Heavyweight victory puts Panthers past Lock Haven

Four major victories, including an upset of Matt Kocher at 157 pounds, put Lock Haven in a… Four major victories, including an upset of Matt Kocher at 157 pounds, put Lock Haven in a position to defeat the Panther wrestlers on Friday as the two teams headed into the heavyweight matchup tied at 16.

Pitt’s Zack Sheaffer once again put an end to an opposing team’s chances by sealing the victory for the Panthers.

Sheaffer recorded a major-decision victory, 14-2, over Lock Haven’s Jamie Nagel for a 20-16 team win for Pitt (8-6 overall, 4-1 Eastern Wrestling League) in Lock Haven’s gym.

“He gave a really solid effort, just like he has all year long,” Pitt head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “He has given us consistency, and that’s something you don’t get out of every freshman.”

In the opening match, the Bald Eagles’ Obe Blanc scored the first of four major victories for Lock Haven (4-7 overall, 1-2 EWL) by using nine takedowns to defeat Pitt’s Zach Bowman 21-8.

Pitt cut the lead to 4-3 on sophomore Drew Headlee’s takedown with 51 seconds left in the third period for an 8-4 victory over Jim Collins.

No. 8-ranked Ron Tarquinio put Pitt ahead of Lock Haven, registering a 12-4 major decision over Brian Ellis. Tarquinio has now upped his winning streak to three after suffering two upset losses.

“You can never say enough about Ron and what he does every match,” Stottlemyer said. “The extra points he was able to get was really key for us.”

After Tarquinio’s win gave Pitt a 7-4 lead, the Panthers lost the next two matches at the 149- and 157-pound weight classes, both by major decisions.

At 149 pounds, Mike Ciotti gave up 15 points to Joshua Medina in the loss. The win improved Medina’s career EWL dual meet record to 3-0.

Kocher’s struggles at the 157-pound weight class continued when Lock Haven’s Seth Martin majored him by a score of 9-1 to give the Bald Eagles their biggest lead of the match. Martin gained complete control of the match with an early takedown in the first period.

“It’s tough, because as soon as Matt bumped up, he wrestled the top guys in the weight class and Martin showed a different style. Matt got caught early, and things just didn’t go his way,” Stottlemyer said.

Justin Nestor, Zach Doll and Keith Gavin won each of their matches for a nine-point swing in team points.

Nestor outlasted Lock Haven’s B.J. Mikeska for a 3-1 decision, while Doll was pushed to the end of the match to hold off Rory McCoy to win 12-9. McCoy fought all the way back to a 10-9 score against Doll, but gave up a takedown in the final five seconds for Doll’s 12th point.

Gavin was able to record a victory at 184 pounds after bumping up a couple weight classes to wrestle. Lock Haven’s Mike Metzger got down early with Gavin and made a late push, but Gavin eventually held off for a 17-11 victory.

“Gavin really turned it around for us,” Stottlemyer said. “That was probably a match they felt they would win, but we had all the confidence in Gavin.”

Lock Haven tied the score at 16 when Morgan Horner defeated Pitt freshman Lout Thomas, 13-3, for the Bald Eagles’ fourth major decision of the night.

With the score tied at 16, Sheaffer’s dominating performance against Nagel in the heavyweight bout provided Pitt with four team points for the final score of 20-16.

The win over Lock Haven assures Pitt a winning record for the fourth year in a row. The Panthers will resume action Friday to close out their season with a trip to Edinboro to battle the Fighting Scots. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

“Everything has been tight throughout the EWL, so extra points in matches are becoming a factor. We can get those by wrestling hard every match and doing our job,” Stottlemyer said. “We are at our best when we wrestle hard.”