Pitt wrestles to 3-0 in EWL

Not many opponents have defeated the Pitt wrestling team this year, and trying to start the… Not many opponents have defeated the Pitt wrestling team this year, and trying to start the match in a weight class besides the 125-pound bout isn’t adding any to that list.

Cleveland State (4-6, 0-1 Eastern Wrestling League) became the second team in the past two weeks that decided it had a better chance of winning if it started the match aside from the standard 125-pound matchup. It soon joined Michigan State as the second team to lose to Pitt while trying this, as the No. 20 Panthers (10-2, 3-0 EWL) easily disposed of the Vikings, 32-5.

“[Cleveland State] was looking for an edge and thought it might find it that way,” Pitt coach Rande Stottlemyer said.

Stottlemyer also said teams might switch the order if they don’t feel as strong with wrestlers in the heavier weight classes, so having them go in the earlier or middle stages of the match might give that team a competitive advantage.

The 3-0 record in the EWL is Pitt’s best start in the conference since the 2003-04 season, when it also began 3-0. The Panthers next host Kent State in a non-EWL match at the Fitzgerald Field House at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Unlike in the Michigan State match, the Panthers dropped the first bout against Cleveland State.

In the 165-pound match, freshman Ethan Headlee was on the losing end of a 3-2 decision. He was taken down in the second period and gave up an escape in the third period.

With the Vikings leading, 3-0, No. 1 Keith Gavin scored his first technical fall on the season to give the Panthers a 5-3 lead, which they were able to hold on to for the rest of the day. The 16-0 fall in the 174-pound match sparked a string of five consecutive Pitt wins.

For the second consecutive week, sophomore Dave Sullivan shut out his opponent. In the 184-pound match against Derek Cummins, Sullivan won with a 10-0 major decision to bring Pitt’s lead up to 9-3.

“[Sullivan] is a blue-collar guy,” Stottlemyer said. “He knows that when you wrestle hard you have a chance to win, and he always wrestles hard.”

In the 197-pound match, freshman David Crowell defeated Alex Hughes, 15-11, to bring Pitt’s lead up to nine points. After the heavyweight match, the Panthers not only added to their point total, but Cleveland State lost a point as well.

After No. 11 Zach Sheaffer defeated Rashard Goff, the Cleveland State junior shoved Sheaffer, causing the referee to hold him back.

“There’s a decorum that you follow, and if you don’t follow it, [the ref] is going to nail you,” Stottlemyer said. “He deserved the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”

The score was now 15-2 in favor of Pitt.

Brad Gentzle was awarded a victory for the 125-pound match because of a Cleveland State forfeit. Matt Reynolds, the 125-pound wrestler for the Vikings, was out with an injury, and Cleveland State didn’t have time for any other wrestlers to make weight.

The Vikings won their second, and final, match of the day in the 133-pound fight. Pitt’s Jimmy Conroy led most of the match, but in the third period he suffered a takedown and an escape, setting up a one-minute extra period against Josh Palivoda.

In the extra period, Palivoda fell to the mat, and Conroy appeared to be on his way to a match-winning pin, but the referee ruled that the two wrestlers were too far from the center of the mat. The two fighters were reset back in the center of the ring, and Palivoda used a takedown to grab a 10-8 victory.

Leading 21-5, the Panthers went on to win the remaining three matches of the afternoon.

In the 141-pound match, No. 16 Drew Headlee upped his record in dual meets this year to 10-0 with an 8-1 decision. Joe Ciampoli won the 149-pound match with an 8-4 decision, and in the final match of the day No. 5 Matt Kocher scored a 22-7 technical fall to give the Panthers a 32-5 victory.