Ecklof pin, Ciotti win not enough as Pitt falls again

On the verge of two near-fall points in the final seconds of his match at 149 pounds Friday… On the verge of two near-fall points in the final seconds of his match at 149 pounds Friday against Michigan State, Joey Ecklof brought the Spirit Night crowd inside the Fitzgerald Field House to its feet.

As his opponent, 12th-ranked Darren McKnight, slid off his back, Ecklof locked up around his shoulders and pulled him to the mat for a quick pin at the 6:59 mark.

The win woke up the crowd and brought the Panthers back within six points at 15-9. But they failed to win another match, falling to the Spartans 28-9 in just their third home match of the season.

“We fought hard,” Pitt head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “We had our shots in certain matches, but inexperience kind of hurt us.”

Six matches were decided by four points or less, but all resulted in losses for Pitt (2-5 overall, 0-1 Eastern Wrestling League).

Despite the tough losses, Stottlemyer again gave credit to Ecklof, his freshman 149-pounder, who picked up his fourth pin of the season in his win over the senior McKnight.

“There’s no two ways about it,” Stottlemyer said of Ecklof. “He goes hard all the time. He didn’t win three Pennsylvania state high school championships for nothing.”

Ecklof himself shrugged off the fact of defeating the No. 12-ranked McKnight in just the fifth dual meet of his career.

“It doesn’t matter who he is, if he’s ranked or how well-known he is,” Ecklof told PittsburghPanthers.com. “He’s just another opponent.”

Pitt’s only other win of the night came just two matches before, at 133. Senior Mike Ciotti defeated Michigan State’s Jeff Wimberley to put Pitt’s first points on the board at 12-3.

Ciotti found himself down 5-0 in the first period after Wimberley used a quick takedown and three near-fall points while on the ground to build a lead. Ciotti wrapped up Wimberley near the end of the first period for a takedown at 5-2.

Another takedown for Ciotti just as the second period began sent him on his way, as Wimberley failed to score another point in the loss.

In one of the better matches of the night, Pitt’s 141-pounder, Ron Tarquinio, met up with Michigan State’s Andy Simmons, who is ranked fourth in the nation. The two have faced off before in the past at the Michigan State Opens.

Tarquinio and Simmons wrestled to a scoreless tie after the first two periods. Simmons, however, picked up an escape point in the third, leaving Tarquinio looking for a desperation takedown before the match ended.

He locked up Simmons’ legs near the edge of the mat, but couldn’t quite get the takedown scored as Simmons rode out the remainder of the time for a 2-0 win.

“That match could have gone either way,” Stottlemyer said. “Simmons is tough, and Tarquinio wrestled him hard. He always does.”

The Spartans won the final four matches en route to the win, including knocking off Pitt’s Justin Nestor in the 165-pound matchup. It was the 15th time the schools have met in their history (Pitt leads the all-time series 8-7) and is the fifth-straight win for the Spartans.

Pitt returns to action this week on Thursday with its second EWL matchup, a 7 p.m. dual meet at Cleveland State. Pitt then returns home on Sunday for a meeting with Kent State at 2 p.m.

“We still have a shot. We’re just 0-1 in the league and you never know what can happen,” Stottlemyer said. “Other teams have had some adversity, too. We’ve just got to go up there and figure out how to beat Cleveland State.

“And that’s the bottom line.”

NOTES: Ecklof garnered honors from the EWL this week. He was named Wrestler of the Week for picking up two wins – his first at Lehigh and his pin against Michigan State.