"We out wrestled them and out fought them," said head coach Rocky Bonomo. "It was a real solid performance."
Lock Haven took six of ten bouts with Haven grapplers picking up one major decision and a match-clinching pin at 197.
"You always love to wrestle well at home and the pin at 197 was pivotal," added Bonomo.
With the Bald Eagles leading 16-10 heading into the 197-pound match, freshman Jeremie Cook (Venice, Fla.Venice) brought the crowd to its feet and put the match away after pinning Pitt's Eric Cassidy.
"It was crazy, I normally don't wrestle in front of this many fans," said Cook who added this is a great way to head into the rest of the season.
Cook earned the fall at the 4:08 mark of the match. The Haven rookie trailed after one period, 2-1, but was able to gain control of the match early in the second, which led to his fifth fall on the year. With the win, Cook was able to reverse his luck from a week ago against Cleveland State where he was pinned.
Tonight's action started at 125 pounds and No. 11 Obenson Blanc (Naples, Fla./Lely) helped the Bald Eagles jump out to an early 4-0 lead. The junior picked up his 25th win of the year, improving to 25-5 after earning the major decision victory over Brad Gentzle. Blanc earned an early takedown and cruised from there, racking up the 16-2 victory that helped jump start LHU.
Pitt went on to take the next two matches with freshmen Danny Lopes (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) and Zach Kell (Ickesburg, Pa./West Perry) both falling their Panther opponents at 133 and 141, respectively. Lopes lost a tough 7-3 battle and Kell fell to Pitt's Joe Ciampoli 10-2, which put Pitt up 7-4.
The Pitt lead was short lived as the Bald Eagles went on to take the next three matches.
Freshman Donnie Ament (Acme, Pa./Mount Pleasant) tied the match up at seven points apiece after recording an 8-2 win over Mark Generalovich. Ament picked up an early takedown and still led 2-0 after two periods. He picked up two more important takedowns in the third to secure the 8-2 win.
No. 8 Seth Martin (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) put Lock Haven back in the lead, much to the delight of the home crowd after picking up a key win at 157 over No. 11 Matt Kocher. The senior improved to 31-3 after posting the 5-3 win in a hard fought battle.
Martin recorded an early takedown 1:20 into the match and led 2-1 after one. After two periods the score was still 2-1, but the two ranked stars saved some fireworks for the end with most of the scoring coming late. Martin was able to post a late escape and earned a riding time point to pick up the two-point win that put the Haven up 10-7, giving the Bald Eagles the lead for good.
Freshman Landis Wright (Wingate, Pa./Bald Eagle) also picked up a big win for the Bald Eagles at 165. Wright and Sean Richmond needed more than seven minutes to decide their bout and Wright recorded a takedown nine seconds into overtime to earn the 5-3 decision, which put LHU ahead 13-7.
Senior Michael Metzger (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin) put fourth a tremendous effort against No. 2 Keith Gavin at 174, but came up short, falling to the Pitt standout 10-4.
Rookie Tom Kocher (Lancaster, Pa./Manhiem Township) used two first period takedowns to cruise past Kyle Deliere, 8-4 at 184 pounds.
Kocher put the Bald Eagles up 16-10 and that's when Cook finished off the Panthers chances.
At heavyweight Ben Hepburn (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock) turned in another strong performance, but lost by one point, 3-2 after Zach Sheaffer was able to record the one-point win for riding time.
The Bald Eagles are back in action on Sun., Feb. 11, when they host the West Virginia University Mountaineers at 2 p.m. in EWL action.
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