Wrestling: Panthers face WVU, move towards EWL title

A heavily favored Pitt wrestling squad will head to Morgantown to take on the Mountaineers this… A heavily favored Pitt wrestling squad will head to Morgantown to take on the Mountaineers this Saturday.

The coaching staff isn’t putting more or less stock into the rivalry than they do other matches. They have stressed to the team that all Eastern Wrestling League matches are important, and it shows. Pitt has won 16 straight duals in conference play, and the Panthers are favored to be the EWL champions for the third consecutive year.

“We go into every match the same,” assistant coach Jason Peters said. “It’s just another match with an EWL opponent. If we win, we’re one step closer to our goals. The guys just need to wrestle like they have all season.”

The Panthers enter the match tied for first in the EWL with Edinboro at a record of 4-0. West Virginia sits in third place with a 2-1 conference record.

The rivalry means a lot to the wrestlers who have been competing against some of the Mountaineers since high school.

“A lot of the WVU wrestlers are from the [Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League], or close to it,” junior Matt Wilps said. “We have been competing against these guys since childhood. The best example is [Pitt junior] Anthony Zanetta with [WVU’s] Shane Young.”

Young is from Jeannette, Pa., and faced Zanetta multiple times throughout their high school years. Zanetta knows the importance of this rivalry for the Panthers.

“The rivalry is something we take a lot of pride in at Pitt,” Zanetta said. “Rivalries are what make college sports great. We want to keep our foot on the pedal and not take it off.”

Friday’s match will be the last time the Panthers leave the Fitzgerald Field House for a EWL dual. The team isn’t focusing on that — the Panthers view the match as just another bump in the road that leads to their ultimate goals.

“I don’t think this being the last away EWL match has any significance,” Zanetta said. “It is just another opportunity to better ourselves and see where we stand this late in the season.”

Pitt hasn’t been on the mats since its victory over Clarion on Jan. 20. Having had more than two weeks off between the matches, the Panthers will come into the Backyard Brawl more prepared than they do most matches.

“The two weeks of preparation will help us in the coming match,” Wilps said.

With the time off, Pitt has also gotten healthy and practiced some small aspects of their technique to grow as a team.

“The two weeks off was much needed for the team and myself,” Zanetta said. “It gives everyone a chance to heal up a little and work on some things that we needed to change.”

The Mountaineers have no wrestlers ranked in the top 20 of any weight class — but rankings don’t mean anything to the Panther squad.

“As a team, we don’t think about rankings,” Zanetta said. “We want to go out every match the same way. We want to wrestle as hard as we can.”

A win over the Mountaineers will put the Panthers at 5-0, with a shot at another EWL title in two weeks when Edinboro comes to Pittsburgh.