’s up-and-coming wrestlers to showcase strengths, expose weaknesses.

Liberty University's men's wrestling team experienced the most success it has had in three early-season competitions at Sunday's King Open in Bristol, Tenn., where the tournament field included 27 teams, mostly NCAA Division II programs, with many members of the Conference Carolinas.

"We had good results from the King Open today with a bunch of place-winners, and I am really very happy with the overall improvement pretty much everyone across the board showed over the last two weeks," Flames first-year Head Coach Chris Williamson said. "I feel like some of these guys look like different wrestlers now that they've had some matches under their belt. They are really starting to pick up some of the stuff that we've been working on in practice and actually applying it on the mat, which is very promising."

All three of Liberty's 165-pound wrestlers placed, led by senior Jordan Scott, the Flames' lone finalist, who placed second after suffering a 16-1 technical fall at the hands of William Brooks, an unattached wrestler. Brooks had dealt sophomore Matox Allen, Liberty's defending NCWA Grand National champion, a 17-0 technical fall in their first-round match before Allen proceeded to win all four of his consolation matches to claim third place. Freshman Anthony Saget, who dropped a 14-3 major decision to Allen in the consolation quarterfinals, pinned Montevallo freshman James Freeman 58 seconds into their seventh-place final.

"All of our 165-pound wrestlers showed a ton of grit and a lot of improvement," Williamson said. "Jordan Scott has put in a lot of hard work and it is finally paying off for him, making it to the finals of the tournament for the first time in his career. Matox Allen had just a really rough start of the day but got better and better as the day went on, and for Anthony Sagot to place at his first-ever collegiate tournament as a freshman was great. We've been telling our guys (after a loss) 'You always have to try to get the next best thing,' and they really did that today."

Braden Ewing, a freshman transfer from NCAA Division III Brown University, landed in third place at heavyweight after winning his first two matches before dropping an 11-10 decision to UNC Pembroke's Nigel Williams. Ewing bounced back in dominant fashion, winning his third-place bout by pin in 2 minutes, 23 seconds over Newberry's Ryland Madison.

Sophomore Paul Moore also finished third at 184 pounds, recovering from his 9-6 loss to King junior Josef Pociask by winning both his consolation semifinal match against UNC Pembroke's Samuel Bartholomew and his third-place bout against Trip Cole from Hewitt Trussville by fall in 4:01 and 1:43, respectively.

Senior Josiah Foss finished fourth at 174, winning his opening match by 16-1 technical fall over Newberry's Donovan Hawthorne before advancing to the consolation before being forced to take a medical forfeit.

"Josiah Fosse fought through some really tough situations," Williamson said. "He battled the whole day, came through some injuries, and still wrestled really hard."
Complete results are available online.

At last Sunday's Cougar Open hosted by Averett University in Danville, Va., Liberty carried a roster of predominantly underclassmen with 14 of the 19 competitors either freshmen or sophomores.

"We mixed it up a little bit," Williamson said. "We're still kind of figuring out who we have, and that tournament was more for the younger half of our team. Really, what we wanted was mat time for the guys. The freshmen have a lot of effort, which is good. The effort and dedication are pretty evident. They've just got to get more and more mat time, and their wrestling IQs have got to increase. That comes with time and experience. There is really no substitute for that. More time in practice and more match time."

Freshman Brodie Altman posted the Flames' highest finish, placing second at 133 pounds in his collegiate debut. He won his first three matches by pin, over Bluefield State's Aiden Arnold in 2:50, Marymount's Maximillian Connell in 2:28, and East Stroudsburg's Munro Davis in 2:15, before losing by 9-0 decision to Belmont Abbey's Elijah Carrington 9-0 in the championship final.

"He dominated most of the day and ran into a really tough kid in the final and lost a controlled match," Williamson said. "The way wrestling (scoring) has changed with points and takedowns, there were two situations in that match that dictated the outcome. If Brodie gets one of those two back, it changes the trajectory of the match and potentially the outcome."

Complete tournament results are available online.

Williamson said Altman — whose grandfather, Wayne Smith, was Liberty's first-ever NCCAA national champion and uncle, Christian Smith, was Head Coach Jesse Castro's first NCAA Division I recruit — is following in the footsteps of both former Flames.

"Brodie is immediately more experienced and that much smarter, and he is going to keep getting better and better," Williamson said. "The more test situations he's put in, the better he's going to be. He pretty much dominated (at Averett). He'll go very far. We see him as a future leader for the team and program. He's the guy that we want to continue to build around and have him eventually start bringing people up. He's going to continue to raise the level in our room. Guys he's practicing with every day are going to have to learn to compete to keep up with him."

Liberty will wrestle again at this Saturday's Lucha Open hosted by Life University, one of the top NAIA programs in the nation, in Powder Springs, Ga.

"Our goal is to get our guys the best competition we can find throughout the year, and then wrestle the best we can at our (NCWA Grand National Championships in Shreveport, La., from March 26-28)," Williamson said. "We are training through these events, not really prioritizing them, showing up to see the competition and approaching them as kind of glorified practices. We want our guys to get as many matches as possible so they can continue to develop."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer