Pitt’s season ends points short of title

Six Eastern Wrestling League scheduled matchups, with 10 bouts in each match, can provide a… Six Eastern Wrestling League scheduled matchups, with 10 bouts in each match, can provide a good bit of excitement during a league wrestling season.

For Pitt, however, after all the year-long battles with many hardships, its championship hopes came down to the 60th and final bout of the regular season — a heavyweight showdown with freshman Zach Sheaffer and Edinboro’s Joe Hennis.

With the score at 8-7 in Hennis’ favor, Sheaffer failed to make a move in the final minute and allowed Hennis to record a takedown with six seconds left for a 10-7 decision.

The heavyweight win for Edinboro (9-5-1 overall, 3-2-1 EWL) provided three team points it used to edge Pitt (8-7, 4-2) by a score of 19-17, claiming West Virginia the EWL regular season champs with a 4-1-1 record in the league, after defeating Clarion Friday night.

A win would have given Pitt its first EWL title ever, but instead it finishes the season in a second-place tie with Bloomsburg, and must now prepare for the EWL tournament held in Clarion, Pa., March 5-6.

“It’s really tough to take,” Pitt head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “Sheaffer just ran out of time, bottom line. He fought back from being down 5-0 and just ran out of time, because he certainly didn’t lose from a lack of effort.”

Pitt and Edinboro each won five bouts in the match, but the Fighting Scots were able to take advantage of a few matches to win the extra points race 4-2.

“You know, it came down to that final match, but a lot was determined in some of the other matches,” Stottlemyer said. “And losing extra points always comes back to hurt you in some way.”

Freshman Zach Bowman put Pitt in front 3-0 in the early going with a decision over Greg Sill. Bowman used a takedown in the first period to build a 2-0 lead, while shutting down Sill the rest of the way for a 3-0 score.

Pitt’s Drew Headlee gave up the first extra points to Edinboro when No. 1 Shawn Bunch recorded a technical fall over Headlee, using six takedowns in the 20-5 victory.

Ron Tarquinio brought four points back to Pitt’s side with a major decision over Rick McLaughlin in the 141-pound matchup. Two takedowns in the third period helped Tarquinio toward a 16-8 win.

With the score 7-5 in Pitt’s favor, the two teams exchanged decision victories at 149 and 157 pounds.

Edinboro’s Ron Doppelheuer defeated Mike Ciotti at 149 pounds, 7-2, while Matt Kocher was able to get back on the winning track for Pitt, escaping from Matt Hill in the third period for a 3-2 decision.

“The whole match was real topsy-turvy,” Stottlemyer said. “It was kind of like you were on a roller coaster.”

The Fighting Scots gained an extra point in each of the next two matches, thanks to top 25-ranked 165- and 174-pound wrestlers Nate Yetzer and Eric Ring who won by major decision over Justin Nestor and Zachariah Doll, respectively.

Keith Gavin erased one of Edinboro’s major decisions with one of his own at 184 pounds. With the win, Gavin remained unbeaten in the weight class after being bumped up just a couple weeks ago.

“Gavin did another great job on a guy that most people thought he wouldn’t beat,” Stottlemyer said.

Freshman Lou Thomas gave Pitt its last lead at 17-16 with a win at 197 pounds, but it was unable to hold off The Fighting Scots as Hennis prevailed in the heavyweight bout, ending Pitt’s EWL title hopes.

“We were as close as you can get, and now we must rebound from it,” Stottlemyer said. “So little defines winning and losing, and it was proven to us by coming down to the last match.”

The Panthers won’t be back in action until March 5 when they travel to Clarion University to take part in the EWL Championships.

“We need to take advantage of opportunities that are ahead of us,” Stottlemyer said. “A lot of our guys want to make the NCAAs and this is their chance, by placing at the EWLs.”