From the Centre Daily Times of State College, PA
A wild finish
Lehigh edges Penn State in match that had a little bit of everything
By Andy Elder
UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland said his team has an inside joke about the Lehigh match. Something about stoking the coals.
Stoking the coals?
After what happened Friday night in front of 2,528 Rec Hall fans, the Alpha Fire Company should have been summoned.
No. 6 Lehigh’s 20-16 win over No. 16 Penn State included a major upset, a disqualification for flagrant misconduct and a fan getting booted for throwing a water bottle and hitting the referee in the head.
“You never know what to expect when you come to Happy Valley, “Lehigh coach Greg Strobel. “We knew it was going to be a tight dual, a tough dual. Penn State comes to compete and we have to come to compete. I thought Penn State had more hustle than we did.”
Sunderland admitted to experiencing a multitude of feelings during the topsy-turvy dual meet.
“It was up and down. After DeWitt’s (Driscoll) win over (No. 3 Cory) Cooperman, I looked at (assistant coach John) Hughes and said, ‘I think we can do this,’ “Sunderland said. “Then during the 165-pound match, I said, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’ Then, after what happened at 197, I said, ‘I think we can do this.'”
It was that kind of night.
After No. 15 Adam Smith throttled Andrew Rizzi, 14-9, at 125, Lehigh countered with a decision at 133. No. 10 Matt Ciasulli had to hold on for an 8-7 win over Bryan Heller, a sharp contrast to the first-period fall he notched over Heller at Midlands.
“I’ve been trying to get back to where I used to be, “Driscoll said. “I was searching for something I had lost. I think I found it tonight.”
Lehigh squared the match at 6-6 when Mountain Hawk backup Dave Nakasone edged Penn State backup Jack Decker 7-5 in overtime. Decker was subbing for No. 12 James Woodall, who may be lost for the season after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee.
“I knew it (Nakasone’s win) was going to be huge after the upset at 141, “Strobel said. “I knew we had to win one of those two.”
Woodall apparently tore his ACL in the waning seconds of his Midlands 149-pound championship bout he lost to No 6 Ty Eustice of Iowa 6-5. In the week between Midlands and the Lehigh dual, Sunderland and his staff brainstormed ways to fill the void.
Their first thought was to have Nate Galloway move to 149 and insert Jarrad Turner at 157. Galloway, Sunderland said, was willing and able to make the move. But certification guidelines precluded Galloway from moving down.
Galloway had certified at 149 at the beginning of the season. But since he hadn’t weighed in and wrestled at 149 at any previous point in the season, the rules said he couldn’t make the shift. Sunderland said he’ll explore the possibility of a sixth year of eligibility for Woodall, a “hardship season “under NCAA rules.
The win at 149 started a four-match swing for Lehigh which opened a 17-6 lead.
Sixth-ranked Nittany Lion 184-pounder Eric Bradley stopped that momentum by scoring 10 takedowns in a 22-9 major decision over Matt Cassidy to close the gap to 17-10. It was a seemingly insurmountable lead with Lehigh’s Jon Trenge, ranked No. 3, on deck at 197 against Penn State’s Joel Edwards, subbing for Phil Davis who sat out with an ankle injury.
The bout was contentious almost from the opening whistle. Early in the first period, Edwards was awarded a penalty point for unsportsmanlike conduct on Trenge. Then, with 1:52 left in the period, Edwards shot in on Trenge’s legs at the edge of the mat and the two tumbled off the mat in front of the Lehigh bench.
Referee Bob Derr blew his whistle, but Trenge, a two-time NCAA finalist, proceeded to toss Edwards onto the hardwood floor beyond the mat and in front of the Mountain Hawk’s bench. With that, Derr disqualified Trenge and deducted a team point from Lehigh.
Seconds later, Derr was hit in the back of the head by a water bottle thrown by a fan. Before University Park police could escort the unidentified fan out of Rec Hall, Trenge jumped into the stands and appeared to know the man.
“We were very upset with Trenge losing his cool. Very disappointed. He didn’t have to. It’s his albatross that continues to plague him, “Strobel said.
With order restored and the match suddenly tied at 16-16, Penn State’s Josh Walker and Lehigh’s Paul Weibel, took the mat. Each had scored a win over the other this year.
Weibel scored an early takedown and added another, with two back points to forge a 6-2 first period lead. With Walker desperately trying to come back, Weibel took advantage of Walker’s overaggressiveness to earn a 12-3 major decision.
“The back points in the first period killed Josh, “Sunderland said. “When he was down that far, he had to wrestle more recklessly. I feel bad for him. I know he wanted to be the hero.”
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