From the Sunbury (PA) Daily Item
January 8, 2005
Mountain Hawks win a wild one over Nittany Lions in college wrestling
By Andy Elder
STATE COLLEGE ” The longer Penn State and Lehigh wrestle, and the two teams have met 92 times since 1911, the more unique twists the Nittany Lions and Mountain Hawks add to the rivalry.
Friday night’s 20-16 win by No. 6 Lehigh over No. 16 Penn State in front of 2,528 Rec Hall fans 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 coach Troy 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. But 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.
Then came the major upset. Trailing 5-3 heading into the third period, Driscoll escaped, scored a takedown and earned three back points on a tilt for 9-5 upset.
Lehigh squared the match at 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Lehigh 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.
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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