By Guy Cipriano
UNIVERSITY PARK — The guys across the mat were on the edges of their padded seats and jumping throughout the later stages of this dual meet.
And what about the guys that were expected to have a lot to jump about?
They uncomfortably leaned back and saw a score they never expected:
Penn State 17, Lock Haven 15.
With a heavyweight bout remaining Friday, the school with the smaller enrollment and meager resources had a chance to pull a shocker.
“By 197 (pounds), we were like, ‘Holy crap, this is a close match,’ “Penn State senior 174-pounder James Yonushonis said. “I would say darn right we were stunned. It wasn’t what we expected.”
It wasn’t what sophomore heavyweight Joe Farina expected, either.
He expected his debut in a Penn State singlet to occur on the backside of a lopsided match.
Instead, Farina’s 9-3 victory over Bald Eagle Area graduate Mike Cook secured a 20-15 victory and prevented some disturbing pre-holiday embarrassment.
“I was pretty surprised with the way it went down, “Farina said.
So were many of the 2,927 fans who entered Rec Hall.
A Lock Haven team that didn’t record a takedown during Sunday’s 45-0 loss at Edinboro took five bouts from eighth-ranked Penn State (5-1).
The Nittany Lions were without 197-pound junior Phil Davis and senior heavyweight Aaron Anspach. Davis has been battling the flu this week while a skin disorder prevented Anspach from wrestling.
The Bald Eagles were also shorthanded as they competed without sophomore 149-pounder Matt Fittery and senior 174-pounder Derrick Morgan.
“We need to win these matches, “said Lock Haven coach Rocky Bonomo, whose team starts five true freshmen, “but we also needed to show that we can be competitive with these guys down the road because that doesn’t always happen. It was good for our guys to see this.”
Lock Haven (2-3) put itself in a favorable position by winning four of five bouts from 157 to 197.
The Bald Eagles’ late surge created an interesting situation for Farina, who didn’t learn until late in the week that he might be making his dual meet debut.
Farina, who joined the Nittany Lions as a preferred walk-on in 2004 after placing seventh in the New Jersey state tournament, used three takedowns to defeat Cook.
Still, the bout included some interesting moments. Farina found himself in precarious situations from the top position multiple times against Cook, who won a PIAA Class AAA title at 215 pounds as a high school senior.
“I was as prepared as I could be, “said Farina, one of six heavyweights on Penn State’s roster. “Wrestling Anspach every single day makes me better. I knew I was going to get a shot eventually. I didn’t think it would come down to me, but it happened and I did it for the team.”
Something that occurred an hour-and-half before Farina stepped on the mat foreshadowed the night.
Lock Haven received its first jolt of jubilation when junior 125-pounder Obe Blanc recorded a single-leg takedown with nine seconds remaining to defeat junior Mark McKnight 9-8. Blanc’s victory was considered a mild upset.
Both wrestlers are ranked among the nation’s six best 125-pounders, but Blanc had never defeated McKnight until Friday.
“There’s no question that’s not the way we planned the dual meet, “Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. “We just didn’t get it started the way we wanted with Mark.”
The loss didn’t have an immediate impact on the Nittany Lions. Jake Strayer’s major decision over Danny Lopes, Bryan Heller’s pin of Mark Armstrong and Dan Vallimont’s 11-5 victory over Donnie Ament gave Penn State a 13-3 lead.
Then, for the second straight dual meet, Penn State struggled at 157, 165 and 184.
Lock Haven’s Seth Martin recovered from allowing a first-period takedown to defeat Nathan Galloway 9-3. Freshman Landis Wright, a BEA graduate, then trimmed Penn State’s lead to 13-9 by defeating Mark Friend 7-5.
After Yonushonis defeated Mike Metzger by major decision, Tom Kocher’s 8-4 victory over Phil Bomberger at 184 and Jeremie Cook’s 8-1 victory over Chad Unger, trimmed the lead to two points.
“I never envisioned being in a situation like this, “Farina said, “but it felt good. There’s a lot of anxiety on you when it comes down to the last match and having to win before all these fans.”
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