Wrestling downs Bloomsburg; improves to 1-1

Pressure can be rough on a freshman, but Pitt’s heavyweight wrestler Zach Sheaffer felt none… Pressure can be rough on a freshman, but Pitt’s heavyweight wrestler Zach Sheaffer felt none of it Wednesday night in the Panthers’ 24-16 victory over Bloomsburg.

Pitt (1-1 overall, 1-0 Eastern Wrestling League) jumped out to an early 21-0 lead, but the Huskies (0-1, 0-1) battled back with 16 unanswered points to force the outcome of the match to rely solely on the heavyweight battle between Sheaffer and Bloomsburg’s Mike Spaid.

Sheaffer scored first, recording a takedown, but Spaid countered with two reversal points. The tie didn’t last long, as Sheaffer reversed Spaid for a 4-2 lead and eventual 6-2 win for Pitt’s 24th team point.

“Heavyweights are usually the last to wrestle, for the most part,” head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “Sheaffer’s used to having the whole show riding on him, and we felt real comfortable with him out there.”

Pitt’s lightweights provided the spark early on for the Panthers, winning the match’s first five bouts and putting Bloomsburg in a deep hole.

Freshman Dave Morgan — who, like Sheaffer, recorded his first win as a Panther — took down the Huskies’ Brian Sellers late in the match to seal his victory and a 3-0 lead for Pitt.

Sophomores Matt Kocher and Drew Headlee each improved their records to 2-0 on the season, as Kocher won by major decision over Josh Loew, while Headlee pinned Tony Curto in the first period.

“It took him a couple of minutes to get what he wanted, but when he got it, it was incredible,” Stottlemyer said. “He’s real good with the cradle move that he put on him.”

Four takedowns and nine near-fall points accumulated by Ron Tarquinio in his match with Mark Piermattei led him to an 18-2 technical-fall victory that added five team points to Pitt’s lead.

After Pitt’s Keith Gavin won in overtime for a 21-0 Panther lead, Bloomsburg fought back and claimed victory in the next four matches, including Chad Hoare’s pin of Pitt’s Michael Heist.

Justin Nestor suffered a tough decision for Pitt, while Zach Doll couldn’t avoid losing by major decision to Bloomsburg’s Bryce Hasseman — who came into the match already 7-1 on the season — 16-3 for four more Husky points.

Sheaffer then ended the Bloomsburg winning streak at four, by outlasting Spaid and bringing home Pitt’s first victory of the season.

“The quick start always helps us,” Stottlemyer said. “Everyone did their jobs today, and Sheaffer closed it out. It’s a good win.”

Pitt travels this weekend to participate in the Michigan State Open. The Panthers will also be taking part in the Mat Town and Las Vegas Invitationals before taking a month-long break in December.

“We’ll get to see where a lot of our guys rank nationally, and we’ll see a lot of top 20 teams wrestle at these tournaments,” Stottlemyer said of the upcoming invitationals.

“It will be a real neat thing to do before NCAAs, but it will be a real grinder,” he said. “The boys will be wrestling anywhere from five to seven matches a weekend, but I think they’re up for the test.”