Shawn Amistade Leads No. 21 Pittsburgh Over Clarion, 22-13

2/12/2002

The fifth-year senior upset ninth-ranked Rad Martinez, 3-2, with a late takedown.

PITTSBURGH-Fifth-year senior Shawn Amistade scored a big upset victory over Clarion's Rad Martinez, ranked ninth in the country, in the 133-pound match to give No. 21 Pittsburgh the lift it needed to defeat its Eastern Wrestling League rival, 22-13, on Tuesday evening at Fitzgerald Field House.

Amistade (Washington, Pa./Trinity) had battled Martinez through a scoreless first period and allowed his opponent an escape point in the second to fall behind, 1-0, headed into the final frame. He got away from Martinez to begin the third period and tied the score, 1-1, and scored a two-point takedown seconds later to take the lead. After Martinez gained another escape point, Amistade held on for the victory.

The win cut the Golden Eagles' lead to 6-3 after No. 8 John Testa had topped Jacob Lininger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin), 11-6 at heavyweight, and Peter Derstine edged James Thornton (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), 6-4 at 125 pounds.

Amistade's victory was the first of five consecutive for the Panthers, four of which were four-point major decision wins. Senior Blaise Mucci (Blairsville, Pa./Derry Area) got the first of those major decision wins with a 16-6 victory over Starlin Jimenez at 141 pounds. With the Panthers up 7-6, junior Justin Giovinco (Norristown, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) added to the lead with four more points in a 9-0 shutout win over Dom Surra at 149 pounds.

Zachariah Doll (Quakertown, Pa./The Hill School) kept things going for the Panthers with an 11-1 win over Jeremy Reitz at 157 pounds. In his 11 points, six came from near-falls. Redshirt junior Carl Fronhofer (Salem, N.Y./Salem) rebounded from a loss against Lock Haven and inched closer to the century mark with his 94th career victory in a 13-3 decision over Jim Perry at 165 pounds, which increased the Panther lead to 19-6.

The Golden Eagles got four points back at 174 pounds when Todd Schuchert scored a major decision over Matt Catullo (Oakmont, Pa./Riverview), 13-4. In his first dual meet of the 2001-02 season, junior Gregg Osbeck (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock) earned a big win with a 6-4 come-from-behind decision over Marcus Surin of the Golden Eagles.

In the closing match, 15th-ranked Eric Mausser topped 19th-ranked David Sandberg (Spokane, Wash./North Central) by a final score of 4-2 in the 197-pound match.

Pittsburgh is now 12-4 in 2001-02 and upped its EWL dual mark to 4-1. The Panthers will travel to Morgantown, W.Va., to take on the nationally ranked Mountaineers on Friday evening.

HWT - John Testa (CU) dec. Jacob Lininger (UP), 11-6		157 - Zachariah Doll (UP) maj. dec. Jeremy Reitz (CU), 11-1
125 - Peter Derstine (CU) dec. James Thornton (UP), 6-4		165 - Carl Fronhofer (UP) maj. dec. Jim Perry (CU), 13-3
133 - Shawn Amistade (UP) dec. Rad Martinez (CU), 3-2		174 - Todd Schuchert (CU) maj. dec. Matt Catullo (UP), 13-4
141 - Blaise Mucci (UP) maj. dec. Starlin Jimenez (CU), 16-6		184 - Gregg Osbeck (UP) dec. Marcus Surin (CU), 6-4
149 - Justin Giovinco (UP) maj. dec. Dom Surra (CU), 9-0		197 - Eric Mausser (CU) dec. David Sandberg (UP), 4-2